Welcome everyone, super happy to see you all here. Usually I do a big long introduction because we have this enormous amazing team that's working on this project and has got us to a final draft concept which we're super excited about. Really pleased to show you and I wanna stress that it is a draft concept and it's a concept. So just because it looks like a photograph doesn't mean that it's a done deal. We're still lots of tweaks and designed to come but we want this to represent the shape of what is built in over I-89 at exit 14. So I just wanna really recognize the work that the team has put into this. This project is on a very tight timeline because of the federal grant that this project has received. Thank you, Kevin for shepherding that process on behalf of federal highway for the US Department of Transportation. And it's pretty amazing that they took all the comments that you have provided and many others have provided. And I believe they have a plan that reflects that really well. Doesn't mean we don't wanna hear what should be changed but I think we're on a good path. So I'm gonna turn this over to Erin and I just did wanna make in honor of this week a brief recognition of the Abnaki people and the lands that we inhabit that has been there from time immemorial so and many others. Thank you. Okay. Thanks Alana. Before we get started, just wanna ask folks does everybody have, everybody who wants to, do you have sticky notes? We are gonna ask folks to write down some notes and then at some point in time after we get through most of the presentation we'll ask everyone to go back out into the lobby area into the hallway and be able to place those notes on the boards of elements that you really like or elements that you'd like to see tweaked a little bit. If you don't have notes and you want some Erica has those notes and pens so feel free to raise your hand. Okay. So I'm Erin Gayat. I'm with VHB and the engineering firm working on the project. I'll be joined on stage here with Eti Padmode-Puetro. You get that right? Yeah, perfect. From Urban Idea Lab, Eti is our architect working on the project and Tyler Vendatuli will also be coming up to talk about public art. Tyler is the artist working on the project. We have a number of other team members here tonight and they'll be out in the hallway and in the lobby and feel free to talk to them and interact with them and they can answer most of the questions that you may have. Just the folks that are meeting with us today. These are all the companies that are involved in the project. If you have been a part of the past public workshops we gave a little bit of background to the project. So this may be a repeat for some folks but there was a previous scoping study through the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission that identified the alignment for the project and the purpose and need for the project which our team received. This is the purpose statement that was approved by the South Burlington Planning Commission. I'm not gonna read it but it is within the scoping study and it really drives the project forward and a lot of the decision-making for the project. There are a number of frequently asked questions that the team and Elana and the city have gotten so we've sprinkled a few of these throughout the presentation and a big one is why isn't the bridge closer to Wilson Road? And I went and did some research on this. It's a very good question. I had a lot of answers in my head but I did look back to some of the documentation of the scoping study to the application for the grant and the shortest span is kind of some easy math to do. Shorter span when you have less to span over. So as you go further to the south the ramps come closer to the interstate and less of a span. If the bridge were closer to Route 2, Wilson Road it would need to be a much longer bridge and would add quite a bit of cost to the project. And in keeping with that, a longer bridge, bigger bridge more maintenance costs over the life of that structure. So looking to make sure that the maintenance costs for the infrastructure are reasonable as well. Excuse me. By having the bridge on the southern side or outside of the ramp areas it allows for any future reconfiguration that may occur at exit 14. When we build a piece of infrastructure like this we're looking to get at least 100 years of service life out of it. So we wanna make sure that it's not gonna interact or be in the way of any future changes to the other infrastructure in the way. We know that the Agency of Transportation is planning some stormwater work in the area especially at exit 14. Wanna make sure we're clear of that work. And then just the regional, the city and the regional goal to provide that safe alternative. It fits there to be able to link those communities, those neighborhoods and even beyond this project the RPC will be taking on another project to look further at those links and those connections. So this is another question and I think this could be interpreted in a couple of different ways. Where does the specific project connect to and where could it connect to in the future? And we're gonna show where this specific project can connect to and as I just said there will be a future project with the city working with the Regional Planning Commission to look at connections even beyond this project connections to UVM, connections to Market Street and where we are today. This particular project, the red line is the approximate alignment of the pathway and the bridge over I-89. So on either end of the red line there's a connection to the Willison Road sidewalk and that's pre-existing today. There will be a future connection to the Corey Hill development. There is a planned roadway that's on the west side of those buildings you see in the picture and there's a shared use path associated with that roadway. So this pathway will connect to that pathway. There is a planned connection to the University Mall property and we are working with the owners over there on that connection location and then there's a planned connection to the CVS and hotel properties. Another frequently asked question is what is the project budget and where does that money come from? So I think Alana alluded to this earlier but Kevin in the room from FHWA and the USDOT raise grant is being administered through FHWA in Vermont, the Vermont Divisional Office and that's about 9.8 million. The city is planning on about 4.3 million for TIF district funding, excuse me. And then still working on identifying other local and potential federal funding for the half million remaining to make up the total project budget of about 14 and a half million. So we follow a process when we're developing a project and there's kind of three general phases, phase A is the project definition phase, phase B is design, phase C is construction. We're still in phase A and we're getting towards the end of the concept design and then we'll be moving into phase B. We've been in the concept design since June when we had our first meeting, first public workshop. We had our second public workshop in August and this is our third public workshop and really as we get to the upcoming meeting with the city council, the project definition phase will be coming to a close around that time and then moving into the design phase. Yeah, question. Will this be on the March ballot? Question is, will this be on the March ballot? And I believe that is the intent, is that correct? So the answer is it'll be proposed to the city council for their consideration to put on to the March ballot to show up and vote, right?  There's been quite a few stakeholder meetings, focus groups, we've talked to the abutting landowners we've had our three workshops and as mentioned tonight is our third workshop and presentation of the final concept for you all to review and to provide feedback on. So just very quickly, we're just gonna recap public workshop number one and public workshop number two. So public workshop number one, we showed a lot of existing condition pictures. We didn't have any concepts to that point. We showed some example bridges to kind of get the creative juices flowing. Showed some pictures of pathways and retaining walls. We had our breakout sessions where we really dove into some of the details. We heard a lot. This is a word art and if you're not familiar how these work, the more times you enter a word, the larger the word gets. And so we heard a lot and we heard a lot of repeat words, but all of what we heard went into shaping the concepts that we worked on. So public workshop number two, we talked about three different concepts that we had been working on. The land bridge, the Vermonti bridge, and the modern bridge. We talked about the pathway approach. We had some more example photos for seating and shelter and railing and potential form liners and we had breakout stations where we had the boards that were hung in the wall and we asked, much like we're asking tonight, to play sticky notes on, we asked two primary questions. What do you like and what would you change? And so these are the visual representations of those concepts and what did we hear? We heard that the Vermonti option, the trust bridge was not that popular. But we heard a lot of really, really positive feedback about the land bridge and about the modern bridge. And just to jog everybody's memory of what the land bridge concept was, the plantings, the greenery, the softer side of things, another