All photos taken southbound.


VT 2A SB at the northern stub beginning of VT 289. 289 was intended to be I-289, a four-lane freeway bypass of Burlington also serving Essex Junction. Since only Essex Junction itself has a traffic problem, only the part of 289 around Essex Junction has been constructed. The plans are very much alive to connect the freeway to I-89 at both ends, but that's up to when the need and the funding both arise. Also distant in the future will be the dualization of VT 289 to be the four lanes an Interstate highway requires.


Looking north at the NB lanes (which are really heading west) and then looking west at the NB stub of VT 289. All that space is obviously meant for a through highway, and in the summer you would see paved stubs.


Onto the highway, which starts with a second climbing lane, then through a pair of interchanges with plenty of room underneath the overpasses for an extra set of lanes. The exit gores are in fact staggered so that at a diamond interchange (or the half-diamond stubs at either end), one side's exit ramp will come in farther east or west than the other side's entrance ramp (or vice versa) - this is because once the highway is twinned, the ramps will line up perfectly. Also, not shown here because winter snow hides things, there is a stub trumpet at Exit 11 that should eventually tie into Allen Martin Parkway south of Essex. Notice that the sign on the Exit 9 overpass has room for three upcoming exits, but only two are listed. This could either reflect the missing Exit 11 (with the third exit moved into the second slot for the time being), or the missing I-89 connection to the south of VT 117.


To the other stub, which appears to be close to extension (depending on how strongly VTAOT pushes agaisnt the NIMBY crowd).

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