Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Complete Streets topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
AARP urges Vermont to update state road standards, highlight winter maintenance and village center reclassification
Summary
AARP Vermont testified to the Senate Transportation Committee in support of updating the Vermont State Standards in H.488 to improve pedestrian safety, incorporate winter-maintenance guidance, and make it easier for small towns to adopt Complete Streets in village centers.
Kelly Stoddard Poor, associate state director for AARP Vermont, told the Senate Transportation Committee that Vermont should update its 1997 state roadway design standards and incorporate Complete Streets guidance to address safety and access for older Vermonters and other road users.
Stoddard Poor said pedestrian deaths have risen in recent years and pointed to data she provided the committee: 27 pedestrian deaths in 2013–2017 and 31 in 2018–2022. “Cars are going too fast. Our roads are too wide,” she said, urging the committee to use a level-of-traffic-stress metric and to include winter-maintenance guidance in standards revisions.
The matter is part of H.488, sections 28 and 29, and stems from prior work with VTrans and Smart Growth America. Stoddard Poor described AARP’s participation in a 2015 process to update the Vermont State Standards and subsequent analyses funded and completed with Smart Growth America; she said VTrans has updated its internal Complete Streets policy and has made data publicly available on its website.
Committee members asked how AARP has been involved in the current agency-led standards update. Stoddard Poor said she and stakeholder groups such as Local Motion and the Vermont Natural Resources Council submitted a memo to VTrans proposing that the standards include context sensitivity and level-of-traffic-stress guidance so designs are not “one size fits all.” She also recommended technical assistance and training for smaller towns that lack capacity to implement Complete Streets.
A recurring implementation barrier, Stoddard Poor said, is that many State highways run through village centers and are designed for large plow clearances, which increases lane width and vehicle speeds. She and senators discussed incentives or legislative options to allow towns to take over — or be better supported to manage — state highways that cross village centers, giving municipalities more control over design decisions such as narrower travel lanes, sidewalks, bike accommodations or plow-compatible curb treatments. Stoddard Poor said a recent study on reclassification of state highways (prepared with Smart Growth America and VTrans) could inform that work.
Senator White and other committee members signaled interest in continuing to coordinate between the Legislature and VTrans as the agency updates standards and planning processes. No formal committee action was recorded during the exchange; committee members asked AARP to return with updates on progress in future sessions.
The committee did not vote on H.488 during this meeting; the discussion centered on stakeholder input and technical changes the agency is pursuing.
