Officials in Vermont’s largest city marked the completion of Phase One of the rehabilitation of the Burlington Bike Path and provided an update on the next phase of its construction today.
The Burlington Bike Path, also known as the Greenway, runs 8 miles from Oakledge Park through the city along the Lake Champlain shore, ending in the north end of the city at the Winooski River. Officials consider it a major element of the city’s recreation system and a tourism attraction that links neighborhoods, businesses and parks across Burlington.
Wednesday morning, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger stood at the third “pause place” along the bike path to announce that a significant milestone had been reached in the multiyear effort to refurbish the lakeshore corridor. “We broke ground 3 years ago now on what we have called Phase 1 of the bike path. And this has involved rebuilding everything from essentially the ECHO Center and College Street up to North Beach. And it has included what you’re standing in now the first of a number of these new amenities, these new pause places. This is really the most dramatic section of rebuilding in this 8 mile long rebuilding and it is really I think expanded our sense of what, what, what, what we can do here on the bike path and what these public spaces should be.”
Recreation, city and regional health officials cut a ribbon at one of three new “pause places,” which have been sponsored by the UVM Medical Center Health Network. CEO Dr. John Brumsted says the investment of a quarter million dollars to install exercise equipment at the stops emphasizes health while engaging the community. “There’s a placard that describes the appropriate use of the exercise equipment from steps to chin up bars to various ways to exercise. It’s just a great, great approach.”
The Bike Path is maintained by the city Parks and Recreation Department. Until he left the department last week to lead the United Way, Jesse Bridges helped spearhead the improvements. “Communities before us had the vision to leave this space for us to determine what we were going to do with it in the future to conserve this property. We’ve reinvented it. We have planted hundreds of native trees and shrubs and perennials. You know this is a former brownfield too so not only have we created all these great spaces but we’ve made it a healthier place.”
Burlington City Councilor Kurt Wright represents the area of the city where the next improvements on the bike path will occur. “This path is an economic driver for the city of Burlington and for the entire region. It brings in several million dollars a year in economic activity to Burlington and the region and I think it’s only going to bring in more dollars to the area. You know we have sections up here that are crumbling and it’s going turn this into a world class bike path.”
Construction on Phase 2 begins next week for the 3.3-mile section from North Beach to the Winooski Bridge. In 2018 plans call for reconstruction of the southern section to Oakledge Park and Austin Drive. Overall reconstruction of the bike path will be completed in 2020. The estimated total cost to rehabilitate the Burlington Bike Path is between $13 and $16 million.
