2018 Update #61

Post-Construction Triangle Park and Lazarus Park Take Shape

We now have a good sense of what Triangle Park, that central piece of downtown green space at the corner of Main Street and Merchants Row, and the brand-new Lazarus Park, which will sit alongside the roadway connecting Main Street to the Marble Works, will look like once construction is completed in 2021.

On Tuesday evening, the Selectboard unanimously endorsed the Agency of Transportation’s recommended design concept for the two areas, which will remain under construction for the duration of the project.

VHB’s Director of Land Planning and Landscape Architecture, Mark Hamelin, presented the Selectboard with a final iteration of the landscape plans, which had previously been revised in accordance with recommendations from Middlebury’s Planning Commission and Design Advisory Committee and then modified again following a well-attended public meeting last week. (A native Vermonter, Mark designed Burlington’s Waterfront Park and the Waterbury State Office Complex.)

The final design concept, which you can view here, features, among other refinements, additional “hardscape” (e.g., paving stones and concrete) in the lower section of Triangle Park to provide a more versatile space for public events, a safer crossing from Main Street to Printer’s Alley, a more direct connection between Triangle Park and the rest of the Town Green, “roll-up curves” on the Merchants Row side of Triangle Park to allow trucks from Farmer's Market vendors, for example, to back partway into the space, and an ADA-accessible pathway from Main Street to the Marble Works through the new Lazarus Park.

If you’re interested in reviewing the history of the public process that led to the final design concept, you can view VHB’s full presentation to the Selectboard here. The design process was funded by the Agency of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.

Next up, VHB will refine the design concept to include a lighting plan, a plantings plan, and other details and will share those with the town.

Your Weekly Construction Update

Significant progress on the drainage system this week as ECI began the process of connecting the underground stormwater drainage pipes to the concrete manhole structures I showed last week. The photo below shows two of the final three sections of steel casing being welded in place before the next section of concrete is placed above the concrete base and the pipes are connected to it.

Kubricky completed construction of the outfall (the outlet of the drainage system) this week and, as of late Thursday, had nearly finished restoring Riverfront Park to its pre-construction condition, which will include reinstalling the street lamp lighting the upper section of the paved pathway connecting the Marble Works to the pedestrian bridge over Otter Creek. (Not the best of photographs below. I was shooting into the morning sun with fingers frozen by the 4 degree temperature!)

No work will take place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day or on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. As I mentioned last week, construction is expected to continue into January.

That’s all for today. See you downtown.

Please keep your comments and questions coming. Send me an email at jgish@townofmiddlebury.org and I’ll try to cover it in my next update.