Friday December 16, 2011
BRATTLEBORO — Gov. Peter Shumlin’s comprehensive energy plan includes a significant portion dedicated to improving the Vermont transportation infrastructure, calling for a greater focus on pedestrian/bicycle projects and increasing the number of in-state vehicles powered by renewable sources.
Chris Cole, a planning and policy director with the state’s Agency of Transportation, said during a Thursday forum in Brattleboro that the governor’s plan reduces petroleum consumption in Vermont while reducing energy use in the transit sector.
Shumlin’s energy goals overlap with the measurable objectives within the transportation goals, such as having 25 percent of all registered vehicles powered by renewable sources by 2030. Furthermore, increasing public transit ridership by more than 100 percent (to 8.7 million trips) by 2030 is also a target in the plan.
On Vermont’s railroads, Shumlin calls for quadrupling passenger rail trips (to 400,000) within two decades and double the amount of freight tonnage during the same time period. The plan also calls for twice the number of bicycle and pedestrian commute trips and triple the amount of Park-and-Ride spaces in the state.
“It’s a bold plan with specific goals,” Cole said. But VTrans recognizes it has to begin now in the planning process to replace revenue
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