Trails Provide Alternative Transportation Option
by the Charlotte Trails Committee,
March 24, 2011, page 9.....

There it was in a recent article in the Burlington Free Press, confirming what many have been hearing about for a while: there is a groundswell of interest and activity in Vermont to get people out of their cars and onto alternative transportation trails/byways/links. Alternative Transportation grants have been received and used in Burlington, Colchester, Williston and Shelburne within the last several years. Walk/bike/ski/snowshoe transportation routes are springing up throughout Chittenden County.

The Charlotte Trails Committee has been involved in these regional and state discussions. We also share the commitment to alternative transportation. Our goal, though, is more local, more routed within Charlotte. Our goal is to connect the most visited places within our town through an alternative transportation trail. Our goal is to get neighbors and families out safely walking or riding from their homes to town – the library, the Senior Center, the Post Office, the stores, or to the Berry Farm or Mt. Philo after baseball games at the ball fields, for berry picking or a picnic lunch, or to the beach during the summer, all on our alternative transportation trail.

Our current work focuses on the first phase of this alternative transportation route starting at Mt. Philo, then down the Melissa & Trevor Mack Trail, under Route 7, on past the ball fields and the Charlotte Berry Farm and through the Champlain Valley Cohousing property. We have written a grant to help secure funding for this project and are investigating other sources of revenue as well.

The high price of gas these days is certainly helping to raise interest in alternative transportation. But, also,being active in the outdoors is one of the main attractions to living in Vermont. The Charlotte Trails Committee is dedicated to the idea of creating a broader sense of community in Charlotte, of helping neighbors meet neighbors and giving friends and families another way to get outside and meet and gather for healthy activity on the path and at the many destinations along the path.

This spring and summer we look forward to offering walks and other activities for Charlotters to get to know this new trail. Be on the lookout for more detailed information about these outings in The Charlotte News and in flyers around town.

We look forward to seeing you on the trail.