By Laird MacDowell, Chair, Lamoille Valley Rail Trail Committee

The planned Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (LVRT) will be a 93-mile long, four-season recreation path extending across the state of Vermont from Swanton to St. Johnsbury, covering three counties and eighteen towns.  The recreation path will be located on the former Lamoille Valley Rail Road corridor and will be used in the winter for snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing and in the summer for walking, running, cycling and horseback riding. The LVRT project is sponsored by the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (VAST), the statewide snowmobile organization.

Representatives from the engineering firm VAB conducted public presentations of the "25% Conceptual Plans" or the rail trail construction plans at three locations in December:  Swanton, Morrisville and Danville.  The presentations can be viewed at the LVRT website: www.lvrt.org, along with maps of the trail and links to media reports about the project.

Nearly all of the necessary state permits have been obtained and the final step is submission of an Act 250 environmental application.  If the Act 250 permit can be obtained in a reasonable amount of time it is possible that trail construction could begin this year.  While the initial construction will consist of repairing washouts and culverts along with bridge repair and replacement, plans are to build short sections of the trail to completion with a final surface of crushed limestone to serve as "showcase" for the public to generate financial support for the project.