The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it won’t approve construction permits for the Circumferential Highway project in Williston if it’s built as originally planned.
But state Transportation Secretary Neale Lunderville says he believes there’s room for modifications that would satisfy the federal regulators.
According to draft document released in August, the alternatives for the design include building it between Interstate 89 in Williston and Vermont 117 in Essex, making changes to Vermont 2A to improve traffic flow or building some combination of those two options.
In a November 16 letter, EPA Regional Administrator Robert Varney said that only the Vermont 2A alternative would win approval.