View Full Version : New LT bridge status? Winooski River
Anyone up Vermont way know the latest status on the new bridge or when the new LT - Winooski River suspension bridge will be completed? I saw some pics of the footings and new towers on both sides of the river were up, and last info at the GMC website said fall 2014. I was wondering if the LT bridge and trail reroute will be complete by fall LT hiking season. TIA
The goal remains "Fall of 2014"...
Scheduled finish Oct 2014. A lot depends on the weather. Wouldn't be surprised to see it done by Sept. Not sure how the new section of trail is proceeding.
bamboo bob
06-11-2014, 17:42
I never minded that short road walk through farm steads at all. You have to hitch into Richmond for resupply anyway. I think this is an example of fund raisers trail developers looking for a project because they like to develop not any real need. Why now after 80 years was it so important?
Far from me to criticize the GMC... but I do wonder about the location of the bridge -- it still has you walking way out of your way before and after the river crossing. I hit that roadwalk on a beautiful morning, so I didn't mind it much at all, a nice end to a nice three-day section.
I wish they could spend some effort on cleaning up deadfall from years ago. The 'northern frontier' needs some maintenance. Too bad
everybody has their opinion, and I wish a GMC member who has more background on this bridge would post here ... I did not intend to open a can of worms here, IMO the GMC does a really amazing job in maintaining the Long Trail, and this new bridge has been many years in the making, it took an enormous effort over many years to secure the funding, permits and approval to build it. Having hiked the LT last year, my opinion is this is a huge safety improvement for hikers over that long road walk along a busy highway, with very narrow shoulders on each side for hikers. I was almost hit by a speeding dump truck on that roadwalk last September. I saw a tremendous amount or work that had been done on the LT following Hurricane Irene in 2011, I think the GMC is still recovering from that storm. Trail volunteers rarely get the appreciation they deserve, but are often the target of criticism from the cheap seats.
I agree with Praha4...I'm definitely a supporter of this project.
I plan to start hiking north from the Winooski river mid September and was wondering what the plans are for parking and rerouting... or should I just plan on using the old (current) trail. any place I can see a map of the trail relocation? ...so the bridge Is not located next to the current south side parking lot?
I plan to start hiking north from the Winooski river mid September and was wondering what the plans are for parking and rerouting... or should I just plan on using the old (current) trail. any place I can see a map of the trail relocation? ...so the bridge Is not located next to the current south side parking lot?
Call the folks at the Green Mountain Club. http://www.greenmountainclub.org/
I plan to start hiking north from the Winooski river mid September and was wondering what the plans are for parking and rerouting... or should I just plan on using the old (current) trail. any place I can see a map of the trail relocation? ...so the bridge Is not located next to the current south side parking lot?
Bridge is about 1/2 way or 2/3 of the way to Jonesville from current trailhead -- see map below.
thank you both, Jeff and Rafe!
GMChiker
06-19-2014, 08:27
Hi folks, well this thread brought me out of lurker mode. Richard Windish here, from the GMC board of directors. The bridge is scheduled to be completed this fall, hopefully by October but that depends on how things go. The towers went up this winter and our bridge crew is hard at work right now getting ready to rig the cables, suspension, and decking. The cables should go up in early July, followed by the rest of the structure. The bridge is actually Phase One of the Winooski Valley relocation project; the other phases will involve relocation of the trail on both sides of the river. We have flagged the trail on the North side up Stimson Mountain, and some (but not all) of the footpath has been built. When the bridge is completed, this section of trail will be opened and you will no longer have to walk all the way to Jonesville (Duck Brook shelter and the old LT will be blue-blazed side trail). For now, there will still be a mile or so of road walk on the South side of the bridge (River Road), but this will eventually be eliminated once we relocate the Long Trail through Honey Hollow as shown on the map linked above in this thread. This $2 million project is the largest undertaking since we built the trail more than 100 years ago and we are very excited to finally have a secure crossing of the Winooski River!
Hi folks, well this thread brought me out of lurker mode. Richard Windish here, from the GMC board of directors. The bridge is scheduled to be completed this fall, hopefully by October but that depends on how things go. The towers went up this winter and our bridge crew is hard at work right now getting ready to rig the cables, suspension, and decking. The cables should go up in early July, followed by the rest of the structure. The bridge is actually Phase One of the Winooski Valley relocation project; the other phases will involve relocation of the trail on both sides of the river. We have flagged the trail on the North side up Stimson Mountain, and some (but not all) of the footpath has been built. When the bridge is completed, this section of trail will be opened and you will no longer have to walk all the way to Jonesville (Duck Brook shelter and the old LT will be blue-blazed side trail). For now, there will still be a mile or so of road walk on the South side of the bridge (River Road), but this will eventually be eliminated once we relocate the Long Trail through Honey Hollow as shown on the map linked above in this thread. This $2 million project is the largest undertaking since we built the trail more than 100 years ago and we are very excited to finally have a secure crossing of the Winooski River!
thank you so much for posting -- and for your dedicated service!!! Please keep us updated.
You can see a very recent (June 15, 2014) photo of the Winooski Bridge project, taken from the south side of the river, here: http://longtrailpodcast.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=92sg8tr55ip5i03v0n47rl6jn3&topic=96.0
imscotty
08-26-2014, 09:50
I stopped by to see how the bridge project was going since my recent section started in Jonesville. Here are some pics...
28156
28157
There was a small crew working there on Monday. An impressive bridge. Looks like they are getting ready to put the deck in. Right now it looks like there will still be a bit of a road walk along Duxbury Road to get to the crossing.
Those pictures show how massive this undertaking is for the Green Mountain Club. Future thruhikers on the LT are lucky there are so many GMC members who volunteer and donate to the Long Trail.
That is an impressive piece of engineering. I got to walk over the Lamoille River Bridge on my last LT section hike, and it's quite modest by comparison, I'm guessing half the span of this one.
bigcranky
08-26-2014, 18:06
We caught a ride to Waterbury with a GMC staffer as we came off Bamforth Ridge at the river. He said there would still be a ~2 mile road walk to the bridge, where the trail would cross and then head up a different ridge to the current trail near Duck Brook Shelter.
That seems too bad, since a hiker will still have a 2 mile road walk (instead of 3) but miss the Joneville post office. Oh well, we liked going into Waterbury for rest and resupply.
We caught a ride to Waterbury with a GMC staffer as we came off Bamforth Ridge at the river. He said there would still be a ~2 mile road walk to the bridge, where the trail would cross and then head up a different ridge to the current trail near Duck Brook Shelter.
That seems too bad, since a hiker will still have a 2 mile road walk (instead of 3) but miss the Joneville post office. Oh well, we liked going into Waterbury for rest and resupply.
I have to assume the folks at GMC know what they're doing, but the bridge location does seem odd, as you point out. It will require a lot of rerouting of the trail on both sides of the river, apparently.
imscotty
08-26-2014, 21:24
I have to assume the folks at GMC know what they're doing, but the bridge location does seem odd, as you point out. It will require a lot of rerouting of the trail on both sides of the river, apparently.
If you look at the eventual proposed re-route in Rafe's post (post #11), the plan call for moving the trail off the Duxbury Road and along the river to get to the bridge. I think that a river walk in that area would be very nice. Safe to assume I think that the GMC does indeed know what they are doing.
I appreciate all there work and efforts here and over the length of the beautiful Long Trail.
you make some good points (have not hiked the LT yet but I will this Sept if things go well)