2023 Vermont Statutes › Title 19 - Highways › Chapter 1 - State Highway Law; General Transportation Provisions › § 10b. Statement of policy; general

§ 10b. Statement of policy; general
(a) The Agency shall be the responsible agency of the State for the development of transportation policy. It shall develop a mission statement to reflect:
(1) that State transportation policy shall be to encompass, coordinate, and integrate all modes of transportation and to consider complete streets, as defined in section 2401 of this title, principles; and
(2) the need for transportation projects that will improve the State’s economic infrastructure, as well as the use of resources in efficient, coordinated, integrated, cost-effective, and environmentally sound ways, and that will be consistent with the recommendations of the Comprehensive Energy Plan (CEP) issued under 30 V.S.A. § 202b.
(b) The Agency shall coordinate planning, education, and training efforts with those of local and regional planning entities to:
(1) ensure that the transportation system as a whole is integrated; that access to the transportation system as a whole is integrated; and that statewide, local, and regional conservation and efficiency opportunities and practices are integrated; and
(2) support employer-led or local or regional government-led conservation, efficiency, rideshare, and bicycle programs and other innovative transportation advances, especially employer-based incentives.
(c) In developing the State’s annual Transportation Program, the Agency shall, consistent with the planning goals listed in 24 V.S.A. § 4302 and with appropriate consideration to local, regional, and State agency plans:
(1) develop or incorporate designs that provide integrated, safe, and efficient transportation and that are consistent with the recommendations of the CEP;
(2) consider complete streets principles in all State- and municipally managed transportation projects and project phases, including planning, development, construction, and maintenance, except in the case of projects or project components involving unpaved highways;
(3) promote economic opportunities for Vermonters and the best use of the State’s environmental and historic resources; and
(4) manage available funding to:
(A) give priority to preserving the functionality of the existing transportation infrastructure, including bicycle and pedestrian trails regardless of whether they are located along a highway shoulder; and
(B) adhere to credible project delivery schedules.
(d) The Agency of Transportation, in developing each of the program prioritization systems schedules for all modes of transportation, shall include the following throughout the process:
(1) The Agency shall annually solicit input from each of the regional planning commissions and the Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization on regional priorities within each schedule, and those inputs shall be factored into the prioritizations for each program area and shall afford the opportunity of adding new projects to the schedules.
(2) Each year, the Agency shall provide in the front of the Transportation Program book a detailed explanation describing the factors in the prioritization system that creates each project list. (Added 1989, No. 121, § 1, eff. June 22, 1989; amended 1989, No. 246 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1993, No. 89, § 20; 2005, No. 175 (Adj. Sess.), § 48; 2007, No. 75, § 34, eff. June 7, 2007; 2007, No. 209 (Adj. Sess.), § 7; 2011, No. 34, § 2; 2017, No. 139 (Adj. Sess.), § 10; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 348, eff. July 1, 2022; 2023, No. 62, § 33, eff. July 1, 2023.)