Public Policy Detail
Introduction
Transportation is critically important to Vermont's economy, communities, and environment. Our transportation system not only moves people and goods, it also significantly influences our development patterns - our placement of commercial, industrial, and residential centers. Where we build our transportation infrastructure and what type of infrastructure it will be - multi-modal or automobile dependent - will determine what Vermont will look like and feel like in fifty years. It will also shape our economic future.
Transportation also has serious environmental consequences. It is the largest end use of energy in Vermont.
According to the VT Department of Public Service, it accounts for 43% of the energy used in Vermont. It also accounts for 47% of the greenhouse gases released in Vermont and is the largest source of several other pollutants, according to the Agency of Natural Resources.
It is the one area in which energy use growth is projected to continue increasing at significant rates. For example, last year, a record number of miles was driven in Vermont - in excess of 6 billion miles.
VBSR is concerned that transportation spending over-emphasizes automobiles at the expense of other, more efficient alternatives, including public transportation such as commuter rail and bus service. In budget year 2001, for example, approximately 82% of the non-administrative transportation budget was spent by Vermont on highways, roads, and bridges. Only 15% of the non-administrative budget was spent on non-highway modes, including commuter and freight rail, and other non-automobile modes of transportation. These modes offer Vermonters transportation choices, but they are too under-funded to be viable.
Moreover, a great deal of the money spent on highways, roads and bridges is being spent on a few expensive projects that may be bad investments in our overall transportation system. Vermont's transportation budget is very tight. In 2001, the transportation budget deficit was between $60 and $80 million dollars, and the Joint Fiscal Office projects a $557 million shortfall over the next five years. Most of this shortfall is caused by two new major highway projects - the Bennington Bypass and the Circumferential Highway around Burlington. These two projects alone will cost more than $300 million, and if completed, will bring more automobile dependency to regions surrounding these cities.
Recommendations
VBSR supports transportation investments that enhance mobility for all Vermonters and reduce air pollution and energy use. Transportation investments should help:
- decrease vehicle miles traveled,
- provide better public transportation,
- implement traffic flow improvements on existing roads,
- improve land use management to foster compact development,
- reduce employee commute trips, and
- make vehicles more efficient
VBSR supports a multi-modal approach to transportation spending that provides optimum mobility for Vermonters by providing choices on how to get around.
VBSR opposes funding the construction of unnecessary new highways that fail to solve congestion problems, are too expensive, and contribute to air pollution and wasteful energy use.
A summary of specific policies VBSR supports include:
- Vermont should increase funding support for public transit, especially in the more heavily populated areas of the state and in tourist centers. Vermont should increase the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of public transit spending, consistent with the Public Transit Policy Plan.1
- Vermont should at least double its annual rail investment during the next five years and seek to rehabilitate state-owned rail lines to a fully functional rail system as recommended by the Rail Capital Investment Plan. 2
- Vermont should immediately invest in several public interest rail projects to enhance and maintain passenger and freight rail service, including:
- the extension of commuter rail service to Essex and IBM,
- the Albany-Bennington-Rutland-Burlington Amtrak passenger service expansion,
- and commuter rail service between Essex and Montpelier.
- To encourage carpooling, Vermont should establish or expand at least two Park-and-Ride facilities in each of the next five fiscal years.
- All major private employers in Vermont who employ 50 or more full-time employees at a single worksite should have commute trip reduction plans, cooperating with other businesses, state agencies, and regional planning organizations when possible. Plans should include goals and measures to reduce the proportion of single-occupant vehicle commute trips and commute trip vehicle miles per employee. Successful plans could make employers eligible for tax incentives.
- Vermont should require the sale of a certain number of Low Emission Vehicles (LEV) and provide incentives for their purchase. One example of an incentive could be a waiver of registration fees and exemption from the purchase and use tax for alternative fuel vehicles that meet the super ultra low emission vehicle (SULEV) requirements, provided the vehicles are to be used in Vermont. VBSR also supports investments in necessary infrastructure to support these vehicles.
- VBSR opposes construction of the Circumferential Highway around Burlington, as it will increase sprawl in the region, encourage more dependency on automobiles, and draw economic activity from existing downtowns. The recommendations outlined above should be funded through a restructuring of the existing transportation budget. If additional funds are needed, VBSR supports increasing the gasoline tax, with off-setting measures to make the increase equitable for low-income Vermonters. Any increase in car registration or other fees (like those proposed in H. 505) should earmark at least 50% of the revenue raised to the budget priorities and tax incentives outlined above.
1 Vermont Public Transit Policy Plan, Agency of Transportation; January 2000.
2 Vermont Rail Capital Investment Policy Plan, Agency of Transportation; October 2001.