visualization of the land bridge and just a few themes that we had heard. So what do you like? It's the plantings. It's the natural feel, the separated bike and pedestrian pathways, the width, the seating. And then so a lot of the softer, more natural side of things. And then what would you change? You know, maybe some protection from the wind. The visualization showed very open sides. And concern about the maintenance of the plants really want low maintenance plants so that it does continue to look great throughout the four seasons we have. Another comment about changing the side so they aren't completely open, even though it may be fenced off, could be kind of scary to stand there and look over the edge. And then increasing the visibility and making sure that the plant selection and the features of the bridge allow a user to see all areas of the bridge so that you're not unsure of maybe who's on the other side of the median. And just a reminder of what the modern bridge concept was. Couple of visualizations here. And what did we hear about the modern bridge? We heard that folks really liked the width and the artistic nature of it and the shape and kind of how simple it looked. There was a feeling of really liking the enclosed feeling and how that maybe shielded folks from the weather, from the cars. But maybe it was too enclosed, right? Couldn't see out and maybe there needed to be some viewing areas. And that despite all the positives, I think it was a little bit cold and a little bit more industrial on the inside. So just scatter some art and maybe incorporate some plantings. And so we're gonna go through the final concept. We're gonna show some visualizations. So please, if you'd like, jot down some notes through the meeting, we'll then get a chance to get up and walk around in the lobby and in the hallway and talk to our team, put your notes on there, jot down more notes when you're outside and asking the same two primary questions. What do you like about the final design concept and what would you change? And then we'll ask you to apply those sticky notes. For anybody who's attending virtually, there is a mural board and I believe the link was sent out for that. And we'll ask that you add those sticky notes. During the time when folks in person get up to walk around, the mural board will be live. We'll have a couple of folks that are participating and helping to place those sticky notes on the mural board. So there are a number of guiding principles and we kind of went backwards to make sure we're staying focused on the guiding principles and want to make sure we've got that forward thinking design. We're preparing a transformative project and concept. It's something that the city wants to be iconic and inviting, accessible to everyone and safe for everyone and really improving the quality of life being environmentally sustainable. And so we've got, we've combined a lot of elements from the modern bridge and the land bridge and taken the best kind of the most favorable elements and put them together. So we end up with a curvature, the curvature, the sinuous approach. We've got about a four and a half percent pathway grade that goes up to the bridge, so ADA accessible. We continue to have the shielding barrier on the south side, the color contrasting with the environment around it, using a light color, bright colors. Despite the four and a half percent grade, we are incorporating some respite areas where the grade softens to about two percent, so more of a level landing area with some benches on those pathway approaches. Incorporation of artistic features, so the bridge itself as being a piece of art but then additional art installation along the bridge and pathway and then the use of LED lighting throughout. And I'm going to ask Eti to come up and walk us through the final concept. I think I'll just stay here if that's okay. So thank you so much for coming and it's been so great working with everybody because all the stuff that you've been giving us ideas and everything truly, truly become the underpinning of this bridge. And as you all know, the Vermonti Bridge got voted out of the island. However, the two survive, right? But the biggest winner actually was the land bridge. Everybody loved the land bridge. However, we realized that a lot of the things that people like about the modern bridge is the weakness of the land bridge and the strength of the land bridge was the weakness of the modern bridge. So we thought and it was not, it doesn't, it looks simple now, but it was a struggle trying to make those two marry and it becomes one. And I think it was worth the price. It was really, and we had a lot of fun doing it. So what you are missing in the land bridge, you love the fact that the land bridge is a place making. It's a place where people can really own and enjoy, but it feels too open and it feels like it has no definition. You love the iconic feel of the modern bridge and it really marked the entrance of South Burlington, which is what a lot of people want. But inside it, it was just too cold, too dry, too nothing. So we basically flipped the two and tried to make it work. So what we have is the two married and the things that we want to really tell you is that, and I did not come up with this, I read about this, is that the genius of Miles Davis is not the fact that the notes that he was using, but the notes that he was leaving out. And so I want to do the same thing in design. So it cannot be all like a 10, right? There has to be like a 10. There has to be also the background. There has to be things that is left behind and left to your imagination. So one of the things that was really the impetus for the iconic bridge, for the modern bridge, was when we're going around and going back and forth, was this idea of the mountainous area. Now I agree the mountains are like this, but basically what we were trying to do was, what if we take that and it becomes this form that like really, really an abstraction of what Vermont is. And in terms of color, look at the color outside now. You know, it's something that has to be like popping. It's something that has to be bold, but at the same time, understated. So this is what we came up with. And another thing was, it will be too much if you do that on both sides. So we create, somebody else is excited about the bridge. So this is good, awesome. So what we decided was to make one side big and then the other one smaller. And that served two things. One, I'll take a look at that. I'm so excited. So I just go like this. And then, but also when we're talking a lot of the wind and needing protection from the wind, it comes from the southwest, from the south. So that's why we also make the big one from the south and not doing it both at the same time big. Because when you do that, it becomes really caged in. And you do not want to have a place that is caged in. And also because of the turn, if the thing is lower on one side, it gives you an idea of the sideline, right? It doesn't, so there's, you feel safer. So we thought, oh, and then another thing, to accentuate, it's not showing here, but it'll show on the later part. To accentuate the mountain curve, we decided to simplify it. And so we have these ribs. So it becomes a regular rise, it's a framework. Ha, ha, here you can see because you have also the ribs going up, you see, you see the, it accentuate the curve, right? And also we use the rib now to create the lighting. So what you will get is this iconic bridge that is different between the daytime and the nighttime. So if you really look at it, what we're trying to do is to create this layering. And then the sinuosity itself, it allows it to be very universal. Everybody can use it. There will be a lot of places where people can sit and also it connects. So it doesn't really, it's a lot to go to if you're on Williston. But if you're thinking about it, connecting Quartie Hill to the mall and everything, this is perfect because it actually is connecting. Another thing that we wanna do, I know you want me to stop, but I cannot stop, give me one more minute. So another thing that is really, really exciting for us is that it's giving you a place that you can call your own. I guess I will end at that. I just wanted to point out a couple of design elements. I'm going to, but there's pieces on each slide here. And I think I wanted to point out the ribs here. So this is a new addition from the last time. And it's just to kind of accentuate the paneling, break up the paneling a little bit and add a little bit of texture. The ribs on the south side, you can see, these are the spikes that stick up above. And so we've got the panels making an arc across the top and then the spikes or the ribs that stick up and they're a straight line across. So if you remember the old one, the small one on the north side was we were playing with origami cutout, but remember that. And so we thought that that was richer. But going back to Miles Davis, we think, okay, maybe that side is the side that we want to tone it down. And so it simplified. And so we have this simple thing. Oh, can we go to the next one? Oh, sorry. So one of the other changes that you see, previously the panels were solid, right? Couldn't see through them. So now we're ending up with this graduated perforations through the panels and from about two inches to about four inches. And we're still playing with the size and the pattern, but it allows you to see through there. So it's not exactly