Vermont Agency of Transportation walks lawmakers through public project maps, 511, bids and emergency response

Jeremy Reed, chief engineer with the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans), spent a committee meeting Feb. 12 demonstrating the agency’s public-facing tools and explaining how residents and lawmakers can find project information, contact project staff and follow bids and contract results.

“The 511 has all the road closures, road conditions, traffic… and then the plow finder, middle of the storm, you can click on the plow finder, and it will tell you where each plow is and essentially how long it's been since they've been on on your travel route,” Reed said as he walked committee members through the VTrans landing pages and interactive maps.

The presentation showed several public resources. Reed highlighted the 511 service for closures and plow activity, a project map that displays projects with construction funding programmed for the next three years, and a fact-sheet view for individual projects that lists scope, schedules and project manager contact details. He said larger construction efforts often post a separate project website and that projects in construction usually list a public information officer to handle public inquiries.

Why it matters: committee members said constituents often ask how to influence the scope of forthcoming work—such as upsizing culverts ahead of paving, adding bike lanes, or requesting guardrail or ditching changes—and they want a clear path for inquiries. Reed said the project fact sheets list VTrans…