Stowe must rethink traffic situation

Putting aside the proposed beer factory’s aesthetics, there remains the predominant issue of traffic, traffic and more traffic.

A survey of same (by RST of White River Junction, bought and paid for by the petitioner) provided for them the intended results. Keeping their finding of only a “one-second” peak hour weekday delay (8 seconds on weekends) on Route 108 in mind, one cannot help but be skeptical of this projection when reality hits in the form of fall foliage, ski, holiday and Stowe festival seasons.

Unless something else is anticipated, why would the town have to lay out the money for a new left-turn lane on Mountain Road for such a delay? If indeed that is warranted, perhaps the same should be considered for Cottage Club Road.

Ms. Nancy Stead’s comments (Stowe Reporter column, June 19) were right on the mark concerning the Route 108/Luce Hill intersection. For years already during high-peak travel times, one could observe drivers diverting through the Stowe Motel property to avoid the delays on Mountain Road. Inject into the mix that the auto and truck traffic going to the brewery must also later exit said brewery and traverse from Cottage Club Road, merging again with Mountain Road (quickly) before facing the Luce Hill intersection just 79 yards away.

Has anyone, other than Ms. Stead, considered this complex integration of vehicles when combined with the planned scale and intensity (of visits per day) in this proposal?

Possibly a regrettable moment is on the horizon, where Stowe questions itself and wonders why we didn’t anticipate fully these traffic ramifications. Perhaps the board should take a sip of Heady Topper and sit down and spend some time rethinking this important matter.

John Fish

Stowe