solid, but it does provide a windbreak and a weather break. So that was a head stretch scratcher for us because on one hand, you want everything to be completely protected so you feel protected. And on another hand, you want to have something that is transparent. And trying to find the two and trying to do glass, it was just too much. It was not working out and it was looking like too much. So then, so we came out with this. And we did so many cutouts in different ways to do it. And in the end, again, we want to go back into the simplicity of it. So this is where right now we have this as, potentially it can be a placeholder, but yes, this is like trying to find a sweet spot between feeling protection and also still have transparency. But you can see here compared to what you saw before in terms of the modern bridge, you can start to see the richness, right? Because you have all these plantings, places to sit, places that really it just become a place making space, which we thought would be like really cool. I also just wanted to point out on this slide, the space between the paneling and the bridge, we're showing a stainless steel mesh. And I know a lot of folks are asking what that would really look like in real life. And Eti and her team mailed away or requested from one of the companies that makes this to send us a sample. And we do have the sample out in the hallway. It's on Tyler's table. If you wanna take a look at that, you can stretch it and see what it would look like. Next. Yes, so approaches basically Mike and Mark was the one that and Tyler will talk more about the art space. But what's really nice about this is that we absolutely want to make this a place where it's welcoming to everybody. And one of the thing is it is a long bridge and it is in an incline. So we want to make sure they're like always places to sit at regular intervals. So it's hard to see here, but this is one of the respite areas. So there's a couple of benches here. There's a little bit of shade being provided. And this area along the respite area would be the 2.5 or the 2% grade. So shallowing from the 4.5% to 2% and then going back to the 4.5% as you continue up beyond. Ha ha. So this you can see that between the daytime and the nighttime, it has a different feel. And we want to make sure that the lighting is not only to show and make you feel safe, but also it helps accentuate the whole iconic feel of the bridge. So again, we are talking about making it understated, but it has a kind of a statement and an impact. And I just wanted to point out the concept for the lighting right now is to use LED lights under the hand-drailing. And one of the things we're evaluating or we will continue to evaluate once we go into design is what does that light look like? Is it rebounds off the ground and back up? And is that enough light to illuminate somebody's face? We want to make sure everyone's going to be feeling safe at all times a day. If it's not enough, we may supplement it with some overhead lights to provide that illumination. But it will be integrated. You see here, you can really start to see like the accent of the curve because there's this datum on top. That create that it make it stronger. And again, we want it to be like totally understated and a place that, yes. So I'll point out as well, we've, as we just explained the LED lighting under the handrail. And then we're also showing that each of the spikes is like a light bar. So it becomes part of the illumination and part of the aesthetics to illuminate. And it could be illuminated from the inside as we see it here. It could also be illuminated from the outside as kind of an artistic feature. Right. So in the end, what we really want to do is to create something that is very joyful. It's a place that everybody can enjoy. And it has been joyful for us designing it. And I hope it really express it in the final solution. Thank you so much. Yes. Yeah. Thank you, Eti. I wanted to touch very briefly on the pathway approach. This is largely the same alignment that we presented at the second meeting. Starting at Williston Road, coming down to the bridge crossing, back to Williston Road. We've got the connection to the University Mall, to the South. It's very hard to see on this scale of a drawing, but we do have the respite area shown here and here and here and here. So two either side for four total. And then this is a plan view, section view and plan view of what that respite area is intended to look like. 14 foot wide pathway, about five and a half feet for the respite area to put a few benches in. And we've got the respite area to put a few benches in. And an area for folks to sit down and take a break if needed. Yeah, the question is about the width of the pathway and the bridge and how that compares to the bike paths that are currently in town. I believe the bike paths or the shared use paths are 10 feet. Is that correct, Alana? Yeah. Most of them are, so some varying, so eight to 10 feet. And I'll just go back here. So the intent of this project is that where the pathway is at grade, it will be a 10 foot wide pathway. So the same as the existing shared use paths shared use paths in the city. Once the pathway begins to elevate, I should say 10 feet with two foot gravel shoulders either side. Once the pathway begins to elevate, it would be 14 foot paved width. So that 14 foot that you have when the pathway is at grade turns into 14 feet paved once it's elevated. Once you get to the bridge, the pathway, the bridge width will vary from about 18 feet. So the pathway starts to flare slightly as it approaches the bridge. And it varies from about 18 feet to 30 feet at the maximum width. So that 30 feet is made up of the 14 foot wide pathway, eight foot of the planter landscaping area, and then eight feet for the walking pathway. Okay, Tyler, do you want to come up? So from the, thanks everybody for coming back again. A lot of the, a lot of you were here at the previous meetings. So one of the major things that we're trying to do is make a large statement in the bridge itself. So everyone that passes under this in every direction is going to notice it. It's going to become a landmark. Inevitably it has a place making theme. You notice it as you come into town, you notice it as you go out of town between its color, shape, form, the way it changes from day to night will hopefully stand out in people's minds and create a sense of where you are. And then integrated in along the pathways at those respite areas will be these tumbling leave shade canopies. So these are about 12 feet overhead, 12 feet wide, creating this dappled shade over the sitting areas. Integrated in with those will be fluorescent acrylic leaves themselves. So during the daytime, those leaves will shine brightly amongst the red leaves tumbling through the air. And then they create, while they shine orange on the ground, they create a purplish shadow. So there's a little bit of a magic trick going on. And then at night, there'll be lights on the pathway shining up from the underside of it. So you get a glow along the bottom side of the leaves and then integrated lights within it. So you get this dappled light at night as well as a glow from beneath. So there's a little bright spot along the pathway. So daytime, you get some shade. Nighttime, you get some extra light. And then imagine you're beginning on the pathway. There's a sign that describes that there are 50 birds along the entirety of it, all along the pathways, the bridges, the respite areas. And it's a bit of a scavenger hunt to find them. So, how do I make that laser go? So this is a little bronze rock dove or pigeon, depending on which your preference is. That's out front and you can see. It's actual size. So I would work with the city and the Audubon Society to pick out what birds best represent South Burlington. And you read on the sign what those birds are and you have like a little scavenger hunt of finding them. Maybe there's two hidden under the bench. Maybe there's one on the railing, but they'll be throughout the entirety of the project. That way, if you so care to find them, they're there tucked in as well as along the highway, off those big concrete walls would be small flocks of geese represented by the antique weather vane out front. And those would be sort of interacting more for the highway perspective than the pathway perspective. So there's a little bit for everybody. Thank you. So one more frequently asked question and it's about the sustainability for the project and how is the project addressing sustainability? So I think the first thing is with the federal funding comes the requirement for the Build America Buy America Act. And this means that all iron, steel, manufactured products and construction materials are required to be made in America. And that's language actually from the act, a little bit vague, but I think there's still some interpretation going on with that, is that right Kevin? Yep. So a lot of construction material, a lot of dollars being spent, but continuing to support industry in this country. LED lighting will be incorporated throughout. The design would be low maintenance. So maybe less of an environmental sustainability side of things and more of usable infrastructure making it sustainable to be continuing to use and keeping the maintenance low, keeping the bridge open and keeping it accessible for everybody. We're going to be working through an embodied carbon or embodied energy analysis and making