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New Interstates Pushed Vermont To Modern Age (cont. )

Construction of the 321 miles of four-lane highway was a tremendous undertaking: It began in 1957 at the Massachusetts border. The first six miles, from the border to just south of Brattleboro, opened in 1958. It would be 1978 before Interstates 89 and 91 were completed in the state; a spur of Interstate 93 from New Hampshire to St. Johnsbury was completed in 1982.

"Vermont had never seen anything like it," said Paul Guare, the executive secretary of the state Transportation Board back when the interstate was under construction. To build one 23-mile stretch of highway near St. Albans took 17,000 cubic yards of concrete, 3 million pounds of reinforced steel, 8 million pounds of structural steel, 38,000 linear feet of steel piping and 11,000 linear feet of timber piling to support bridge piers and abutments.

Vermont engineers, used to working on small road projects or relatively tiny bridges, were now designing and building sweeping stretches of highway, including twin 1,059-foot spans over the White River in Hartford.

The construction was not without controversy: It plowed down hundreds of residences and businesses, split dozens of farms and forced the relocation of many people. It also sucked the life out of some communities and killed off some businesses.

"It really took the heart out of Bolton," said Bertha LaFreniere of Bolton a few years after the completion of the interstate. The road ate up several houses and took all or part of five working farms in the community. Stanley Patch, who owned the Cedar Crest Motel on Route 5 in Bellows Falls, said business "went right downhill" following the opening of the interstate.

Guare said recently there was little controversy over the condemnations necessary for the interstate because most people understood the value of the project. "The interstate was seen to the answer to many, if not most, of Vermont's problems," said Guare. "It was universally applauded. "People were mostly happy to settle with the state because they were favorably disposed to the interstate," he said. "Today I don't think it could be built. The litigation would drag on for years."

One person who refused to settle with the state was Romaine Tenney, 64, of Ascutney, whose 75-acre farm would be bisected by a cloverleaf where Interstate 91 would meet Route 31. He refused $13,600 from the state for the farm. Then, in 1964, the night after the sheriff came with a court order to clear out the house and barn, Tenney died in a fire that destroyed the house.

The Tenney tragedy was clearly the exception as Vermont and Vermonters welcomed the interstates.The feeling was summed up in a promotional brochure from the department of highways, which said the interstate "is being designed for traffic in 1975 and the years beyond... to increase public safety; to save farm-to-market costs through reducing operating costs and travel time; to increase trade and travel in the state and to link Vermont into the modern national superhighway system. "The federal government will meet 90 percent of interstate costs, the state 10 percent, a bargain for generations to come."