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Potash Brook Bridge & Shelburne Rd. from West UTM 18 0642270E, 4923017N |
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| Louis McAllister took this historic photograph on November 20, 1928. It documents completed improvements to the Potash Brook Bridge from the west. According to the Annual Report in 1927, work on the bridge was completed during the summer of 1927. New fill raised the grade of the road about three feet and widened it t about forty-two feet between guardrails. The total cost of the project was $20,527.01, showing public works projects ran over budget in the past just as they do now. [1]
The Annual Report of 1928 gives additional narrative of the repair work. Apparently the bridge had been constructed in 1927, but owing to “the severe rains during the flood period of November, 1927 the soft shoulders were quite badly washed” and therefore regarding was necessary to the surface in order to complete the roadway over the bridge. [2] By the time this photograph was taken, all work was complete. The improved bridge marks the far reaches of the Burlington City limits. In 1928, this area of Burlington had yet to be developed and thus trees and open land dominate this image. [1] Burlington City Annual Report, 1927 p. 224-227. |
In 2006, dramatic changes have occurred to the landscape. Shelburne Road at the Potash Brook is no longer a country highway, but a major throughway shuttling heavy traffic to and from the center of Burlington. The brook has seemingly disappeared. While it is not actually gone, today the brook flows through a 725-foot long culvert as it approaches Shelburne Road it enters a second 725-foot long culvert. [3] Thus today, no remnant of the brook is visible from this spot any longer. In its place is the incomplete road dubbed the “Southern Connector.” An environmental impact statement from 1979 describes this long-stalled public works project, which encompassed the “construction of approximately 2 ½ miles of highway known as the Southern Connector … commencing at the interchange of I 189 with Shelburne Street (US 7) and extending westerly and northerly to the intersection of Battery and King Streets in the Burlington Central Business District.” [4] As is quite obvious from this image, construction on the Southern Connector did begin after this Environmental Impact Statement was approved. However, shortly after construction began, coal gastification waste was found on part of the project site known as the Pine Street Barge Canal. This discovery caused major delays as clean-up plans and alternate routes for the Connector were discussed. [5] Today, the incomplete Southern Connector is closed to traffic. Despite the setbacks, efforts continue to clean up the waste and get the project completed.[3] www.shelburnebay.org/pages/facts/html. |
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Historic Burlington Project Depression Era Streetscapes: Old North End | Burlington 1890 | Burlington 1877 | Burlington 1869 | Burlington 1853 | Burlington 1830 Produced by University of Vermont Historic Preservation Program graduate students in HP 206 Researching Historic Structures and Sites - Prof. Thomas Visser - in collaboration with UVM Landscape Change Program Historic images courtesy of University of Vermont Library Special Collections, Louis L. McAllister Photograph Collection |
