Vermont § 10g - Annual report; Transportation Program; advancements, cancellations, and delays

§ 10g. Annual report; Transportation Program; advancements, cancellations, and delays

• (a) Proposed Transportation Program. The Agency of Transportation shall annually present to the General Assembly for adoption
  a multiyear Transportation Program covering the same number of years as the Statewide
  Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), consisting of the recommended budget for
  all Agency activities for the ensuing fiscal year and projected spending levels for
  all Agency activities for the following fiscal years. The Program shall include a
  description and year-by-year breakdown of recommended and projected funding of all
  projects proposed to be funded within the time period of the STIP and, in addition,
  a description of all projects that are not recommended for funding in the first fiscal
  year of the proposed Program but that are scheduled for construction during the time
  period covered by the STIP. The Program shall be consistent with the planning process
  established by 1988 Acts and Resolves No. 200, as codified in 3 V.S.A. chapter 67 and 24 V.S.A. chapter 117, the statements of policy set forth in sections 10b-10f of this title, and the long-range systems plan, corridor studies, and project priorities developed
  through the capital planning process under section 10i of this title. (b) Projected spending. Projected spending in future fiscal years shall be based on revenue estimates as follows: (1) with respect to State funds, on the consensus forecast for Transportation Fund revenue
  adopted pursuant to 32 V.S.A. § 305a and for later years on other consensus or Executive Branch estimates of Transportation
  Fund revenues; and (2) with respect to federal funds, on such federal regulations that apply to the development
  of the STIP. (c) Systemwide performance measures. The Program proposed by the Agency shall include systemwide performance measures developed
  by the Agency to describe the condition of the Vermont transportation network. The
  Program shall discuss the background and utility of the performance measures, track
  the performance measures over time, and, where appropriate, recommend the setting
  of targets for the performance measures. (d) [Repealed.] (e) Prior expenditures and appropriations carried forward. (1) The Agency’s annual Transportation Program shall include a separate report summarizing
  with respect to the most recently ended fiscal year: (A) all expenditures of funds by source; and (B) all unexpended appropriations of transportation funds and TIB funds that have been
  carried forward from the previous fiscal year to the ensuing fiscal year. (2) The summary shall identify expenditures and carry forwards for each program category
  included in the proposed annual Transportation Program as adopted for the closed fiscal
  year in question and such other information as the Agency deems appropriate. (f) Adopted Transportation Program. Each year following adoption of a Transportation Program under this section, the
  Agency shall prepare and make available to the public the Transportation Program adopted
  by the General Assembly. The resulting document shall be entered in the permanent
  records of the Agency and shall constitute the State’s official Transportation Program. (g) Project updates. The Agency’s annual proposed Transportation Program shall include project updates
  referencing this section and listing the following: (1) all proposed projects in the Program that would be new to the State Transportation
  Program; (2) all projects for which total estimated costs have increased by more than $5,000,000.00
  from the estimate in the adopted Transportation Program for the prior fiscal year
  or by more than 75 percent from the estimate in the adopted Transportation Program
  for the prior fiscal year; (3) all projects for which the total estimated costs have, for the first time, increased
  by more than $10,000,000.00 from the Preliminary Plan estimate or by more than 100
  percent from the Preliminary Plan estimate; and (4) all projects funded for construction in the prior fiscal year’s adopted Transportation
  Program that are no longer funded in the proposed Transportation Program submitted
  to the General Assembly, the projected costs for such projects in the prior fiscal
  year’s adopted Transportation Program, and the total costs incurred over the life
  of each such project. (h) Project delays; emergency and safety issues; additional funding; cancellations. (1) If capital projects in the Transportation Program are delayed because of unanticipated
  problems with permitting, right-of-way acquisition, construction, local concern, or
  availability of federal or State funds, the Secretary is authorized to advance other
  projects in the adopted Transportation Program for the current fiscal year. (2) The Secretary is further authorized to undertake projects to resolve emergency or
  safety issues that are not included in the adopted Transportation Program for the
  current fiscal year. Upon authorizing a project to resolve an emergency or safety
  issue, the Secretary shall give prompt notice of the decision and action taken to
  the Joint Fiscal Office and to the House and Senate Committees on Transportation when
  the General Assembly is in session and to the Joint Transportation Oversight Committee,
  the Joint Fiscal Office, and the Joint Fiscal Committee when the General Assembly
  is not in session. (3) If a project in the adopted Transportation Program for the current fiscal year requires
  additional funding to maintain the schedule in the adopted Transportation Program
  for the current fiscal year, the Agency is authorized to allocate the necessary resources.
