Waterbury Center safety, accessibility project leads a walking tour on Nov. 2
October 15, 2025 | By Waterbury Roundabout
Morning mist over Waterbury Center recently. Photo by Gordon Miller
A new effort to assess and improve safety and accessibility in Waterbury Center invites the public to a walking tour on Sunday, Nov. 2.
Earlier this year, Waterbury was awarded a $97,500 Better Connections grant from the Vermont Agency of Transportation to study and make recommendations for ways to make the village core and vicinity in Waterbury Center safer and more easily accessible for drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists and other road users. The goal is to address the current lack of connectivity among shops, services, residences and recreational assets in this part of Waterbury.
The area of the study includes the core of Waterbury Center between the Waterbury Center State Park and Vermont Artisan Coffee & Tea/Green Mountain Club on Vermont Route 100; Howard Avenue, Hollow Road, the Waterbury Center triangle; and the corridor from the Waterbury Center Post office past Hope Davey Park and along Maple Street.
So far, the town has hired Stantec, an international engineering and consulting company with an office in South Burlington, to lead the project. The firm worked previously with Waterbury to design and develop the rotary. It’s worked on downtown design in Stowe and has assisted many other Vermont towns with transportation, streetscape, and connectivity issues.
In the past two months, the local effort also has involved naming project coordinators and forming a Steering Committee and an Advisory Committee, each with roughly 20 local residents, business leaders, and representatives of various community organizations. Project leaders are Municipal Manager Tom Leitz, Duncan McDougall, who chairs Waterbury LEAP (Local Energy Action Partnership), and Planning Commission member Kati Gallagher. The project aims to make recommendations to town leaders next year.
On Sept. 22, the Steering Committee members and Stantec consultants met and went on a walking tour of the area being studied. Now the group would like to conduct another walking tour to engage community members and hear their ideas and questions.
The tour is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 2, starting at noon at the pavilion at Hope Davey Park on Maple Street. This walking tour will give people a chance to share with the Stantec consultants any concerns they may have about the current walking, biking, and transportation environment, and their suggestions for improving the situation. The consultants will incorporate this feedback as they consider what steps to suggest going forward.
The walking tour will begin at the park with about 30 minutes for refreshments, discussion and to review maps of the project area. The walk-about portion will last from about 12:30 to 2 p.m. with more refreshments afterward. The public is invited to attend the walk. Should the weather be too poor for a walk, the rain date will be Saturday, Nov. 8, at the same time and location. (Any schedule change will be posted on the town website, waterburyvt.com.)
Organizers say the walk will be at a relaxed pace along roads that do not have sidewalks. If attendees have a bright safety vest, they are encouraged to bring it along. Some will be available to borrow.
Direct any questions or requests for accommodations to Duncan McDougall at duncan@clifonline.org. Find more information about the project online here.