A critical section of Corridor Trail 100 was recently closed at the landowners request. This section of the trail is owned by the Turner Family in Waitsfield and is located between Meadow Road and the Church Of The Crucified One. The Turners' have long been friends of the Mad River Ridge Runners and have requested our support.
The following article appeared in the December 1, 2005 issue of the Valley Reporter.
Turners close lands to public access to pressure AOT
By Lisa Loomis
Waitsfield dairy farmers Doug and Sharon Turner, along with their son Joe, have taken the drastic step of closing their lands to public and to recreational uses as a means of sending a message to the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
For over 10 years, the Turners have been in negotiations, or trying to be, with the Vermont Agency of Transportation to have a cow underpass installed under Route 100 as it passes by their farm just south of the Moretown town line on Route 100.
"It's a matter of public safety," Doug Turner said, pointing out that twice a day, at peak traffic hours, he and his son are stopping traffic on Route 100 to move 50 cows from one side of the road to another. They alert drivers to their work via a solar-powered warning light on the side of the road. The light doesn't always work, and drivers don't always stop.
"When I raised the issue with them (AOT) as a matter of public safety, they asked me if anyone had gotten killed yet," Turner said, expressing frustration at such shortsightedness in safety and traffic planning. While no one has been killed, three cows have been hit, some with serious injuries.
Turner said his Holsteins are 1,600 to 1,800 pounds, bigger than moose and said because of their size and height, if hit, they will roll up a car's hood and strike the windshield. To avoid that, they want to move their cows from one side of the road to another via a concrete culvert-like structure that is six feet by six feet on the inside. To install it means digging up Route 100, and digging down under the road a bit, installing the culvert, burying it and adding a gentle rise to the road before re-paving it.
After over a decade of apparently futile negotiations, the Turners are closing their lands to the public and asking for the public's help in lobbying the AOT to install the underpass. Their lands are widely used by snowmobilers, cross country skiers, dog sled racers and they also host the canoe pull-out and bike start portion of the annual Sugarbush Triathlon. Their lands are open for hunting and fishing as well.
"This is the only card we've got in our hand. We need help from the people who use the land. We've done what we could to pressure the AOT through our elected officials and it's not enough. The snowmobilers can't get in and out of The Valley without us. Our land makes up two miles of their trail network," he said.
"Our local schools, the towns and the planning district support the underpass as a matter of public safety," Turner said. So too do local state representatives going all the way back to Lixi Fortna. Turner has talked to State Representatives Fortna, Bruce Hyde, Judy DiMario, Kinny Connell and most recently, current State Representative Carol Hosford. In each case, the local representatives have pled his case to the AOT -- to no avail.
On one instance Washington County State Senator Bill Doyle returned a call from Turner about the issue, but told him he had only one minute to hear about the problem. Since they first approached the Agency of Transportation about the idea they have received inconsistent answers and reasons for why an underpass was appropriate or inappropriate for their property.
Initially, an underpass was proposed for very near their driveway and was estimated at a cost of $280,000. A newer proposal would move the underpass a little bit further north, but with a significantly increased price tag of $1,000,000. That second proposal, however, has never been engineered, has never been officially proposed and either is, or is not, part of the AOT's vast, multi-year project plan.
The Turners have been told that there is and is not funding for an underpass. They have been told that funding exists in an account created with funds from other federal monies which have not been used and they have been told that there is no such account and no funds.
"The last time I talked to the state about this was last spring and there were only two members of the transportation appropriations committee present. They said my proposed underpass was 'impractical' because I don't own the land on the west side of the road," Turner said, adding that it is highly likely he could get a cattle easement to move his cows to his own land from the underpass.
"I think the state is just using that million dollar price tag to scare people off of the project. That number is a bluff. The underpass has never been engineered for that spot. I was at public planning meetings for rebuilding Route 100 this spring where AOT people said they could rebuild an entire mile of Route 100 for $1.5 million," he continued.
Turner said that historically, because it is a public safety issue, the state has funded cow underpasses.
Turner asked that people concerned about the issue contact local legislators as well as Washington County Senators Phil Scott, Ann Cummings and Bill Doyle. Scott was slated to meet with the Turners and others to discuss the issue on November 30 as
The Valley Reporter went to press.
Doug and Sharon Turner, whose land was donated to the Vermont Land Trust some years back, are the third generation to farm the land. Their son Joe, 27, is following in their footsteps.
