Vermont DOT outlines shift to multimodal guidance and rolls out Complete Streets training for planners and engineers

The Agency of Transportation told the Senate Transportation Committee on April 17 that it is replacing the Vermont State Design Standards with a Vermont Multimodal Roadway Guide and will launch a Complete Streets training program for state and municipal planners and engineers.

The change moves Vermont from prescriptive standards to a guidance-based, context-sensitive framework designed to give engineers flexibility while encouraging consistent outcomes across rural, suburban and urban settings.

AOT Deputy Chief Engineer Erin Sisson said the project aims to provide a single “umbrella” document that points designers to state standard drawings, engineering instructions and national guidance such as AASHTO and NCHRP so practitioners can choose context-appropriate solutions instead of applying a one-size-fits-all standard. “We’re gonna do a little two-part update for you all about where we’re at with the Vermont multimodal roadway guide… and then the Complete Streets training,” Sisson said.

Why it matters: the state’s standards date to the 1990s and the update reflects a nationwide trend toward outcomes-based guidance that balances local land use, safety and multimodal access. Committee members and stakeholders said the new approach could better align transportation decisions with Act 181 land‑use maps and help preserve options for walking, biking and transit in older downtowns.

AOT said the department completed a year of public engagement and hired a consultant team (BHB and Tool Design) to build the outline of the guide. The consultants delivered an 85-page outline two weeks before the hearing; AOT staff said they are reviewing it internally and will distribute it externally after alignment checks with agency policy. Sisson said a full draft is expected “by early next year,” followed by implementation and training so the guidance is used in practice rather than shelved.

The guidance will reframe roadway classification away from federal functional class (minor arterial, major collector, etc.) toward land-use contexts — for example, treating one continuous “major collector” differently where it passes through a downtown than where it carries interstate connector truck traffic. “Even though this roadway is the same classification the whole way, is it in a rural setting? Is it a connector… or is it a downtown?” Sisson said.

Complete Streets training: Matthew Arancio, regional planning manager in AOT’s Policy, Planning and Research division, summarized an internal training program AOT piloted this winter and spring that combines (1) a guided walk audit, (2) a presentation on the 2023 Complete Streets guidance and (3) a guided design (tabletop) exercise. Arancio said AOT will adapt the internal model for external delivery starting in fall 2025, with online modules plus five to six in-person sessions organized with regional planning commissions and VLCT.

The training emphasizes three takeaways AOT wants design professionals to absorb: design for context rather than deploy a single template; assemble multiple Complete Streets elements (there is “no one Complete Street”); and, at minimum, do not preclude future multimodal improvements when doing smaller rehabilitation work. Arancio described an internal walk audit in downtown Barre as an example where participants observed frequent jaywalking and discussed design responses.

Stakeholder input and safeguards: Locomotion, a statewide active‑transportation advocacy group, and other stakeholders told the committee they support the move toward guidance but urged the department to balance flexibility with performance targets so that places that need high‑quality walking and biking facilities (routes to school, village centers) are pushed toward higher design standards. Jonathan Weber, director of Locomotion, recommended integrating objective measures such as Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) into the guidance to identify where LTS 1–2 facilities (comfortable for the majority of the public) should be a goal.

AOT staff and committee members discussed the possibility of retaining some prescriptive language in companion engineering instructions where minimums (for example, sidewalk width) must be enforced. Michelle Boomhower of AOT said prescriptive elements will likely “nest” under the new guidance in other agency documents and that training will help practitioners understand when to apply flexibility and when to follow explicit requirements.

AOT reiterated that the guidance and training are being designed to encourage collaboration with regional planning commissions, municipal staff and other stakeholders so projects consider funding sources early and allow municipalities time to respond. Sisson and Arancio both said the department expects to continue stakeholder outreach as it develops the full draft.

The committee asked AOT to share the consultants’ outline with members after internal review; Sisson said she would distribute the outline externally in about a month.

Looking ahead: AOT will continue to develop the draft multimodal guide through the coming year, followed by an implementation program of training for agency and municipal staff. The department also said it is coordinating the guidance with Act 181 land‑use mapping work underway by RPCs to ensure transportation and land‑use contexts align.

For now the plan is guidance plus practical training rather than adding new blanket “shall” requirements; AOT and stakeholders will test whether a combination of guidance, nested prescriptive standards and training moves local projects toward safer, multimodal outcomes without introducing unworkable mandates.