VTrans outlines municipal assistance programs, funding levels and implementation challenges

Joel Perrigo, municipal assistance program manager at VTrans, briefed the Senate Transportation Committee on programs in the agency’s municipal assistance portfolio and how they appear in the FY26 budget.

Perrigo said the park-and-ride program includes two expansions programmed for the coming year — adding about 10 spaces in Sharon and 16 spaces in Manchester — and noted municipal park-and-ride grants have added roughly 15–19 spaces to the statewide network over recent years. He described the program as primarily state-owned facilities with a grant component and said preventative maintenance and a municipal park-and-ride grant line are included in the proposed budget.

The committee pressed VTrans on pedestrian and bicycle funding. Perrigo described the bike-and-ped program as a roughly $21 million-plus line in the FY26 proposal, and he said “almost half of that, I think $10,000,000 of it is from the RAISE grant” for a pedestrian bridge project. He warned the committee that federal guidance currently prevents obligating some RAISE funds to the construction phase; engineering and right-of-way work is continuing but obligation of construction dollars is uncertain.

On smaller projec…