Your input needed on the Vermont Carbon Reduction Plan

Bikes and Micromobility at the Strolling of the Heifers parade, Brattleboro

Last fall the Federal Highway Administration tasked our state transportation agency VTrans with looking at ways to reduce the carbon emissions of our transportation system.  In response VTrans has set up a Carbon Reduction Strategy committee to study different approaches.  They have had several meetings this year, including a public input session last March, and they are holding another public session on August 2.  Bicycles are definitely a part of the plan, but because we have focused our efforts over the last several decades on cars, bicycling and walking are only a small part.  If you would like to listen in and hear the latest update, or add a comment in support of increasing bicycling, here is a link to the upcoming August 2 public input sessions.  There are 2 Zoom sessions, one at noon and one at 6 pm, and the links are in the sidebar to the right:

https://vtrans.vermont.gov/form/carbon-reduction-strategy#

If you are unable to attend the Zoom sessions, there is a section at the bottom of the webpage for sending in a comment.  However the Powerpoint presentation is informative and I encourage you to see it.

At this moment the committee has identified these steps that can be taken, and are in the process of evaluating them:

•increasing bike, pedestrian and transit use

•fostering denser land use and also using teleconferencing to reduce the miles that are driven

•using lower emission vehicles

•managing the use of carbon based fuels through fees and incentives

•improving traffic flow through roadway design

Vermont does have goals for reducing the state's carbon emissions, and the principle plan for reducing transportation emissions has been converting cars and trucks to electric.  This will work OK for the 2025 goals, however there are gaps between the goals and reality for 2030 and 2050:

•the 2030 emissions will be 450,000 Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (MT CO2e) over the goal of 2,000,000 MT CO2e

•the 2050 emissions will be 100,000 MT CO2e over the goal of 500,000 MT CO2e

The VTrans Carbon Reduction committee has tentatively figured that the steps will close less than 5% of the gap in 2030.  Here is their interim calculation results:

•car pooling, ride sharing, or other transportation demand management

90 MT CO2e, or 0.0%

•increasing bike and pedestrian networks

260 MT CO2e, or 0.1%

•expanding bus service

670 MT CO2e, or 0.1%

•encouraging Micromobility (small low speed vehicles including ebikes)

1,600 MT CO2e, or 0.4%

•electrifying all transit

3,900 MT CO2e, or 0.9%

•Telework

6,100 MT CO2e, or 1.3%

•encouraging denser land use

6,500 MT CO2e, or 1.4%

These steps all add up to only 19,100 MT CO2e, and 450,000 is needed.  There is one omission in the steps so far- the step for increasing bike and pedestrian networks only counted Chittenden county plans (the area around Burlington), and did not consider a Bike Corridor along Route 5.  A Chittenden county network build out would add 300 miles, while a Route 5 Corridor would be 190 miles.  (The Route 5 Bike Corridor public input is coming up and I'll write a blog post about it.)

The VTrans presentations on August 2 will have the latest ideas, and will be worth listening to.  If you see something missing, don't hesitate to add a comment.

For information on all of VTrans programs relating to climate and energy, here is a webpage with an overview:

https://vtrans.vermont.gov/planning/climate-change

(Posted by Karl Kemnitzer)