Advocacy Input on the Rutland Regional Transportation Plan
Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities - NOV 2005

Prepared by James C. Tassé, Ph.D
Executive Director, Rutland Area Physical Activity Coalition

Current Conditions
The current conditions of bicycle and pedestrian facilities in Rutland County are generally “poor” to “fair”, based on the standards described by Wilbur Smith Consultants in the City of Rutland Bicycle Plan in 2001. In general, the roads in Rutland County appear to be maintained and improved with little or no attention paid to the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians. This is despite the sizeable population of bike riders and walkers in Rutland County. The lack of safe and well-maintained bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure is a discouragement to non-motorized transportation and healthy lifestyle choices. The lack of safe and well-maintained bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure encourages reliance on the automobile, leading to road congestion, excess fuel consumption, pollution, and obesity.

Current Conditions of Bicycle Facilities
Current conditions for bicycle facilities in Rutland County are poor to fair--where they exist. Bicycling conditions throughout the county are not encouraging to new users, and not supportive of current users.

• All major county-wide arterials (Rts. 4, 4A, 7, 30, 133, 140) lack consistent shoulders that are suitable for bicycle use. Where shoulders do exist (e.g. on stretches of Route 4A in Center Rutland to West Rutland, and along stretches of Route 4 towards Pico, on Route 3 from Center Rutland to Proctor, etc), they are not maintained, kept clear of overhanging branches or swept to encourage bicycle use.
• Routes 4 and 7 in City of Rutland have no bicycle lanes and are currently prohibited for bicycle travel.
• There are no bike lanes anywhere in Rutland County.
• There are no bicycle lane road stencils anywhere in Rutland County..
• There are no “Share the Road” or “Shared Lane” signs anywhere in Rutland County.
• There is less than one mile of dedicated bike path in the county.
• The bike routes within City of Rutland, although recently signed for route identification and navigation have not been widened, striped or otherwise improved as recommended by Wilson Smith in the City of Rutland Bike plan.
• Supporting infrastructure for bicyclists like bike racks is inconsistently placed. Bike racks are notably lacking from such obvious destinations as the Regional Medical Center, City of Rutland Police Dept, City of Rutland Administration Hall, College of St. Joseph’s, Community College of Vermont, Castleton College Library, Fair Haven downtown etc.

Current Conditions of Pedestrian Facilities
Pedestrian facilities throughout the county are in fair condition, based upon national walkability recommendations. Most of the sidewalks in the county are in City of Rutland, Fair Haven, Poultney, Castleton, and West Rutland.

• Sidewalk conditions in City of Rutland are generally poor. Discontinuous sidewalks, sidewalks that lead nowhere, and poorly maintained, cracked and uneven sidewalks are common throughout the City. Concrete block sidewalks often show block displacements of between 1 and 6 inches. Only in the immediate downtown area are sidewalk conditions consistently good.
• City of Rutland’s efforts to improve sidewalks using hot mix pavement has resulted in about a mile of new sidewalk in 2004-2005. These sidewalks are of mixed quality, occasionally discontinuous, lacking proper curbs, and in places (e.g. Meadow St) merging onto the street without a clear delineation of where the walk ends.
• “Goat Path” use lines indicating paths of travel requiring improvement exist on Crescent Street, Route 7N, and Route 4 in City of Rutland.
• Crosswalk conditions are fair county-wide. There are no crosswalks in Rutland City north of Crescent Street, and crossing is hazardous.
• There are no median islands for pedestrian crossings of main arterials.
• Sidewalk Conditions in Fair Haven are in fair condition.
• “Goat Path” use lines indicating paths of travel requiring improvement exist on the north side of Rt. 4A in Castleton.
• Sidewalk conditions in West Rutland are in fair condition. Sidewalk upgrades are planned for West Rutland.
• Sidewalk Conditions in Poultney are fair to good. No further info.

Unmet Needs
There are many unmet bicycle and pedestrian needs in Rutland County. Perhaps the most significant unmet need is for a policy of routine accommodation to be adopted for all road projects in Rutland County. State, County, City, and town officials need to be convinced of the value of bike/ped infrastructure before they will show the commitment to make public rights of way safe and usable by multiple modes of travel. Providing safe bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure is considered one of the most effective ways to promote non-motorized activity, which can have significant impacts on a community’s quality of life, health, and economy.

The need for improvement to bike and pedestrian facilities is greatest in the City of Rutland, which serves the most people in a single location, and offers the greatest opportunities for using bicycle and foot travel as part of a multi-modal transportation system.

Unmet Needs for Bicycles
The major unmet need for bicyclists in Rutland County is for construction of facilities for safe bicycle use. The need for improvement to bike facilities is perhaps greatest in the City of Rutland, which serves the most people in a single location, and offers the greatest opportunities for using bicycle travel as part of a multi-modal transportation system.

