VTrans documents ongoing redesign project at Burlington’s Riverside Avenue intersection complex

The Vermont Agency of Transportation is working with the City of Burlington and engineering firm HNTB on a project to improve the intersection complex where Riverside Avenue, Colchester Avenue, Barrett Street and Mill Street meet in Burlington.

VTrans’ project factsheet, updated July 24, 2026, confirms the project and its partners. But the available factsheet information does not establish a final design, construction cost, construction start date or completion date.

Project covers four-street intersection complex

The project is focused on the Riverside Avenue, Colchester Avenue, Barrett Street and Mill Street intersection complex, rather than on a single roadway segment. VTrans describes the work as an effort to improve the complex.

Riverside and Colchester avenues are among the corridors connected through the junction, alongside Barrett and Mill streets. The project is a Burlington transportation-infrastructure effort involving the state agency, the city and HNTB.

The current source material does not specify which roadway, traffic-control, pedestrian, drainage or other design features will be included. It also does not identify closures, detours, service changes or a timetable for work at the intersection.

Planning information remains limited

The available factsheet establishes that the project is ongoing, but it does not provide enough information to characterize the work as bid, awarded or under construction. No final construction budget or funding breakdown is disclosed in the reviewed factsheet excerpt.

That distinction matters for people who travel through the four-street complex: the documented project should not be treated as a construction notice or as confirmation of a specific traffic or safety outcome. VTrans has not provided, in the available material, a date when construction will begin or when the work will be complete.

Similarly, the source does not quantify expected changes to traffic operations, walking conditions or other transportation outcomes. Those details would require later project documents or notices that identify the selected design and implementation schedule.

Part of a broader capital-planning context

Burlington’s FY26-31 Capital Plan identifies transportation and multimodal infrastructure as active city capital priorities. The plan also includes work associated with the city’s broader transportation network and bike-path connectivity.

The materials provided do not establish a specific budget line, funding source or project schedule for the Riverside Avenue intersection work within that capital plan. For now, the July 24 VTrans factsheet is the confirmed update: the state, city and HNTB are coordinating on improvements at the intersection complex, while key design, cost and construction details remain undisclosed.