Our Highway Deficiencies: How Route 7 Explains 20th Century Vermont

In 1957, Governor Joseph Johnson promised the citizens of southwestern Vermont that the state would rebuild the region’s main north-south highway, Route 7, “to standards comparable with the interstate system.” In the two decades that followed the question of what to do with Route 7 became a topic of bitter dispute in the region. Supporters of a new road hoped that the conversion of Route 7 to a divided, four-lane, limited-access highway would stimulate the region’s economy. Detractors of a new road saw it as potentially an existential threat to the way of life enjoyed by the region’s residents. The …