• In general, Rutland County needs to create safe bicycle access on main arterial roads by widening and painting lanes.
• Rtes 4 and 7 need to have on-road bicycle lanes, or parallel bicycle paths, as was proposed in the Rutland Regional Bicycle Document in 1997-98.
• Rtes 4A, 4 Eastbound, 30, 100, 133 need to have their shoulders consistently widened or re-laned to accommodate bicycle travel. Stenciling and sweeping should be part of the routine maintenance of these roadways.
• Rt 3 needs to have its shoulders maintained, stenciled and regularly swept.
• City of Rutland’s bicycle routes need to be widened and laned, as per Wilbur Smith Consultants’ recommendation in the City Bike Plan.
• Bicycle racks need to be placed at key commuter locations (e.g. Regional Medical Center, City of Rutland Police Dept, City of Rutland Administration Hall, College of St. Joseph’s, Community College of Vermont, Castleton College Library, Fair Haven downtown etc.) to encourage bike use.
• A “multi-use” path for use by entry level and recreational riders, as was under development in 1997-98, needs to be created somewhere in the county. Rutland Couny has actually moved backwards in the last eight years on this issue and abandoned construction of a paid and funded plan in 1996.
• Share the road signage and bicycle lane stencils should be used wherever possible to provide reminders to drivers that bicyclists will be on local roads.

Unmet needs for Pedestrians
Unmet needs for pedestrians in Rutland County include the maintenance of existing facilities, and the building of new facilities. The need for sidewalk improvement is greatest in City of Rutland, which serves the most people in a single location, and offers the greatest opportunities for using pedestrian travel as part of a multi-modal transportation system.

• City of Rutland’s uneven sidewalks need to be repaired, leveled and maintained in all seasons. Discontinuous segments need to be joined.
• Rutland City should adopt a systematic plan to guide sidewalk and crosswalk construction and maintenance.
• On the west side of Rt. 7N at the border between City of Rutland and Rutland Town a sidewalk needs to be installed up to at least Mr. Twitter’s on the path of the existing common use pedestrian wear lines.
• On the north side of Rt. 4A in Castleton, sidewalks need to be installed at the east and west entrances to town.
• A crosswalk needs to be installed near the Sewards Dairy Bar on Rte 7 N.
• A sidewalk needs to be created from Rt. 7 South to the Diamond Run Mall.
• Both sides of Rt 7 through the entire town of Pittsford needs sidewalk repair and construction.
• All “goat path” wear trails along town arterials should have sidewalks.

Future Trends
Future trends in meeting the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians in Rutland County are characterized by two very different dynamics. One dynamic questions whether the needs are worth meeting, while the other dynamic demands that the needs should be met.

Thus, on the one hand, tightening budgets and a lack of commitment on the part of local officials has hampered the construction of new bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and it is difficult to say if the situation is likely to change over the next five years. Money that was originally included in the federal transportation budget passed in the summer of 2005 may be redirected to pay for the Katrina Hurricane disaster and the continuing military struggle in Iraq. Local officials remain unconvinced that providing bicycle and pedestrian access to public rights of way is necessary or worth the cost.

On the other hand, rising fuel costs and a growing awareness of the need to do something about the obesity epidemic (which will result in soaring health care bills for all of us) is beginning to result in greater demand for this infrastructure. As more people return to walking and bicycling as ways to save money on gas and to build more activity into their lives, the need to provide safe infrastructure for these users will grow in importance. Communities also are beginning to adopt the stance that safe and well-maintained bicycle and pedestrian facilities are important to quality of life and economic well-being.

Progressive planning argues for creating infrastructure, such as bike/ped facilities, that will have multiple long-term positive effects on a community. In Rutland County, such infrastructure will not be generally created until attitudes change about the value and long-term cost effectiveness of encouraging bicycle and pedestrian use, and money is available for construction from the state and federal government.

Meeting Future and Current Needs
Meeting the future and current needs of Rutland County’s bicyclists and pedestrians will require changes in the attitudes, policy and funding environment of local governments. Local advocate groups such as RAPAC, the Killington Pico Cycling Club, and Vermont Bike/Ped Coalition will play an important role alongside the Regional Planning Commission in pressing for more and better bicycle facilities in Rutland County.

There are some communities beginning to lead the way to a more bike/ped friendly Rutland County. In 2004 and 2005, West Rutland, Brandon, Wallingford, and Pittsford all submitted applications for Transportation Enhancement funds for sidewalk or multi-use paths. West Rutland opened a new multi-use path between Rt. 133 and the town recreation center about a third of a mile long. Rutland City installed bicycle route signage, produced a route map, and upgraded its downtown crosswalks.

These efforts at improving bike/ped conditions locally are not widespread or systematically pursued, however. The Route 7 and 4 upgrades planned for Rutland County do not mandate bicycle and pedestrian facilities as part of the projects, and such facilities are often the first things cut to save costs. Local advocates are pressing for inclusion of such facilities, but officials are not at present supportive of their efforts.

Local officials do not generally see the value of spending money to systematically improve sidewalk conditions, widen streets, paint bike lanes, or construct multi-user paths. Reactions to recommendations from local bike/ped advocate groups concerning such facilities range from hostile to condescendingly dismissive.

Local officials do not appear to be consistently aware that federal dollars for bicycle and pedestrian facilities exist which do not “rob” funding for bridge and other road improvement problems.

It is thus expected that future and current bicycle and pedestrian needs in Rutland County will continue to be met in a piecemeal, after-thought fashion rather than as part of a consistent county-wide policy for the next several years. Bike/ped facilities will most likely be constructed with the view that they are enhancements or amenities to road improvement projects, rather than critical components of a true multi-modal system.

Improvement of this situation will occur when local officials are more educated about the value and funding mechanisms of bike/ped facilities

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