Local Motion tells committee outdoor recreation and biking investments drive Vermont economies
Loading...
Summary
Local Motion told the House Commerce & Economic Development Committee that active-transportation and trail investments produce tourism and local-business revenue, urged statutory fixes for pedestrian safety and an e-bike task force, and asked lawmakers to sustain funding for place-based transportation programs.
Local Motion, a statewide nonprofit that supports bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, told the Vermont House Committee on Commerce & Economic Development on Feb. 5 that investments in trails, safe routes and downtown transportation produce measurable local economic returns.
“Local Motion is a nonprofit statewide organization supporting communities, and advancing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure,” said Richard Amore, Local Motion’s program director. Amore cited statewide figures, saying outdoor recreation brings over $2,100,000,000 to Vermont annually (more than 5% of state GDP) and pointed to visitor spending associated with trails such as the Island Line Trail, which saw nearly 40,000 boardings on its bike ferry last year.
Amore walked the committee through Local Motion’s approaches: community technical assistance, demonstration projects that test street changes before capital investment (he cited a Chester project), Safe Routes to School programming that has engaged tens of thousands of children since 2012, and partnerships that market businesses along trail corridors.
Local Motion outlined legislative and policy priorities including statutory changes to create a 20-foot no-parking buffer at mid-block crosswalks (15 feet where a bulb-out exists), a proposed interagency study and task force on e-bike battery fire risk and path behavior, and support for Burlington’s request to deploy traffic-safety cameras on key corridors. Amore also highlighted several grant programs that support downtown vitality—Better Connections, the Downtown Transportation Fund, the Bicycle & Pedestrian program and the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative—and asked for sustained base funding where possible.
Committee members asked how Local Motion is involved in Burlington’s traffic-camera effort; Amore said the group supports the city’s request but is not leading the initiative. The testimony emphasized rural economic benefits from rail-trail connections, including an NVDA county study that estimated the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail could generate about $4,700,000 in annual sales in one county.
Local Motion closed by urging legislators to consider both above-ground investments (sidewalks, crosswalks, bike infrastructure) alongside underground utilities when planning housing and downtown revitalization.