  However, the Secretary shall not delay or suspend work on projects in the adopted
  Transportation Program for the current fiscal year to reallocate funding for other
  projects except when other funding options are not available. In such case, the Secretary
  shall notify the Joint Transportation Oversight Committee, the Joint Fiscal Office,
  and the Joint Fiscal Committee when the General Assembly is not in session and the
  House and Senate Committees on Transportation and the Joint Fiscal Office when the
  General Assembly is in session. With respect to projects in the approved Transportation
  Program, the Secretary shall notify the regional planning commission for the district
  where the affected project is located, the municipality where the affected project
  is located, the legislators for the district where the affected project is located,
  the House and Senate Committees on Transportation, and the Joint Fiscal Office of
  any change that likely will affect the fiscal year in which the project is planned
  to go to construction. (4) No project shall be canceled without the approval of the General Assembly, except
  that the Agency may cancel a municipal project upon the request or concurrence of
  the municipality, provided that notice of the cancellation is included in the Agency’s
  annual proposed Transportation Program. (i) Economic development proposals. For the purpose of enabling the State, without delay, to take advantage of economic
  development proposals that increase jobs for Vermonters, a transportation project
  certified by the Governor as essential to the economic infrastructure of the State
  economy, or a local economy, may, if approval is required by law, be approved for
  construction by a committee comprising the Joint Fiscal Committee meeting with the
  chairs of the House and Senate Committees on Transportation or their designees without
  explicit project authorization through an adopted Transportation Program. (j) Plan for advancing projects. The Agency of Transportation, in coordination with the Agency of Natural Resources
  and the Division for Historic Preservation, shall prepare and implement a plan for
  advancing projects contained in the adopted Transportation Program for the current
  fiscal year. The plan shall include the assignment of a project manager from the Agency
  of Transportation for each project. The Agency of Transportation, the Agency of Natural
  Resources, and the Division for Historic Preservation shall set forth provisions for
  expediting the permitting process and establishing a means for evaluating each project
  during concept design planning if more than one agency is involved to determine whether
  it should be advanced or deleted from the Program. (k) Definition. As used in subsection (h) of this section, “emergency or safety issues” means: (1) serious damage to a transportation facility caused by a natural disaster over a wide
  area, such as a flood, hurricane, earthquake, severe storm, or landslide; (2) catastrophic or imminent catastrophic failure of a transportation facility from any
  cause; (3) any condition identified by the Secretary as hazardous to the traveling public; or (4) any condition evidenced by fatalities or a high incidence of crashes. (l) Numerical grading system; priority rating. The Agency shall develop a numerical grading system to assign a priority rating to
  all Program Development Paving, Program Development Roadway, Program Development Safety
  and Traffic Operations, Program Development State and Interstate Bridge, Town Highway
  Bridge, and Bridge Maintenance projects. The rating system shall consist of two separate,
  additive components as follows: (1) One component shall be limited to asset management- and performance-based factors
  that are objective and quantifiable and shall consider the following: (A) the existing safety conditions in the project area and the impact of the project on
  improving safety conditions; (B) the average, seasonal, peak, and nonpeak volume of traffic in the project area, including
  the proportion of traffic volume relative to total volume in the region, and the impact
