Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the annual bill that will fund the state’s roads, bridges, airports, railroads, highway safety programs, public transit facilities and more.
Shumlin signed H.877 under a bridge in Waterbury on Thursday. The bill allocates $612.6 million in state and federal money to build and fix the state’s infrastructure as well as fund the Agency of Transportation.
The governor said in a news release that the Legislature’s transportation committees worked with him to create a bill “that will support economic growth and improve the safety of the traveling public.”
Transportation Secretary Chris Cole said in a news release that his top priority was keeping the state’s drivers safe, but that “maintaining a quality, integrated transportation system is critical to the overall economic health of Vermont.”
The governor’s office said Vermont had ranked No. 45 among all states for how many of its bridges were structurally deficient but moved up to No. 17 in 2014. Additionally, the percentage of pavement in “very poor condition” was 36 percent in 2008, compared with 15 percent in 2015, the governor’s office said.
“To continue these gains, this budget will advance the repair or replacement of more than 140 bridges, perform preventive maintenance on more than 25 structures, and repave more than 200 miles of state highways,” the governor’s office said.
Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 required the repair or replacement of miles of roadway and several bridges.
The following is a list of the major funding initiatives within the transportation bill, according to the governor’s office:
• $111.1 million for paving roads.
• $105.2 million for bridges.
• $76.4 million for town highway programs.
• $33.4 million for railroads, including money for a passenger train between Burlington and Rutland.
• $31.2 million for public transportation, such as buses.
• $31.1 million for roadway construction and reconstruction, culvert replacement, and other related repairs.
• $28.9 million to fund the Department of Motor Vehicles.
• $24.8 million for aviation, including improvements at the Northeast Kingdom International Airport, the Rutland-Southern Vermont Regional Airport and the Middlebury Airport.
• $17.4 million for highway and traffic safety.
• $4.6 million for transportation enhancement projects, scoping studies and miscellaneous future grants.
• $2.6 million for park-and-ride facilities.