some material selections based upon what we see there, trying to reduce our embodied energy for the project. There will be a full stormwater treatment design and that'll all be permitted, but a lot of impervious surface here and that needs to be treated. And so we'll be doing quite a bit of stormwater work. And then the overall goal of just creating a project that will be used, enjoyed and loved by the community and visitors to the community. Yeah, it's been an ongoing conversation and Department of Public Works is brainstorming how best to perform the snow plowing. They want to kind of, before they unveil a plan, they want to know what the bridge is going to be first, is that may impact some of their methods or techniques for their plowing, for removal of snow. So we have been in close contact with Department of Public Works. Erica, is Erica in the room? Oh, there she is there. So Erica works for the Public Works and we've been meeting with Erica and Tom Petro to have those conversations and pulling in the winter maintenance folks as well. So not probably the answer you're looking for, but it's an evolution. Yeah, the question is, what are the main structural elements for the bridge? And we're intending to use steel for the main support and then a concrete bridge deck on top of the steel, reinforced concrete. Yeah, the question is, is concrete necessary or could the material for the bridge deck be granite? While I'll say the material selection is not finalized yet, it likely will not be granite from a cost perspective, quite a bit more expensive than concrete. And you can put it in a comment. I'll say that even for what you see as the curbs or the planters not decided yet, but we'll take that into consideration. Yeah, a question about how we're gonna water the plants and I'll say that's an evolving plan as well. I think the first kind of decision is to make sure that we're putting in hardy low maintenance plants, plants that don't need a lot of water, as the first kind of action, but then also working with DPW as well to make sure that there's a good maintenance plan for maintaining those plantings. Yeah, a question about the deck and I think the pathway surface when it rains, a concern over being slippery. So with the concrete surface as it's being placed, it would be textured so that it would not be slippery when it's wet. Yeah, the question is about, will we be looking at potentially using carbon capture concrete to absorb some of the carbon? Like I said, the material selection has not been made yet and I think we'll take that into consideration. Put it on the board. Okay, so we are, Alana, question. Yeah, this is probably the best one. So the pathway, this lighter color is 14 feet and that 14 foot is throughout the elevated pathway and across the bridge. At the maximum width of the bridge, at the center of the bridge, this landscaping area will be eight feet wide. And then you can see this darker colored surface. This is a pathway that goes behind and it's symmetrical. So there's an entrance here, there's another entrance on the other side and it's on the south side of that landscaping area. That's also eight feet. So 14, eight and eight equals your 30 feet. So I think you're asking about the, all across the bridge, right? So there's the planting bed in the center of the bridge that we just talked about. There's also a landscaping area on either end of the bridge and you see one illustrated here. There's another one on the other side again, symmetrical. And the purpose of these is to channel people back into the 14 foot wide pathway as they're leaving the bridge. We really want bicyclists and pedestrians to be in the 14 foot wide pathway as they're entering and exiting and then this is especially important for this area that we're showing here. This is the connection to the University Mall and from a safety perspective, we want our bicyclists and our pedestrians to be, have a little bit of separation from this pathway so that there could be a line of sight and to avoid some collisions there. Yeah, it's hard to see, it's actually right here and I'm gonna go forward one slide. It would be this area here. They have the option. If somebody wants to stay on the 14 foot wide pathway, that's fine, but yeah. Yeah, question of, are there any respite areas in the pathway location? So this is the bridge we're showing. Are you asking about on the bridge deck? Yeah, so there are some benches that are built into the landscaped areas. So this is a bench here. We're showing another bench here and some benches on the backside of this landscaping area. So basically the entire pedestrian walkway on the southern side becomes a respite area. It depends on which area, the question is, how do you get to the benches to sit on? It depends on which area of the bridge you're on. So if you're in the center of the bridge, this is a little bit hard to see from this view. If you're in the center of the bridge, you can be on either side. If you wanna be on the north side, there's benches that are shown on the north side. If you wanna be on the south side, there would be benches on the south side. This landscaped area here at the end of the bridge is only one side. The other side is right up against the railing. I will say this being a concept, the design is not finalized yet. So we are still working through where are the best locations to have the benches and how many benches and kind of taking all that into consideration. Yeah, in the back there. Correct, yep. And really nobody walks touching the railing, right? Or rides their bike touching the railing. So your effective width is a little bit less than that. That's why it's a little bit wider than the pathway at grade. Yeah, the question is, what is the purpose of the mesh panels? And the paneling is intended to be outboard of the bridge and you can see over here, it comes out and then it tucks under. And from a safety perspective, we can't really have that gap. So it's, the safety railing is the mesh paneling. The, the, The back there between the edge of the cement and foam. Yep. Yeah, question about, duly noted. A question about trash or aluminum cans being wedged in between. We have talked about that a little bit. Yeah, question about, will there be striping to separate bikes from pedestrian on the steeper approaches? And it's a possibility. We are looking at some different ways to express that you should be sharing the space together. So whether it's signage or whether it's some kind of pavement marking, that's a comment that's come up a few times. Thanks. So question about the surface for, for bicyclists. Yeah. So question about the surface and how that is for the ride and maybe how it compares to the Burlington bike path. The surface of the deck will likely just be concrete. And this shows some joints in it. And I'm not sure if we'd have joints or not. We still have to make that decision as part of our design, but it may just be concrete deck or the broom finish. So slight texture to it and pitch to drain. The areas that are off the bridge, this area in particular, and the same thing on the other end of the bridge, we are likely to have a short distance that is a different texture and a different color potentially than the bridge or the approach pathway. And that's just to alert people that you are coming up to a bridge and there may be interactions with other pedestrians and there's an intersection here and the change of the pathway on the bridge. So just alerting people that there's gonna be a bit of a change and it may be a different texture. It may rumble a little bit as you drive over it. So we need to work through that. It is intended that the areas that are on the elevated pathway are mostly just paved areas. So very similar to what you'd see on the bike path. Question about, will there be camber or slope for drainage of the deck, the bridge deck? And we do plan to have adequate slope both in the longitudinal direction and the cross-sectional direction to be able to drain the bridge deck. Yeah, question was about graffiti and concern about making sure the materials we're using are easily removable. It's a conversation that we've been having since day one of this project is how do you prevent graffiti and how do you clean it if it happens? The panels pretty easily removable but also working with textures that maybe are more difficult to spray paint and the perforations making it more difficult to have the spray paint and trying to dissuade the action in the first place versus having to clean it up. So as I said, I do want to just reiterate that this project is about the pathway in the bridge and we are making the connection to the University Mall because it's pretty integral to the infrastructure here. We are making a stub for a future connection to Corey Hill but connections beyond that really are going to be studied as part of the RPC project. Yeah, so I think you're asking about this area here, correct? So very busy. And this, well, I'm getting there. The line doesn't go all the way to the end of our project and what I was gonna say is this area of the pathway would be the 10 foot wide paved pathway and I think if people are familiar with the sidewalk here it's about a five foot wide sidewalk there today and if you follow this sidewalk around to this first intersection, the driveway to the CVS and the hotels, south of that is a 10 foot wide shared use pathway. So this project intends to improve this section of sidewalk as well to also bring