This August 1929 view looking south down North Winooski Avenue is nearly an identical photograph to that shot in 1928 at the same location except for the unbroken swath of smooth macadam stretching from curb to curb. Earlier that year the department of public works had “busified” or ripped up the old streetcar tracks in favor of a new type of public transport system that employed motorized buses.

In 1927, after the Burlington Traction Company had failed to lengthen its North Avenue line as the city had requested, the Burlington Rapid Transit Company was given license to operate a bus route in direct competition with the Burlington Traction Co.[1] Within two years, the Rapid Transit Co. had purchased Burlington Traction Co. and soon halted all streetcar service. On August 4, 1929, shortly before this photograph was taken, the last Burlington streetcar rolled down the tracks to the intersection of St. Paul and Main streets. Draped in black cloth and drenched in gasoline, the car was set on fire and allowed to burn in a public pyre to mark the death of the city’s light rail transit. Soon after firefighters hosed down the blaze and the charred carcass was hauled away by tow truck, shiny Rapid Transit Co. buses rolled down church street and surrounded three sides of City Hall Park in a celebration of motorized solidarity.[2] Bus service began that very afternoon.

In the months leading up to the commencement of bus service, the public works department began tearing out the old tracks and resurfacing the road as can be seen in the July 1929 photograph of this same location. The resurfacing project on North Winooski Avenue began at its southern end and proceeded North, but was split into two segments. This photograph shows the completion of the first half.[3]