  of the project on congestion and mobility conditions in the region; (C) the availability, accessibility, and usability of alternative routes; (D) the impact of the project on future maintenance and reconstruction costs; (E) the relative priority assigned to the project by the relevant regional planning commission;
  and (F) the resilience of the transportation infrastructure to floods and other extreme weather
  events. (2) The second component of the priority rating system shall consider the following factors: (A) the importance of the transportation infrastructure as a factor in the local, regional,
  or State economy; and (B) the importance of the transportation infrastructure in the health, social, and cultural
  life of the surrounding communities. (3) The priority rating system for Program Development Roadway projects shall award as
  bonus points an amount equal to 10 percent of the total base possible rating points
  to projects within a designated downtown development district established pursuant
  to 24 V.S.A. § 2793. (m) Inclusion of priority rating. The annual proposed Transportation Program shall include an individual priority rating
  pursuant to subsection (l) of this section for each highway paving, roadway, safety and traffic operations,
  and bridge project in the Program along with a description of the system and methodology
  used to assign the ratings. (n) Development and evaluation projects; delays. The Agency’s annual proposed Transportation Program shall include a project-by-project
  description in each program of all proposed spending of funds for the development
  and evaluation of projects. These funds shall be reserved to the identified projects
  subject to the discretion of the Secretary to reallocate funds to other projects within
  the program when it is determined that the scheduled expenditure of the identified
  funds will be delayed due to permitting, local decision making, the availability of
  federal or State funds, or other unanticipated problems. (o) Year of first inclusion. For projects initially included in a Transportation Program adopted after January
  1, 2006, the Agency’s proposed Transportation Program prepared pursuant to subsection
  (a) of this section and the adopted Transportation Program prepared pursuant to subsection
  (f) of this section shall include the year in which the projects were first included
  in an adopted Transportation Program. (p) Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. The Agency shall include the annual maintenance required for the Lamoille Valley
  Rail Trail (LVRT), running from Swanton to St. Johnsbury, in the Transportation Program
  it presents to the General Assembly under subsection (a) of this section. The proposed
  authorization for the maintenance of the LVRT shall be sufficient to cover: (1) maintenance and repair or replacement of any bridges along the LVRT; (2) maintenance and repair of the fencing along the LVRT and any leased lines; (3) maintenance and repair of the stormwater systems for the LVRT; (4) any large-scale surface maintenance required due to dangerous conditions along the
  LVRT or compromise of the rail bed of the LVRT, or both; (5) resolution of any unauthorized encroachments related to the rail bed, but not the
  recreational use of the LVRT; and (6) any other maintenance obligations required of the Agency under a memorandum of understanding
  entered into regarding the maintenance of the LVRT. (Added 1989, No. 121, § 6, eff. June 22, 1989; amended 1989, No. 246 (Adj. Sess.), § 38; 1991, No. 175 (Adj. Sess.), § 25b, eff. May 15, 1992; 1993, No. 89, § 22; 1993, No. 89, § 22; 1993, No. 172 (Adj. Sess.), § 16; 1995, No. 60, § 20, eff. April 25, 1995; 1995, No. 183 (Adj. Sess.), § 17, eff. May 22, 1996; 1997, No. 144 (Adj. Sess.), § 12a, eff. April 27, 1998; 2001, No. 64, § 9, eff. June 16, 2001; 2003, No. 160 (Adj. Sess.), § 30, eff. June 9, 2004; 2005, No. 80, §§ 53, 60; 2005, No. 175 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 46, 47; 2007, No. 75, §§ 35(a), 38; 2007, No. 164 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 61, 62; 2009, No. 123 (Adj. Sess.), § 22; 2011, No. 62, § 36, eff. Jan. 1, 2012; 2011, No. 153 (Adj. Sess.), § 29; 2015, No. 11, § 25; 2015, No. 158 (Adj. Sess.), §§ 18, 20, 21; 2017, No. 38, § 13; 2019, No. 59, § 9; 2021, No. 55, § 13; 2021, No. 105 (Adj. Sess.), § 349, eff. July 1, 2022; 2023, No. 148 (Adj. Sess.), § 12, eff. July 1, 2024.)