Committee leans toward preferring both bike/ped projects and salt/sand sheds in Transportation Alternatives changes

Legislative staff told the Natural Resources & Energy Committee that H944 would change prioritization and grant maximums in Vermont’s Transportation Alternatives program — federal transportation block grant money administered for projects such as bike/pedestrian infrastructure, scenic turnouts, historic transportation preservation, culverts, stormwater work and, in some cases, salt/sand sheds.

"This is federal money. It is use‑it‑or‑lose‑it money," legislative staff said, explaining a FY27 one‑year rise to $1.2 million in maximum grant awards, with a permanent cap reverting to $600,000 to match project cost realities. The bill language also proposes alternatives on prioritization: retain existing bike/ped preference, replace it with priority for salt/sand shed projects, or create a preference that covers both.

Stakeholders warned that large capital projects such as salt/sand sheds often struggle to assemble complex matching funds and that underutilization of the program has led to returned federal funds in some past years. Rick Amore of Locumotion told the committee such returned dollars are a risk and urged flexibility so Vermont can invest more of its allocation rather than send funds back to Washington.

Legislative staff said current program funding in the year under discussion amounts to about $3.6 million in federal funds with roughly $900,000 in local matches and no state dollars. They reported the vast majority of current awards are for bike/pedestrian projects (sidewalks, multi‑use paths), followed by salt/sand sheds and culvert/stormwater projects; project sizes vary widely (from tens of thousands for engineering to hundreds of thousands for construction).

Committee members said they were reluctant to choose between bike/ped safety investments and salt/sand sheds given local stormwater and winter maintenance needs and signaled a leaning toward an option that allows preference for both categories. Staff said they would convey the committee’s leaning "across the hall." No committee vote on H944 occurred in this session.

Background: Transportation Alternatives is part of the federal Surface Transportation Block Grant program; staff said the state has historically underutilized available funds because small maximum awards made it hard to complete larger projects that require a capital stack of matching funds.