Steel piles being hammered into the ground on St. Paul Street. Credit: Alicia Freese
People living on the northwestern edge of downtown Burlington have noticed their windows rattling and floors shaking. Several residents have contacted the mayor’s office or inquired about the phenomenon on Front Porch Forum.

Normally hallmark indications of an earthquake, these tremors, it turns out, are manmade. They’re coming from the construction of the Chittenden County Transportation Authority’s new transit center on St. Paul Street.

More specifically, explained CCTA project manager Stephen Carlson, they’re caused by a massive hammer that is driving steel piles nearly 30 feet into the ground. The tall strips of steel will prevent dirt from caving in when workers start excavating in preparation for laying the foundation.

The station is being built next to a church, several office buildings and the Burlington Town Center mall. Carlson said he’s been regularly visiting people at the surrounding buildings to make sure the noise levels and vibrations aren’t too intrusive. He’s also placed a seismograph — an instrument generally used to measure the force and duration of earthquakes — in Vermont Health Commissioner Harry Chen’s office, which overlooks the construction site, to make sure the vibrations aren’t significant enough to impact the structural integrity of nearby buildings. 

A rendering of the future transit center. Credit: Courtesy: CCTA
Carlson, who said he hadn’t anticipated that the vibrations would affect residents living on the outskirts of the project, noted, “We are trying our hardest to reduce the amount of discomfort.” 

The $7.7 million construction project — 80 percent of which is federally funded — should be complete by next fall. The transit station will have an indoor waiting area and restrooms for riders and a break room for drivers. Outdoor platforms will have buttons that activate radiant heat.  

As for the vibrations, those should stop sometime next week, although the hammering will briefly resume later this fall — when the steel piles will be removed.

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Alicia Freese was a Seven Days staff writer from 2014 through 2018.

4 replies on “Burlington Construction Rattles Downtown and Beyond”

  1. People called the mayor’s office and were told to get used to it because the mayor is selling Burlington off to developers.

  2. Sounds pretty darn nice! Could use a reverse-cooling alternative here in Austin. Upper 80s today, back to near mid-90s tomorrow through most of the week!

  3. Selling Burlington off to developers? It’s a bus station for public transportation lol hold onto your tin foil hat

  4. Thanks, Wayne. Whereas this particular project may not be generating a ton of money for the mayor and/or one of his friends, the succession of them to follow sure will. Therefore, get used to the construction, there is plenty to come and not all of it is going to be building a bus station for public transportation.

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