Tapped out
The Ultimate
County forester pens book, looks to future
Sport continues to grow at Champlain Valley
Page 2
Page 10
May 16, 2024
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Weekly news coverage for Charlotte and Hinesburg
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Residents debate Holmes Creek bridge future LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
PHOTO COURTESY OF MARIE AMBUSK
Andrea Morgante, center, poses with Sara Lovitz and her kids during the workshop.
Hinesburg residents plant trees on town common JACOB MILLER-ARSENAULT COMMUNITY NEWS SERVICE
Lush green fields and rolling farmlands frame the drive into Hinesburg on Route 116, which was strangely devoid of Green Up Day volunteers on an overcast but temperate morning last Saturday. That might’ve been because
residents were busy with another environmentally friendly project downtown. On the Hinesburg Town Common behind the police and fire stations, a band of volunteers put on a tree care workshop received by about two dozen attendees throughout the day. The workshop demonstrated the “three Ps,” said
organizer Andrea Morgante, longtime town government participant and noted green thumb: planting, pruning and procurement. The hope is to train volunteers who will take an active role in planting and caring for the 50-plus trees set to See TREES on page 16
The Vermont Agency of Transportation asked Charlotte residents last week for feedback on a study it’s conducting to fix the historic Holmes Creek covered bridge. The agency in February outlined some relatively large structural deficiencies and deterioration in the bridge’s structure. Some of the worst conditions are found in the bridge’s trusses, arch, floor beams and bottom chord, which have substantial splits, rot and damage, according to Hoyle Tanner, the engineering firm working with VTrans. “The cross beams help keep the trusses vertical so they don’t tip out and the knee braces are important for keeping the lateral stability of the covered bridges,” Joseph Ducharme, an engineer with Hoyle Tanner, said. “The unfortunate thing is crossbeams and knee braces are the things that get hit the most by oversized vehicles when they go through it.” The bridge was constructed in 1870 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Although the bridge has not been fully rehabilitated since 1993, the selectboard approved minor temporary fixes to the bridge in February.
Due to its historic designation, the rehabilitation project is meant to preserve the bridge as much as possible. “We can make some changes,” Judith Ehrlich, the VTrans Historic Preservation Officer, said. “When we’re rehabilitating something historic, the goal is to try to retain as much original material as possible. But if something was designed poorly, and it’s consistently rotting over the years and you replace it and then it rots again, we can make changes to that design, subtle changes.” Most residents who packed the town hall last week supported the idea of closing the bridge to car traffic altogether and allow just pedestrians and cyclists. “I have thought for years that the right answer for this bridge is to restrict it to pedestrian and bicycle use only,” resident Mike Russell said. “I think at the top of this what I heard is the fundamental objective for this project is to preserve a historic structure, which was not designed to carry modern vehicles. So, anything you do to upgrade it to carry heavier vehicles is going to be contrary to that prime objective. I wouldn’t personally be willing to lose that ability to see this See BRIDGE on page 12
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