that up to 10 feet or close to it. There's a lot of existing infrastructure there today, utilities that we need to work around but that is part of the project. We are talking with the property owners there about that connection and so far it's been a pretty positive reaction. I think it may be a stub out to the right of way line and then allowing the private property owner to make the connection to the right of way. Yeah, a question about the connection to the University Mall. It is pretty solid part of the plan. We are, as I said, we're working with the owners about the best place to make that connection and based upon what we know right now we've got it shown where the best connection would be. Yep, you're welcome. Great, thank you, Erica. Alana, did you have something else to say? You had your hand up at one point. Okay, thanks. So the question was about the connection to the University Mall or maybe some of the other connections and rather than one long ramp, the potential for a corkscrew or a helical ramp, it is something we actually explored and we did have some concepts that showed that after we started to really sit down and we did have some concepts that showed that we started to really sit down with University Mall owners, it turned out that this connection to the south actually is more favorable than a connection right at that point. Yeah, so I think this year we are gonna take our 10 foot wide pathway at that location and connect it into the existing sidewalk that's there. I think a little bit less of a concern from a sight distance standpoint than there is over on this corner here. So yeah, it's a connect to the existing sidewalk, correct. Okay, we're right about at 7.30 right now and I do wanna make sure that everybody's got time to interact and to place your sticky notes. So why don't we break for about maybe 20 minutes and come back here at about 7.50 and we'll wrap up by eight o'clock. Yeah, it's by the really north east or the north west, so what's the year for this year? What time is it? It is, yeah, it's sort of prevailing throughout the day, you know, we've been taking it summer, summer storms this time of year, so it's bad stuff coming back. In the winter time, yeah, it's the really cold winnets but now it's so much snow, we're all coming in the morning. Just in here because it's hot. I'm not sure if it's actually snowing. So yeah, but the real snow. Yeah, do we just take over and we're all glad we're out? Yes. Well, we will, if I don't say well, I'll be able to send in my email. Some countries and groups there to list the whole of people that I should cover that. Oh, you can send it right to a line. And she'll get it to our team. Yep. There's a question about the carbon, the carbon. The carbon. The carbon. Yeah, the carbon. Yeah. After very, I think it was workshop number one, a lot of discussion, let's use the natural materials to go around. Yeah. In the ground. Yep. There's some more. There's, yeah, there's some of that, the green question is an interesting one. And if you look at the green at the time of the moment, a lot of it's used. Congratulations. I don't know if I should stop here. No, not necessarily. I'm going to say a lot of it's used for like, like statues or it's like very, very high quality. And a lot of it's used for, could that be? Yeah. If I had last square. I think a lot of that comes from India. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of it that's important. Maybe it's not quite as good a quality. Yeah. It would be very, very, the other thing with the concrete is that it's used to be a little bit of a stretcher. It's used to be a lot of natural materials. It's used to be a little bit of a stretcher. It's used to be a lot of natural materials. It also is a material material. So it's a natural material. It's used to bring some kind of stretch. Oh, yeah. Well, not necessarily when you put a load on the concrete you like, it's a whole plan. It's definitely a bit ordinary, very про-ture. That's a good question. It can be a lot of it's attention. And it works together a little bit of a stretcher. Because, I think that a lot of it's brink me We've seen this since it's been done. Right. Sierra, can you hear me okay? Yeah, can you hear me? I can, yeah. Oh, cool. Hello. Hello, hello. Welcome everybody to the virtual breakout room. A little late to get started here, but looking at our participant list, we have a nice intimate group tonight. Not a huge gathering, which will allow for everyone to have a little bit more discussion. Those of you who joined us in previous virtual breakout sessions, usually Sierra and I are sitting up there together and here I am virtual with you all. But we're gonna probably run this in a very similar manner. You're seeing on the screen, Sierra is sharing the mural board that contains a lot of the same content that we just talked about in the presentation tonight. And in the chat of this Zoom meeting, you'll find a link to this mural board. And if you joined, depending on when you joined, you may not see that link. So if you do need one, let me know and I will post it again. But basically any of you can click that link and open up the mural session on your own web browser. And then within the mural, there's just a few basic tools to use. Sierra, you can maybe demonstrate for us real quickly how to place a post and note. Yep, I can lead people through it. So you'll just open up the mural. You can move the screen around by clicking and holding and dragging. Everything is locked in place so you won't be moving around any of the pictures. To add a sticky note, which is what the intention of tonight is, is there's a toolbar on the left-hand side of your screen. The second one down says text when you hover over it. If you click on that, you can click and drag a sticky note wherever you want. And then you can zoom into it and double click and type away. And then you can drag the sticky note wherever you want. You can use a different color. But yeah, that's really the basic gist. There's some other tools in here where you can create arrows and shapes. You can star things that you like, put check marks. But if you guys could put sticky notes with any comments, that's probably the best way to do it so we can get some direct feedback. I guess we can do quick introductions for those who don't actually know who we are, Sarah. So I'll start just saying my name is Jeff Bakhyakhy. I'm here with BHB and here with Erin and others from BHB tonight. Yeah, and I'm Sierra Ford. I'm one of the designers for the project. So I've been working a lot on the path design, working with the architect and it's been really cool so far. So I hope you guys have some input and what we have tonight. So it's here on the mural. I'm seeing basically a lot of the same slides from the presentation. I suppose if anybody has any... Oh, I see a question actually in the chat from Beverly. Beverly just said- Right clicking and adding comments. Right clicking and adding comments that way. I had no idea you could do that. Let me add a comment. Oh yeah, that's... I guess how can I see that comment though? Let me see. So I just dropped a comment following the same direction Beverly just did and I see a little purple dot on my screen. Anybody else see that? Did you add a comment, Jeff? Oh wait, I see a purple dot on there.  That's my comment. Beverly, I don't see your comments necessarily but they could just be very small dots Oh yeah, I see a blue one right on the dark, this might be Beverly's. Yep. Okay, yeah, Beverly, that works perfectly fine. I did not know that was a feature, so good to know. My name's Matt. I'm also with BHP Helping Us tonight and I also wanted to let folks know that if you are having a little bit of a hard time with the mural but still want to contribute, you can go ahead and unmute at any time and just shout out your suggestions or your comments and we will report them. We do ask that you keep any comments civil and relevant but with that, here we go. Hope we can have a great session. Thank you, Matt. But yeah, so what we have on this mural board to kind of run you through it, it's pretty much if you guys have been online for when Aaron was giving his presentation, it's most of these pictures are just pictures from the slides that he showed. So we have the overall project area shows the path where it leaves Route 2, soups around by the properties and crosses with a bridge over the interstate corridor and then it gets back to Route 2 and continues along Dorset where it ties in. And then we have some of the section views that Aaron showed. So it kind of has the cross sectional cut right here and then it shows you what that path would look like in the elevation view. Just another feel for what the path is like as it's being raised because there's gonna be walls on both sides, needs to climb up pretty high in order to get over the interstate. Then we also have all the renderings. We have some cool pictures of the bridge at night. And then the last section is the art section. Our artist Tyler actually created these two birds examples and then he drew out sketches for the rest of potential species that he'd include on the bridge. And then he also has this, the leafs he's calling it for someone of a shelter over the pause places. So that's just kind of the gist of all the content that we have to show and the content that you guys can comment on. So feel free to unmute yourself, feel free to add sticky notes or stars or whatever you want, but we're here to entertain you all. Okay, I just unmuted myself. Hi, Beverly. Yeah, hi. I gotta say there is so much that I like about this. I don't see anything that I don't like. And I think I've pretty clearly understood the idea is it will be passable in all four seasons that plowing would happen on it and all of that, right? I'm having a hard time hearing you. Can we turn up the sound? So I'll try saying that again. I think I've understood that the plan is for the bridge to be passable year round in all four seasons and plowing would be happening on it and all that, right? Right, right. Yes, the intention is for this to be a 24 seven bridge, which is why it is lit up at night and 365. So it will be maintained. That is definitely things that are being discussed as we continue with the design. This is, we're at a very conceptual point, but the plan is for us to plow the bridge, at least a portion of it, to make it transversible in the winter. Cool, so I was already very impressed with the, I like the, so far the idea that's been had for those, the side things, the steel with the holes in it, seems like a nice balance. And I have to say, I was even more excited when I saw those leaves. That is such a cool idea.  