BETHEL — Forty-nine years ago this month, a 30.5-mile stretch of highway opened between Bethel and Montpelier, setting the stage for a transformation and modernization of Vermont.
It was the last stretch of Interstate 89 to open between Concord and the Canadian border, and ensured that tourists and visitors from the Boston area had an easier way to reach the heart of Vermont. It also meant the trip between White River Junction and Montpelier, which had required traveling on Route 14 or Route 12 north of Bethel, was now 28 minutes shorter.
But, of course, it also took tourist traffic off the roads, affecting some of the motels and gift shops that adorned the state highways.
The Vermont highway department in the fall of 1970 then turned its attention to finishing Interstate 91 north of Norwich toward Fairlee.
The opening of Interstate 89 between Bethel and Montpelier was celebrated by then-Gov. Deane Davis, the Republican who signed Vermont’s landmark Act 250 legislation into law, helping to protect the scenic new highways — and the rest of the state — from the type of uncontained sprawl that the automobile also often brought.
It was a different era then. Another photo from November 1970 shows an instructor at the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital School of Nursing sporting an optional new nursing uniform — long pants instead of a skirt.
But some things stay the same. Another Valley News photo from that month shows Windsor High School’s Harry Ladue as he intercepted a pass in a game against Hartford High School. Ladue has remained in Windsor as the longtime boys basketball coach.
And when lawmakers, high school bands and officials celebrated the opening of I-89 in the Bethel area, a ceremony in Randolph on the long-ago November day had a traditional fall Vermont snack on hand — cider and doughnuts.