Main Street project gets $70,000 grant for final details

June 17, 2020  |  By Indigo Glaza

The Main Street project will transform the downtown streetscape. When complete, overhead wires will be gone; sidewalks, curbs, lighting will be replaced; aesthetic features will include hanging baskets, benches, bike racks and information kiosks. Photo by Gordon Miller.

Looking down Main Street in Waterbury today, it takes some imagination to picture the future streetscape empty of the thick, black power lines criss-crossing the scene with flower baskets hanging from new street lamps, benches and bicycle racks conveniently located along fresh, smooth sidewalks. 

But that’s just what the designers envisioned when planning the $21 million Main Street project now in its second of three years of construction. And a recently announced $70,000 state grant will supply the final funding needed to complete the finishing touches on the project sometime next year. 

The Vermont Downtown Development Board has awarded the Town of Waterbury $70,000 from the Downtown Transportation Fund for the Main Street Streetscape Project.

The grant adds to the $100,000 awarded in 2017 for a total of $170,000 to fund improvements pertaining to the aesthetics of Main Street once the heavy construction is completed, according to the project’s Waterbury point person, Barb Farr. 

The project requested an additional $70,000 due to both the initial budget expanding, as well as the cost of the project going up. “The sub-contractor bids that came in were higher than we had anticipated. There were additional items that we were requesting as part of phase two, and then also some of the shortfall from the cost of the kiosks that were more expensive,” Farr said. 

The state grant funding is matched by $170,000 from local and federal governments for a total of $340,000, according to Farr. “The split was 95% federal, 3% state, and 2% local,” she said. 

Most of the funding will pay for five information kiosks costing $120,000, and 17 street lamps costing $170,000, according to the project budget outlined in the grant application. Other amenities include six benches, five bicycle racks, five trash and recycling receptacles with attached dog waste stations, 30 banners and 26 hanging flower baskets.  

The Downtown Transportation Fund supports revitalization efforts in designated downtowns each year with over $300,000 in funding. It invests in the infrastructure of public spaces to stimulate public investment in Vermont’s downtowns. 

The Main Street Streetscape Project is part of the larger Main Street project currently underway by the Vermont Department of Transportation. That multi-million investment replaces all of the aging water and wastewater infrastructure and upgrades stormwater infrastructure, curbing and sidewalks. Overhead utility lines will be installed underground and lighting will be replaced with period lampposts through the core of the downtown. 

Other improvements are planned to increase pedestrian safety and add structures to provide historic and local information for residents and visitors.  

Revitalizing Waterbury and its Design Committee have worked with the town of Waterbury to plan these streetscape improvements. Revitalizing Waterbury will be involved in maintaining some of the new amenities such as the planting of the flower baskets that will be added by the project.

“It’s exciting to see all our hard work come to fruition,” Farr said in announcing the grant. “We are looking forward to spending time on Main Street, made all the more beautiful, with these enhancements.”        

There still is much work to be done before these aesthetic features will be installed. Main Street presently is under construction from end to end with sewer lines being replaced, utilities being buried, and permanent curbs and sidewalks being installed.  Motorists are driving on gravel in some areas and some sections will be under construction at night. 

Project details and weekly updates are online on the project’s website, Waterbury Works.