Oh my God, I don't know where it is. I'm gonna mute myself because I can't find it. I found it, sorry. Yeah, the leaves, would those, it looks like they would not be a canopy all the way across, but just kind of for parts of the path. Yeah, so the intention with the leaves is going to be to provide somewhat of a shelter in a shaded area at the pause places. So these pause places I'm talking about are where the path has these bump outs in it.  So it's gonna be bumped out. And the leaves are kind of to provide a little bit of an artsy shelter over that area for shade and protection. I just think they're fabulous, brilliant.  There's so much that I like about this. I'll let someone else say something. Happy to hear your input, thanks so much. Hi, I was just curious about the timeline on the plan connections to the Quarry Hill and the other connections to local businesses. It seemed like those were kind of future endeavors. Yeah, I'm not exactly sure on the timeline, so this project is going to be constructed in 24. And the design of this, of course, is gonna go up until then. And the next project that the city is up taking is going to be looking at connections throughout the entire city of South Burlington. And that will obviously include this path because this path itself is going to be a huge connection point. So the way we're designing this path is keeping that in mind, but that is not within the scope of this project is to look at those connections, but knowing that that is a future project that the city is up taking. But I'm not exactly sure on the timeline. I could, I don't know if they even have a timeline themselves, but I can look into it. I've never heard of Calatrava. I will have to look that up.  Whoever wrote this. The sticky note here about the red color. The color has been talked about a lot now that we've selected a concept to move forward with. And I think the original intention was that this bridge itself is going to be a piece of art. And so it is also supposed to be the landmark of you are now in South Burlington. It has to be iconic. And that's really important to the city. There's a huge public art aspect to this project as part of the grant for the project. So art is very important to stress. And I think the red or a hot color is going to really do the popping of the art and make it stand out. The point was brought up early on that, you know, Vermont is already green and blue with the sky. So something to contrast that it won't necessarily contrast it today with the foliage, but you know, we only have foliage a week or two of the year. So another comment about that actually was, you know, someone told us they never really appreciated why all the barns in Vermont were red until they saw it in the winter. And it's really pretty to look at something red against the snow. And... Sierra, I quickly looked up Calatrava. He designed among other things a new path station at the World Trade Center in New York, which has meant to kind of evoke a bird. Oh, okay. So I can definitely see where they're coming from. Yeah. Interesting that it evokes a bird because we have some bird sculptures that might be going on the bridge. Thanks for that, Matt. Wondering if anyone has any opinions about the perforations. I know that they're just shown as, you know, circles right now. And I think there's opportunity to be a little more creative. I think those perforations are a really good idea. Hopefully there wouldn't be too much wind coming through them, but I mean, there's that, you're on a bridge. And circles are fine, I think. Who knows, maybe probably hexagons would be too much trouble, but I mean, it might be cool to have to explore different shapes, you know. Yeah. I think one thing that I was thinking was a little more, not randomized, but, you know, making it a little more artistic, like having the mountains be shown through the perforations somehow. I think there's a lot that could be played with here, but definitely has to all be cohesive. So I like the idea. Are people a fan of the way the lighting is shown and a fan of these, the ribs extending up almost like spikes? I don't know if anyone had any feedback regarding that. Matt, I got your picture about the Kala Travis architecture. These spikes are very Kala Travian. Beverly loves the lighting. I apologize if I missed this. Sarah, did you guys talk about any of the art ideas and the bird search? We talked about the leaves. We didn't necessarily talk about the bird search. Was that brought up in the presentation, Jeff? Yeah. There was an indication that birds would be scattered throughout the bridge. They'd be like a bit of a scavenger hunt. Sounds like fun activity.  Yeah, and I think they do. Oh, sorry. I apologize. I don't mean to be monopolizing this, but in one of those strangely hidden comments that I left, I don't know why they're so hard to find. There it is. There it is. I got you. I just think those birds are such a great idea. How wonderful.  Adults, I'm one who could be their grandparents. I would love it too.  I just think it's fantastic. Yeah, I thought that was pretty clever. Yeah, I'm definitely a fan. I think another cool aspect to be brought with the birds is they'd all be native species and there could be a little education aspect where you could have some signage at the beginning, listing all the species and then making it more fun where try to find every single one of them on the bridge. Exactly. That's why I love it so much that it would be informative about what's around here and maybe getting people more interested in living in birds. Yeah, right. Yeah, a little more artistic with the perforations. That could be a really sneaky place to hide a bird or two. Maybe even one. Just one of the circles will be the outline of a bird. Try to find it. You know, the 3D rendering is a really great to get a visual for what this could look like. I saw a question about color. Sarah, do you know what kind of discussions are being had about color? The red stands out in these graphics. Yeah, I already kind of talked about it because I've read that same sticky note, but I can kind of summarize what I said before about a huge part of this project is public art. I mean, that's a huge part of the grant for the project is this bridge needs to be a piece of art itself and it needs to incorporate art on it. And in the fact that it's art, it would also be someone iconic and a landmark for you've now entered South Burlington, both to the user of the bridge and to the vehicles passing underneath it. So a hot color was discussed to make it really pop to have this iconic feel. And then red, just because it contrasts most with the Green Mountains and everything in Vermont is either dull in the winter, white or green. So, and then, I mean, one week of the year it's red, but it'll match for that one week. Seasonal bridge. But yeah, it definitely opened to having more conversation on color. That was just the conversation thus far and that's where it's at right now. But that's definitely a detail that does not need to be finalized at this point. So. Yeah, just inviting people online if you have any thoughts on color and maybe there's a different color you think would pop better or would perhaps stand out more or perhaps you wanted to stand out less. This is a great forum to let your comments and sticky notes on the bridge renderings. The color is on this flag. We had a comment previously about color of the bridge not being as important as maybe the lighting that lights up the bridge and a way to use different colors of light to reflect off the bridge instead of having the bridge be red. It could be any color because one day you could have the lights be blue, one day you could have them be rainbow and I know that idea was brought up before and I thought that was kind of interesting. No, the Zakem Bridge in Boston not only has adaptable LED lighting but sometimes it'll tie it into certain holidays or events. Kind of cool to see when they do that. Right. Comment about bench swings in here. We talk about that a bit. Oh, I didn't see that. So down here in sort of cross-sectional views really what we're seeing is this cross-section of the approach pathway. So those are retained earth walls kind of approaching the bridge and along those walkways