WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Drivers can expect to see one lane closed and alternating one-way traffic on Sykes Mountain Avenue this week as the town nears the end of a long-anticipated $6.8 million project to install two roundabouts on the road.
The one-lane roundabouts, which will go in at the intersection with Route 5 and the intersection with Ralph Lehman Drive, are meant to make the area known as a “high-crash location” safer, said Vermont Agency of Transportation project manager Thad Robertson. Around 16,000 vehicles travel through that area on an average day, though following the pandemic, that number has likely decreased, Robertson said.
The project is almost entirely federally funded, with help from Vermont Agency of Transportation, and it is overseen by the town, which started initial, underground work in the spring of 2020. Robertson expects the project to be completed by the end of this fall.
The project also includes installing sidewalks along Route 5 and Sykes Mountain Avenue, as well as replacing curbs and drainage.
“The roundabout considers the three forms of traffic: pedestrian, bicycle and car traffic,” Robertson said. “Roundabouts provide a good mechanism for those to move well.”
Residents and business owners who frequent the area are split on the benefits and anticipated drawbacks of the project.
“I think it’s going to add more confusion,” said Taylor Dimond, a Windsor resident who works near Sykes Mountain Avenue. He worried that construction would hold up traffic and said he never considered the intersection to be much of a safety hazard.
Others, like Christie Pippin and her father, Mark Pippin, who own Cloverleaf Jewelry and Gifts, which sits just feet from the Route 5 intersection, saw positive spin in the roundabout project.
“I’m excited about it slowing people down,” Mark Pippin said. Both he and his daughter said people tend to drive quickly down Route 5, past their store, especially when drivers are coming off the interstate. A roundabout might curb some of that and make it safer for the many people who like to walk around the area, he said.
Christie Pippin also said the roundabouts are a sign of White River Junction’s growing trendiness and walkability.
“There are just more people living here.” She said. “The whole area has gotten popular.”
For brothers Steve and Scott Larro, who were visiting White River Junction on Saturday, the project seems like a great idea — though they agreed that there might be a learning curve for people who are used to the old intersection.
“You need a roundabout here,” said Steve Larro, who’s from Berkshire, Vt. “It takes some time for people to get used to it, but roundabouts keep the traffic pattern moving.”
Scott Larro, of Milford, N.H., agreed, adding that traffic flow will be smoother once the roundabouts are installed, and that one-lane roundabouts are easier for people to drive through than multiple-lane roundabouts.
Drivers are expected to start using the new traffic patterns as early as Tuesday, May 4, and the town will provide weekly updates on construction and lane closures.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.
Correction
Traffic patterns for the new roundabouts on Sykes Mountain Avenue in Hartford are expected to change on Tuesday, May 4. An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect date for the transition.