History
The four-lane portion of VT 279 between VT 67A and US 7 was built in the early 1970s and designated VT 67A Connector in 1974. However, construction did not begin on the remainder of the route west of VT 67A (including the short continuation into Hoosick, New York) until the early 2000s. Work on the bypass concluded with the opening of VT 279 on October 12, 2004. The number "279" was chosen because it provides a bypass for both US 7 and VT 9.
Construction on an extension of VT 279 southeast to VT 9 began in July 2007. The highway was built as a two-lane undivided roadway, similar to that constructed between Hoosick and Bennington. It was officially opened on August 30, 2012, and cost roughly $70 million to build. Construction plans for the northern segment called for the existing interchange between US 7 and VT 279 to be reconfigured to accommodate a welcome center located within the exit.
Read more about this topic: Vermont Route 279
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“We may pretend that we’re basically moral people who make mistakes, but the whole of history proves otherwise.”
—Terry Hands (b. 1941)
“There is a constant in the average American imagination and taste, for which the past must be preserved and celebrated in full-scale authentic copy; a philosophy of immortality as duplication. It dominates the relation with the self, with the past, not infrequently with the present, always with History and, even, with the European tradition.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“Boys forget what their country means by just reading “the land of the free” in history books. Then they get to be men, they forget even more. Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books.”
—Sidney Buchman (1902–1975)