there's some designated respite areas. The viewer is commenting, it'd be nice to see some bench swings in addition to some of the benches. Yeah. Good opportunity here for those looking at the board to think about other things. What else would you want to enhance those respite areas with what are some ideas that remind for you when you want to take a break walking along a path? I like the idea of the swings. Safety has to be at the forefront though. One thing about that I guess just heads up for you Jeff. I think people are going to start coming in in the next couple of minutes. So it'll probably get a little loud for those of you who want to have anything else to say to unmute yourselves maybe now if you have anything left but other than that we'll be wrapping up. The mural is open though to keep adding sticky notes especially as we have the other wrap up sessions and everybody speaks a little to what has been talked about. Feel free to keep adding your thoughts if something else spurs your mind. It's here all I have just a couple of comments here before we break up a couple of comments in the chat about LED lighting being the ability to change colors as wanted that actually was a question. So yes, LEDs are actually quite easy for color changing and that is something that can be considered I think as we move forward and we talk about bridge lighting ability to change color and then a suggestion about at the respite areas perhaps fix its stations for bikes at some of the rest areas. Hopefully it's maybe to do some maintenance on your bike along the route. Seeing these along the bike path and they're pretty nifty little tools. That can be helpful if you're on a bike ride. Yeah, thank you for reading those. Yeah, and Sierra just let us know when it starts getting loud. I've actually noticed in this presentation that the background noise gets filtered out quite a bit. So we don't quite hear all the noise in the background. So you have just let us know when it's time to up this up. Yeah. Do you mind staying over here? Yeah, I can stand. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, are we good? I think we're gonna, yeah. I'm having a hard time hearing you anyways, Jeff. So we can kind of wrap up and Aaron just got in. So I think we'll start your plan. Thanks for participating in the online breakout room. It's good to be back. Yes, thanks. Okay, we are just about at eight o'clock. So we will wrap up quickly here. I just wanted to quickly go through some of what we heard and some of what we saw on the notes that are out there. So I did read quite a few of the notes. I saw a lot of positive feedback. I saw a lot of questions about safety and the design related to safety of bicycles and pedestrians using the same space. I saw a lot of love for the birds. And I think that's been universal. A lot of concerns about graffiti. And so I think a lot of really good feedback. We're gonna review all of the feedback as a team and take that into consideration going forward as we continue to work through the concept and get towards the design phase. And I'm just gonna ask Sierra if you can just summarize what you heard online. I also had, I turned it off so I could talk. We also heard the same about the birds and the scavenger out with the birds. Thought that was a really cool aspect. Had a couple of chirps on that. And we also had some good feedback on the leaves. Someone did mention kind of in with the leaves that there could be a swinging bench underneath the leaves. I don't know with safety if that would be a possibility but thought that was an interesting idea and hadn't heard yet. Other things we talked about were the color of the bridge. People may be wanting a green because it fit Vermont more but some people liked the pop of the red. And then another comment was the a way to light the bridge with LED lights instead of using color at all. But that was pretty much all the feedback that I can remember right now. Great, thank you. So from here we will take all the input into consideration. As we said earlier in the night, this is a concept. So we're looking to define the big picture view of the project. And as our team continues to work through design we'll get more into the details and more into answering some of the questions we heard here tonight as we get into the design. So just to make everybody aware of the next steps for this project and the process here. Following this meeting we'll prepare for a city council meeting on November 7th and we'll be asking the city council to endorse the concept and make it the preferred alternative going forward. And we'll also start working with the city council to prepare for the TIF district voting. That TIF district vote is anticipated to be in the March timeframe. We'll be working through the design phase of the project. So if you remember back to the process we talked about at the beginning. Phase B is design. We'll be working through all of that phase B. So design, permitting, any right of way in preparation for putting the project out to bid. And that would be targeting the middle of 2024. At that time we would authorize the federal funds for construction. And then construction would follow the following year in 2025, likely a two year project. So 2025 and 2026.  Cutting a ribbon. Oops. And we would encourage everybody to stay involved. Check the city website for updates. Come to the city council meeting if you'd like or watch it online. We will likely have another check-in back with the general public as we get closer to construction. Presenting the final design for the project and also presenting what to expect during construction and the schedule and all that side of things. So if you have any further questions tonight, we're happy to chat a little bit further. If you'd prefer, if you think of something after you leave or later this week or next week, feel free to email Alana. Alana has received some input and passes it along to our team very quickly. So we receive all that input and any questions that go to her. So I don't know the numbers off the top of my head. I think some of this was as part of the scoping study. Is that correct? And I think this project will have a counter as well, right? So to be able to measure into the future what the usage actually is. Okay, there's no more questions. We thank everybody for coming out tonight and we'll wrap it up. Thanks everybody. Have a great night.


Hi friends, welcome back to my channel and a very special welcome. If you're new here, my name is Jen. I'm a certified weight loss and nutrition coach who has lost and maintained a 140 pound weight loss and it is Friday. So it's weigh in day. We're going to chat about my week. We're going to talk about an exciting thing happening this weekend and we're going to chat about this week's Weight Watchers workshop topic. So if you're excited, give this video a big thumbs up, subscribe. If you're not, turn your bell on because I do a weigh in every Friday and I actually upload five videos every single week. Check out the description box down below. I will link nutrition coaching. I do offer personalized 2U macros and calories. Have yours done. This is what I followed to lose my 140 pounds as well as one-on-one coaching for questions, accountability or to chat with me directly. Links and discounts to my favorite things and come join our Facebook group. It's free. We would love to have you are all down in that description box. So let's chat about my week, my weigh in and the Weight Watchers workshop topic. Happy Friday friends. I hope you had an amazing, amazing week. Happy April. We are officially in the fourth month of the year already. That is crazy to me. I feel like January went so slow and then ever since then this year has officially flown by. I love April because it's the beginning of spring. The weather starts to change in most areas. It's a great time to rethink our activity to be able to go outside more. It's just a new era of the year starting in April and I am here for it. The weather here in Arizona is starting to warm up. We have the weirdest weather typically in April. Some days are cool. Some days are hot. Some mornings are cold. Some mornings aren't. April's a little unsure of exactly what it wants to do typically here in Arizona but it is warm enough that I'm able to work out in the morning at boot camp in a t-shirt which is great. I transition from t-shirts into tank tops and shorts as we move into summer but I'm just feeling really good about a new month and a new season. I had a really good week this week. I did all of my workouts. I went to boot camp three days, lifted weights in the gym and exciting news. Tomorrow, Saturday, I'm taking a hike at Sabino Canyon here in Arizona. It's just outside of Tucson. When Amy was here visiting we went on a tour of Sabino Canyon and on the tour they talked about all these different hikes. Well, there's one hike called Seven Falls and basically what you hike into is Seven Falls so it's seven different levels of waterfalls and right now in April in the spring is when it is just at its peak. The water is flowing. The falls are beautiful and when we took that tour I told Amy I'm going to go hike that Seven Falls hike at Sabino Canyon so it was on my radar to do well. My boot camp group decided to do it as a group tomorrow so we're taking an 8.4 mile hike tomorrow. That's going to be the longest hike I've taken mile-wise and I'm excited about it. I know I can do the eight miles. I'm also planning on