Williamsburg Select Board weighs competing Mountain Street road redesign alternatives

WILLIAMSBURG -- July 12, 2021, Williamsburg residents pushed the Select Board to seek a scaled-back Mountain Street road redesign at the July 12 meeting. Multiple speakers urged the board to formally request "alternative four" over the currently preferred "alternative five," arguing the broader design would push project costs from roughly $12 million to $18 or $19 million and potentially jeopardize future state transportation funding for the town. One resident warned that local ancillary costs, easements, well and leach field relocations, legal fees, would also raise taxes regardless of state and federal contributions. A police official presented preliminary radar board data collected July 7 through July 12 showing that of 4,152 southbound speed readings on Mountain Street, 3,190 were at or below 40 mph, and only four exceeded 55 mph; zero northbound readings exceeded 55 mph out of just over 4,200 captured. The official said the department plans to run boards in blank-screen mode to gather uninfluenced baseline data. No formal votes were taken.