Snelling Center for Government

Inviting the public to help rank strategic priorities for Vermont’s transportation system and recommend how to fund those priorities

[TAKE SURVEY]

Problem Statement

There is no dispute that Vermont’s roads, culverts, and bridges are suffering rapid, net deterioration, and that our rail and public transportation assets need attention. This is often framed in financial terms, but the recent collapse of an interstate bridge in Minnesota is a stark reminder that fundamental safety is also at stake. The mid-August edition of Time Magazine cites a U.S. Department of Transportation study indicating that 35% of Vermont’s bridges are “structurally deficient or functionally obsolete”, which compares to Minnesota with 12%. According to VTrans, 20% of Vermont’s road pavement is in “very poor condition”, and the condition of the railroads requires speeds that are too slow to be attractive for freight or passenger traffic.

Vermont’s legislative and administration leaders express that restoring existing infrastructure is a top priority. Still, according to VTrans, maintaining the current average bridge condition will require at least $55 million per year in addition to the $57 million we currently spend. With project inflation and other demands, such as the construction of Bennington North highway, funds for restoring the current roads and bridges will tighten in coming years. As Secretary Lunderville points out in the “Road to Affordability”, delay in bridge or culvert maintenance can increase a project’s cost by ten-fold, and delay in road maintenance can increase cost five-fold. 

Vermont’s Philosophy and Strategy

Vermont’s legislative and administration leaders share a philosophy that maintaining our current transportation assets is of the highest priority. There is not, however, a discernable shared strategy about how to achieve that priority. Vermonters need to weigh the consequences of the current approach against the consequences of shifting public resources from other transportation and non-transportation functions, to the consequences of a major public borrowing and / or tax and fee increases. In addition, since we can’t do everything, Vermonters will need to decide the principles of how any additional monies should be spent: do we address corridors with the highest traffic volumes, or the very worst conditions, or strive for geographic balance, etc. Developing current information on technical and fiscal options and presenting it to Vermonters in a manner that they can understand and work with it to create a sense of shared values and express public priorities is an essential step in making any change, or maintaining the current course, politically feasible

Snelling Center Project

The Snelling Center is a non-partisan, non-profit institution with a mission that includes promoting informed citizen participation in shaping public policy. With financial support from public and private grants, we propose to research and provide a clear statement of the transportation infrastructure situation and its projected future under a “business as usual” scenario, research and present possible financing options or combinations of options to sustain or strategically increase funding for infrastructure improvement, engage the public in the strategic choices described above: to distill principles, rank priorities, and consider funding alternatives. The objective is to identify policy scenarios that address the technical, fiscal and political needs and issues in Vermont that will allow state investments to begin to bend the curve so that maintenance and repair are conducted at a level where deteriorating conditions do not outpace those efforts. It is our intent to report in January 2009.

Charlie Smith joins a panel on VPT discussing the future of funding transportation priorities in Vermont.