packing some Tylenol because I have a feeling that my legs will probably get pretty tired as we get to the last few miles. Doing that 10k in San Diego I found at about mile five. My legs started to feel a little bit tired so I'm definitely going to pack some Tylenol. Lots of water, lots of snacks but it's another NSV or another thing I get to check off my bucket list and Sabino Canyon is beautiful. I will take lots of pictures. I'll share it with you guys in my Facebook group so definitely join my Facebook group. We'll talk about it in next week's weigh-in but I'm really excited for tomorrow and I'm excited again to cross another thing off my list and do another thing I never thought I would be able to do. Just another really huge accomplishment of losing 140 pounds. I definitely am going to take a rest day on Sunday after that hike because I'll be right back to boot camp on Monday but I'm really excited for the hike and again something that's going to be extra special to me to be able to do and to finish. Had a really good week of food. I enjoyed Easter. We went to my in-laws for Easter dinner. We had ham, scalloped potatoes. My mother-in-law made these really good frosted cookies. I'll pop in a picture here of our Easter spread but it was just nice to go spend Easter with them. Have a little bit of a brunch. I didn't track my food on Easter. Of course I was mindful, had lots of ham, a little bit of everything else, lots of fruit. It was really really delicious and then just stayed on track the rest of the week. Like I mentioned last week I have upped my calories a little bit. I'm trying to maintain my weight and again just kind of lean down if possible but pretty much maintain my weight where my weight is. I'm really focused on getting stronger and fitter and healthier. That's kind of where my my focus has shifted. It was pretty much my focus at the beginning of the year but you know I went through that horrible cut with my horrible coach and now I just want to maintain my weight and enjoy my life. So that's been my focus especially in the month of March. So I plan on staying on track this next week, tracking my food, getting in my movement, drinking my water, doing more of the same and just living an overall healthy sustainable lifestyle. Before I talk to you about my weigh-in this week let's chat about this week's Weight Watchers Workshop topic and this is a really good one. Whether you're following Weight Watchers or macros and calories this is a great topic and this is 13 simple ways to save points or calories. Think about some of the meals that you're planning this week or maybe some of the recipes that you're planning to whip up. What are some changes that you can make to save yourself points, calories, fat, carbs, whatever you're following. Here's some ingredient swaps that you can make.  If you enjoy seafood, shrimp and tuna steaks make great swaps too. You can actually save yourself up to five points per serving. If a recipe calls for coconut oil or butter try olive or canola oil and save up to four points per tablespoon.  If a recipe calls for sugar try granulated stevia, grated apples or mashed bananas and again save up to four points per serving. If you need oil especially in baked goods a simple swap is unsweetened applesauce and you can save up to five points per serving. If a recipe calls for heavy cream or sour cream try canned pumpkin or full fat Greek yogurt and you can actually save up to 11 points per quarter cup and if a recipe calls for peanut butter try powdered peanut butter and save up to five points per tablespoon. Replace all or some of these ingredients to save. Let's dive a little bit deeper. How to save even more points cut down on oil or other fats by grilling, broiling or steaming food instead of frying or sautéing. You can even pop it into your air fryer. Brush oil directly onto food or use a cooking spray or oil spritzer. Use reduced salt stock to prevent stir-frying vegetables from sticking. Stretch a serving or amount by chopping up nuts in chocolate into smaller pieces. Opt for grated cheese instead of slice or cubed and look for brands with less fat or no added sugar and use the WW app or your calorie tracking app to compare. Now I want to make one thing clear. You should be 100% okay using the ingredients that are in the recipe. No food is bad or good. You can still use oil full fat cheese. In fact on the cheese recommendation I don't recommend fat free cheese. Fat free cheese is not good. Get a light cheese or just go for the full fat. It's okay to eat whole real food and food in its natural form. You don't have to look for a lower point lower fat lower calorie option unless that's a choice that you want to make. It's not about turning your favorite foods into low point options. It's about consuming the foods that you really enjoy. That's what makes your journey successful but also what makes your weight loss sustainable. We don't want to scarf down food we hate just for the sake of losing weight because it's not sustainable and as soon as you eat the foods you actually enjoy it that's when you start gaining weight again. There's also tweaks and recipes swaps that you can make to make things fit into your day a little bit better. It's all about balance and moderation. Just like food recipe swaps is also about balance and moderation and just plan ahead to fit foods that you really enjoy and love into your diet.  I had a cookie yesterday for dessert a regular cookie from the grocery store. You can still fit those foods into your day and that's where these swaps can come in handy to save you points calories macro so that you can fit in some of your favorite foods. We don't want to restrict or eliminate any food or food group that's the number one cause of binge eating. We want to enjoy the foods we like because again that's what makes what we're doing sustainable long term and we don't want to go through the act of losing weight because it's hard just to gain it all back so eat what you love and still lose weight. I think this is a great topic because again it's showing you that you can make swaps if you want but you don't have to make swaps in every area to be successful on a weight loss journey. Let me know down below what are some of your swaps that you've discovered that have really saved you points calories and macros let us know down in the comments. Now let's jump into my weigh in for the week. So last week I weighed in and I had gained point two now if you follow me you know that I consider point two in either direction a maintain I actually consider up to about point six point eight a maintain it's typically a weight fluctuation that causes that not an actual true weight gain and like I mentioned I feel really good about my weight getting in my exercise I've been a bit sore this week I've been really utilizing my one-up peer rebuild and my BCAAs to kind of combat that soreness in fact on Monday night I woke up about midnight because my legs were pretty sore from boot camp and ended up having to take a Tylenol so I have been experiencing a little bit more soreness this week I'm not really sure what that's all about I have changed up my workouts a bit with that new app I've been using spoiler alert stay tuned for Wednesday's what I eat today I'm going to share the app you guys are going to be so excited about this and I'm wondering if that's where the soreness is coming from I'm not really sure but by the end of the week a lot of that had kind of dissipated and I'm anticipating more soreness after my hike tomorrow but when I stepped on the scale today I actually lost point four so I lost the point two I gained last week and an additional point two that's kind of a maintenance for me like I said I consider that to be pretty much maintaining my weight which as you know is my current goal so I'm happy with the point four loss I feel really good about where my weight is I feel really good about my body I'm feeling really good about my endurance and just all these non-scale victories like taking an eight mile hike tomorrow that's going to be huge for me and for me that matters way more than some point four gain or loss on the scale but I'd like to utilize the scale as a tool to keep me on track I don't want my weight to start to slowly creep up and then the next thing I know I've gained 10 or 15 pounds I stay in about a five pound window if I go outside that five pound window I reign it in so I feel really good about where I am and I'm happy with a little bit of a and I'm happy with the point four loss for the week and I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing moving my body drinking my water making the best food choices getting in my calories every day eating my protein I feel really good I feel really good about where I am right now so now I want to hear from you guys let me know down below how was your week did you gain did you lose what are some of your swaps that you make let us know everything down in the comments and if you enjoyed today's video give it a big thumbs up subscribe turn your bell on so you never miss a future video don't forget to join my facebook group to follow along on my hike on saturday I'll always post there I also post over on instagram I'll link nutrition coaching down in the description box as well as some of my favorite things thank you so much for watching friends happy friday and I have a big massive haul coming from for you tomorrow so stay tuned for tomorrow's grocery haul see you tomorrow bye