Chester to test pedestrian solutions for the Green

Shawn Cunningham
© 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Starting this week there will be some strange looking construction around the Chester Green as the town tries out some ideas for solving a few traffic problems in an attempt to make the area safer for pedestrians and cyclists.

From Thursday, Aug. 28 to Thursday, Sept. 11, Local Motion,  a Burlington non-profit, will be addressing concerns including motorists entering Common Street from the wrong end and entering from the right end going too fast. These and other issues surrounding pedestrian safety will get possible solutions mocked-up to see if they work.

According to Town Manager Julie Hance, the project is funded by a $200,000 grant from Vermont’s Downtown Transportation Fund. Also included in those funds is a walkway from the Cobleigh Street parking lot to the Green, further electrification of the Green and curbing around the Green. Hance told The Telegraph that there is a state initiative to make pedestrian and automobile traffic flow better together. Addressing the problems of people walking along Common Street in traffic as well as wrong way and speeding drivers added weight to the overall grant application.

As for Local Motion’s proposed solutions, Hance says, “Before making anything permanent we want to mock them up so we can see what they feel like.” Hance said it’s better to test this way than investing in infrastructure and find out it’s not effective.

Jack Evans of Local Motion agreed, telling The Telegraph they want to “get things on the street to try out before it becomes expensive, hardened infrastructure.”

Evans called the planters, wood blocks and other objects “street furniture” that could evolve into nicer looking protections for pedestrians.

Everyone who’s spent some time on the Green has seen cars and trucks enter the one way Common Street from the School Street end despite signs and street lettering to the contrary. At the other end, drivers entering from Main Street often do not realize that the Common is used by pedestrians, and they drive in too fast with limited visibility until they are on top of walkers and cyclists.

Local Motion will experiment with narrowing the entrance into Common Street to make it clear that it’s not a continuation of the 25 mph zone. One of the tricky points is to make it passable for trucks that deliver food and goods to the businesses as well as for emergency vehicles.

Creating a sidewalk along the south side of Common Street — in front of the buildings — has been floated as well, but delivery trucks would then have to either block the street entirely or park on the sidewalk, according to Hance.

One idea that has been brought up but won’t be part of this effort is a bump-out at the crosswalk on Main Street from in front of the Academy Building to the Green. Bump-outs will be tested at the crosswalk on Common Street and across School Street.

Evans explained that the bump-outs have several advantages, including visually narrowing the road to make drivers more alert to pedestrian crossings and giving pedestrians crossing less “street distance” to cross. Standing on a raised area instead of in the street before crossing also give pedestrians a greater sense of comfort.

But Route 11 has heavy truck traffic – including oversize loads – and the relatively lightweight mockup bumps would not stand up to the wear and tear for long. And speaking of wear and tear, with the dates selected for the pop up, the proposed solutions will get both a holiday weekend and a Labor Day rally as a test.

Evans said that a number of the ideas came from the Village Center Master Plan  produced in 2017.

Local Motion has a survey for people to log their reactions to the pop-up project and to add ideas and suggestions. Click here for the survey.