NVDA's Role in Transportation Planning
To meet the goal of public involvement, the Transportation Planning Initiative requires the RPCs to hold Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings. NVDA's meeting is on the second Tuesday of each month in the NVDA boardroom (times vary). Community officials, public transportation providers, interested groups, and individual citizens are encouraged to attend. Each year a list of suggested projects is compiled from the TAC meetings and is sent to the Secretary of Transportation for approval and possible inclusion in the State Transportation Improvement Plan or STIP.
Road Foreman Meetings
NVDA partners with both VTrans Maintenance Districts (7 and 9) in our region to provide training opportunities for Road Commissioners and Road Foremen for the regions municipalities. These meetings take the form of classroom trainings and field demonstrations. We bring experts on the various topics of discussion and provide a forum where formal presentations are coupled with question and answer opportunities as well as peer learning with the goal of increasing the professional knowledge of the participants. These meetings are held around the region, mostly in the fair weather months. Please direct questions to Doug Morton 802-748-1221 dmorton@nvda.net
The Stip, The Tip & Why everyone should attend TAC Meetings
Both the state and the CCMPO come up with their own Transportation Improvement Plans. Both are required to make their plans consistent with Vermont's Long Range Transportation (pdf) Plan, the goal being to create an efficient statewide intermodal transportation system. Once approved, the MPO's Transportation Improvement Plan is added to the STIP.
Aside from the MPO's input to the STIP, VTrans accepts suggestions for other projects from the various Regional Planning Commissions. These suggestions usually come out of the monthly TAC meetings. They are prioritized and then submitted to the Secretary of Transportation for approval. If approved they, too, are added to the STIP. So, as you can see, these monthly TAC meetings can be very important if you want a say in the changes that will inevitably come to our region. The whole process can be seen to proceed from the bottom up. This is as it should be, rather than as it was in the pre-ISTEA era, where state officials, unfamiliar with local needs and desires, made decisions from the top down. NVDA encourages participation in the monthly TAC meetings. Call (802) 748-5181 for details and directions. The meetings are on the second Tuesday of each month in the NVDA boardroom.