Work on VT's first DDI in Colchester to enhance mobility and safety resumes with S.D. Ireland Brothers Corp. Renovation of Essex County Courthouse in Guildhall, waiting since the 1980s, set to start in July 2025 to address safety, privacy and HVAC issues. Collaboration aims to preserve historic buildings.
VTrans photo
VTrans will resume improving the roadway along the U.S. Highway 2/7 corridor.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) will resume improving the roadway along the U.S. Highway 2/7 corridor, in the vicinity of Interstate 89's Exit 16, to enhance mobility and safety in Colchester, a town just north of Burlington.
After taking a months-long hiatus, phase two of the project will include the installation of Vermont's first diverging diamond interchange (DDI), as well as additional turn lanes and pedestrian and bicycle accommodations.
VTrans awarded the contract to S.D. Ireland Brothers Corp. in Williston, Vt., for approximately $22.5 million.
Construction on the latest phase of the contract is anticipated to begin later this summer and conclude in the summer of 2027.
The project area extends from the Colchester-Winooski town line north for approximately 1 mi. to just beyond the intersection of Sunderland Woods Road at U.S. 2/7. The core of the work involves reconfiguring the current interchange at I-89's Exit 16, a grade-separated tight diamond interchange with I-89 crossing over U.S. 2/7 via two bridges.
The existing interchange yields frequent traffic congestion, lengthy delays and significant queuing during peak hours. VTrans said these existing conditions are a safety concern with a high number of incidents, collisions and a lack of accommodations for non-motorized travel.
Within a DDI, traffic crosses to the left side of the roadway, allowing drivers to make a left onto the interstate entrance ramps without crossing oncoming traffic. DDIs are designed to reduce conflict points that eliminate potential collisions and improve vehicle safety. With left turn movements operating freely within the DDI, the traffic signals no longer require protected left-turn phasing, thus improving overall traffic operations at the interchange.
Other improvements include:
• installing turn lanes at the Mountain View Drive, Hercules Drive and Rathe Road intersections with U.S. 2/7;
• modernizing the traffic signals at South Park Drive, I-89 Exit 16, Mountain View Drive, Hercules Drive, Rathe Road and at Tigan Street in the City of Winooski; and
• building dedicated pedestrian and shared pedestrian/bicycle facilities.
According to VTrans, construction of the I-89 Exit 16 DDI project was planned to take place over two phases under separate contracts and be executed sequentially.
The bid for the first contract was advertised in mid-2022 before being awarded to S.D. Ireland Brothers that August. The first phase of construction began the following winter and primarily consisted of upgrading the U.S. 2/7 corridor at I-89 until it was finished in the fall of 2023, VTrans noted.
That work also involved utility upgrades and relocations, ledge removal, construction of retaining walls for future pedestrian and bicycle accommodations and the installation of drainage infrastructure.
The gap between the road project's two phases allows VTrans to better manage costs and materials, it said, and provides private utility companies the time to relocate infrastructure in advance of phase two.
Essex County Courthouse to Get a Much-Needed Upgrade
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed the state's Capital Construction bill recently, which has $3.6 million earmarked for a major renovation of the Essex County courthouse, the Meeting House and one other building. They are within the small town of Guildhall, which serves as the Essex County seat, located in far northeast Vermont.
What officials are calling the "Connector Project" will be added to the back of the buildings beginning in July, 2025.
The Newport Daily Express reported May 29, 2025, that it has been decades since the buildings were upgraded and that work happened in the 1980s with the addition of a new bathroom and more running water in the Meeting House.
Former state Sen. Vince Illuzzi said there was a bathroom off the main courthouse, with a curtain used for a door.
"It was the only change to the building since it was built," he told the Newport newspaper.
It is believed the county courthouse was built in the 1840s.
Now serving as Essex County state's attorney, Illuzzi is very familiar with the facilities.
"People are tripping over each other; there's no privacy," he said. "Victims of assault are standing a few feet from the defendant."
There are other long-standing problems within the three buildings, including no HVAC system, meaning very hot summers and extremely cold winters indoors. An air conditioning unit was installed, but when turned on, the noise makes it difficult for people in the courtroom to hear one another.
Illuzzi's recollections were echoed by Sarah Buxton, an attorney at Tarrant, Gillies and Shems in Montpelier, who said the buildings are long overdue for a major renovation.
Besides there being no room to separate victims in the courthouse from the people charged with crime, the absence of meeting rooms for attorneys to confer with their clients in privacy is also a major problem. Judges, too, have complained of safety issues at the courthouse.
In an interview with the Daily Express last fall, Buxton said it got to a point where efforts were made to close the courthouse and transfer the cases to the Caledonia Courthouse in nearby St. Johnsbury.
Essex County Sheriff Trevor Colby also supports an upgrade to the building. He said it is illegal to transfer cases from Guildhall to St. Johnsbury and at one point made a motion to quash a subpoena directing him to travel to Caledonia County for a case.
"If the offense is here, victims are here, [along with witnesses and jurors], they shouldn't have to drive to St. Johnsbury," Colby said, adding that the Vermont Legislature needs to upgrade the buildings, or close them down completely.
He acknowledged, though, that shuttering the courthouse is not in the best interests of county residents.
Essex County Side Judges Evan Hammond and Kenn Stransky had lobbied for two years to convince Scott and the state legislature to expend the funds necessary for security and safety upgrades.
In a news release, Hammond and Stransky referred to the buildings as "an iconic, historic, picturesque collection of three county buildings located on the north side of the County Common since the 1940s; none [of which] have seen serious upgrades in decades."
Recent safety and security concerns finally prompted Vermont's judiciary to collaborate with the elected Essex County Side Judges and Vermont's Department of Historic Preservation to design a structure that could solve the security issues while being sensitive to the historic icons.
"Virtually everyone looking at the design plans created by [the] St. Johnsbury firm EHDanson Architects [end up agreeing that] their proposal is brilliant," Hammond and Stransky noted in their news release.
The Daily Express reported that the new plans reveal that a new connector would be located behind the Meeting House and courthouse, and include ADA-compliant bathrooms, staff workspace, a new lobby, meeting room spaces for attorneys and their clients, holding cells for defendants and a closed-door Sallyport garage for a prisoner transport vehicle.
There also would be a room for pre-trial jurors to gather without having to walk outside between buildings.
"It's been a 30-year battle to keep it open," Illuzzi said of the Essex County courthouse. "[Judge] David Suntag didn't want to go to Guildhall. We successfully fought those battles in the Legislature."
Hammond and Stransky added in their joint statement that the "collaboration between local and statewide legislators, the Vermont judiciary, the town, the county and the governor's offices has been refreshing and rewarding for all involved over the past two years. We all look forward to breaking ground this summer."
During the construction phase, the courthouse will be closed and all hearings will take place at the Meeting House. In addition, court staff will be housed at the sheriff's office.
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