Traffic study: Tourists, new homes push Stowe to peak congestion

“The results are somewhat sobering but not fully surprising,” reads the town’s summary of a report being undertaken by engineering consultants Stantec. “Stowe’s success as an economic driver for the Town, Region, and State has practically reached the limits of what our local highway system capacity can accommodate. This has resulted in the sometimes-paralyzing congestion occurring more frequently,” the summary read.

For all the talk about visitors who clog up the roads, the study also points to a building boom in town. According to the town, there are 188 housing units under construction or permitted and 118 more recently proposed. There are also about 50 lodging units under construction.

Much of the talk in communities around the state about the increased zoning density that comes with the passage of Vermont’s Act 47 — also known as the HOME Act — focuses on all those new homes’ impact on water and sewer. However, the town’s summary adds, “an important factor that this effort documents is that our highway network is at its critical capacity limits.”

It may come as no surprise to anyone who drives a car with a green and white license plate, but the notion that the shortcut between Route 100 and Mountain Road through Moscow and Barrows roads is some locals’ secret is a distant idea in the rear-view mirror.

Stantec identifies the intersections at both ends of that shortcut as the two most critical intersections ripe for major improvements.

The intersection of Luce Hill and Mountain roads is the highest priority, which didn’t surprise town officials, since it has already been added to the Vermont Agency of Transportation’s highway improvement program. However, the town has not yet received any word on when the state will put the project on its work schedule.

In addition to improving the Y-shaped intersection, a nearby bridge on Luce Hill Road is on the repair list. Stantec also recommends a traffic signal there at some point.

As a comparison, according to the town, the Route 100/West Hill Road intersection reconfiguration that last year brought the very first tri-colored traffic signal to Stowe took five years from design to completion.

The next highest priority for roadwork is the intersection of Route 100 and Moscow Road, which Stantec estimates will reach peak congestion one of these days. Over the past couple of decades, drivers have frequently called that intersection dangerous — quick acceleration is a must for anyone making a left-hand turn off Moscow Road, and drivers regularly pass on the shoulder on Route 100 as cars wait to turn onto Moscow Road.

Stantec recommends a roundabout there, an idea that has been floated before.

Although the most recent observations for the nearly finished Stantec report took place last summer and fall, the failure of a private culvert near Stowe Mountain Resort following mid-December flooding raised some eyebrows among road worriers. Added to the goals of the report are wider shoulders along Mountain Road to both allow for cyclists during warm weather months and for emergency vehicles year-round.

A longer-term goal might, in the distant future, include the construction of an unpaved bypass route for emergency vehicles, which could serve double duty as an extension of the popular Stowe Recreation Path.