Vermont Road Design Guide draft is available for reading

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) has been updating the state's design standards used for our roads, and last Friday they released a draft version of the new Vermont Multimodal Roadway Guide (VMRG) to the Vermont House Transportation Committee.  Because much of the Connecticut river valley terrain makes it difficult to build a separated bike path alongside Route 5, the hope is that these new standards will create a more friendly road layout for biking and walking than the car centered design we presently have.

VTrans presented two drafts to the committee:  an outline of the guide, and Chapter 5 which addresses rural roads.  You can view these drafts in the transportation committee's documents archive, here are links to them:

Vermont Multimodal Roadway Guide - Draft

https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Workgroups/House%20Transportation/Transportation%20Issues/Agency%20of%20Transportation/W~Erin%20Sisson~Vermont%20Multimodal%20Roadway%20Guide%202026~1-16-2026.pdf

Chapter 5 - Roadway Types and Context: Rural - Draft

https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2026/Workgroups/House%20Transportation/Transportation%20Issues/Agency%20of%20Transportation/W~Erin%20Sisson~Vermont%20Multimodal%20Roadway%20Guide%20Chapter%205~1-16-2026.pdf

Once the drafts have been proofread by all of the VTrans teams, they will seek public comment.  In the meantime it's possible to review the drafts and chat about them with your town's planner, planning committee, or even send a note to your regional planning commission transportation planner.  The period of time for public comments is often pretty short and it's useful to do some homework ahead of time.

Posted by Karl Kemnitzer