VTrans has been working internally with consultants VHB and Toole Design on updating the design guidelines for how our roads are built (the Multimodal Development and Delivery program, M2D2, 2015). The current standards are from 1997 and while they have been patched with many supplemental documents, they still focus on moving cars. Planners have had a large change in their approach to multimodal road design over the last few decades, (a major example is realizing that putting interstates through the center of cities is not a good idea), but the actual guidelines used for building roads haven't kept up.
VTrans has reached the stage where they are holding meetings for public input. I attended the first one (a hybrid meeting in Chester) and there were only 2 other members of the general public present. It would be great if you can attend one of the meetings even just to let VTrans know some people are listening. My impression is that they are saying the right words (such as stronger Complete Streets measures), but will they actually do it? We need to stop any watering down of the standards as they approach the final stages. There is some jargon but the VTrans people are friendly and trying to do a good job.
Here's the meeting schedule, followed by links to the webpage and docs:
-Wednesday, November 20th at 12:00 pm, Virtual
-Tuesday, December 3rd at 6:00 pm, Hybrid at Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission Office, 110 West Canal Street, Winooski
-Wednesday, December 11th at 12:00 pm, Virtual
The zoom links will be provided on the webpage closer to the meeting dates
The VSS update webpage has an overview, powerpoints, and a few of the documents they are using as models:
https://vtrans.vermont.gov/
Here's the original work plan (M2D2) that is guiding the update:
For reference here's the current state standards (VSS), (there are also other supplementary guidance docs)
This blog was written by Karl Kemnitzer. Karl is an active member of the Vermont Sierra Club Transportation team.