Vermont’s Complete Streets Bill was signed into law four years ago to make roadways safer and more user-friendly for cyclists, pedestrians and drivers.
While many applaud the concept, some city leaders in Rutland say the costs of compliance are too high. At the same time, bicycle advocates say more needs to be done to ensure the law is being followed.
Rutland’s Dorr Drive is a case in point. The popular biking route along Otter Creek has seen better days. “It’s as bad a one-mile stretch of road as any you’ll find in the county,” says Jeff Wennberg, Rutland’s Commissioner of Public Works.
He says the city has applied three years in a row for state transportation funds to repair the road. He says they’ll hear next month whether or not they’ll receive $175,000 in grant funding.
That money is critical for rebuilding Dorr Drive, which he says will cost $264,000, or just over half the city’s entire annual paving budget.
But if the city adds 5-foot shoulders to create bike and pedestrian lanes, something recommended under the Complete Streets law, it would cost more than $600,000. Adding smaller 3-foot shoulders would cost just over $400,000, which Wennberg says the city simply can’t afford.
He says he’s frustrated by what he considers an unfunded mandate out of Montpelier.
"We have other areas of the city where the accident statistics are damning and if I had an extra $154,000 – I would argue it might be far better spent if public safety were actually a priority." - Jeff Wennberg, Rutland’s Commissioner of Public Works
Wennberg says since 2009, there have been no accidents between cars and bicycles on the road and only one pedestrian accident. He says widening Dorr Drive just doesn’t make sense. “We have other areas of the city where the accident statistics are damning and if I had an extra $154,000 – I would argue it might be far better spent if public safety were actually a priority.”
But Susan Schreibman, a transportation planner with the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, says once you repair Dorr Drive, motorists will drive much faster making it more dangerous for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists. “The reason why people travel that road slowly right now is because the pavement is in such poor condition," she says.
"The reason why people travel that road slowly right now is because the pavement is in such poor condition." - Susan Schreibman, transportation planner with the Rutland Regional Planning Commission
Schreibman says Rutland needs to start looking at road reconstruction projects as opportunities to make city roads safer and more user friendly. “It’s an investment in our community,” she says. An investment that’s especially attractive to younger Vermonters she says; a demographic Rutland desperately needs.
Schreibman applauds the Complete Streets concept but says the Vermont law lacks teeth. And she says awarding state transportation funds to projects that don’t incorporate safety measures make it easy for towns to postpone upgrades.
But Sue Minter, Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Transportation, disagrees. “We do support the municipal infrastructure to the best of our ability, but everything is a balancing act,” says Minter. “I think we certainly aren’t the police of this program. It’s really up to the municipalities. But it is not by statute our responsibility to enforce this.”
And while lawmakers did not add new funding to implement the Complete Streets law, Minter says the state awards more than $110 million in road grants a year, and it’s more than doubled the amount of funding for bicycle and pedestrian activity.
