Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Policy Brief: Evaluation Of The Safety Of Pedestrian Crossing Treatments In Small And Rural Communities, Parsa Pezeshknejad, Dana Rowangould, James Sullivan

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

TRC Policy Brief: Rural areas often lack adequate pedestrian infrastructure, resulting in elevated safety risks for pedestrians. The combination of higher speed limits and reduced driver awareness amplifies the potential for pedestrian collisions when crossing the roadway.

This study addresses uncertainty about the effectiveness of rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) and LED-embedded signs (LESs) as potential safety interventions. RRFBs and LESs are both pedestrian crossing treatments that allow pedestrians to activate lights to alert drivers of their intent to cross. RRFBs include horizontal LED lights mounted to the sign pole, while LESs include LEDs embedded in the edge of the …

Advancing Agroecological Agroforestry: A Vermont Participatory Storytelling And Story Mapping Project, Sydney Blume

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

Agroforestry is the intentional integration of trees into agricultural landscapes. Advancing agroforestry has the potential to support just food system transition, but it must take direction from traditional approaches (culturally-embedded, millennia-old agroforestry practices in forest ecosystems) and agroecology (the movement, science, and practice for just and sustainable food and agricultural systems). An agroecological approach to agroforestry is essential to avoid agroforestry replicating the logics and harms of industrial agriculture and to encourage learning from traditional agroforestry practices, and likewise, traditional approaches to agroforestry can support a transformative agroecological transition through redesign of agroecosystems and shifting perspectives and ethics. This paper …

Traffic Safety Toolbox - Addressing Speeds: Final Report, James Sullivan, Dana Rowangould

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

Reducing speeding and aggressive driving is one of seven critical emphasis areas identified in the Vermont Highway Safety Plan, which targets reductions in major crashes on Vermont highways. Vermont towns recognize the need to discourage speeding and implement countermeasures that will bring speeds down to posted speed limits, especially in transition zones from high-speed rural highways to low-speed village streets. Vermont’s villages and towns often lack the resources and capacity needed to select and implement speeding countermeasures that will be effective and appropriate for a particular context. There is a need for targeted, digestible guidance to assist these municipalities. This …

Effectiveness Of Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (Rrfbs) In Small And Rural Communities, Dana Rowangould, James Sullivan, Parsa Pezeshknejad

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

Ensuring the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in rural and small communities is becoming increasingly important as planners seek to encourage active travel and eliminate traffic-related injuries and fatalities, consistent with Vision Zero. One area of focus is the protection of vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, who face a significant risk of injury or death in a traffic collision. The risks to pedestrians are particularly high when crossing roadways in high-risk areas such as high-speed and low pedestrian-volume rural roads and between intersections where drivers may not expect them. One concern in rural communities is that pedestrians may face …

Caja De Herramientas: Desarrollando Resiliencia En El Sistema Alimentario, Neishaly Serrano-Cortés, Claire Whitehouse, David Conner, Robinson Rodríguez-Pérez Phd, Naomi Cunningham, Travis Reynolds Ph.D., Kerry Daigle, Valery Desravins, Jane Kolodinsky

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

En esta caja de herramientas encontrarán guías y estudios sobre evaluación y desarrollo de la resiliencia de los sistemas agroalimentarios. La meta de este trabajo es que personas de la comunidad, líderes y profesionales puedan utilizar este material para que a través de la colaboración se pueda catalizar un cambio positivo en los sistemas agroalimentarios de sus regiones. Además, con el fin de lograr que este material educativo sea accesible se ha desarrollado tanto en manuscrito como videos, en los idiomas del inglés y español.

En el Capítulo 1, se explora el concepto de resiliencia, el marco de los capitales …

Food Resilience Toolkit, Neishaly Serrano-Cortés, Claire Whitehouse, David Conner, Robinson Rodríguez-Pérez Phd, Naomi M. Cunningham, Travis Reynolds Ph.D., Kerry Daigle, Valery Desravins, Jane Kolodinsky

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This toolkit is intended to help community leaders and technical support professionals assess and build food system resilience in their regions. The toolkit is available in English and Spanish and in written and video format. In the introduction, we explore the concept of resilience and the Community Capitals framework and suggest possible indicators of food system resilience. In Chapter 2, we outline four tools for assessing community advantages and challenges and developing plans to address them. These tools are: asset mapping, focus groups, nominal groups, and strategic planning. While many research techniques can be deployed for resilience building, we have …

Community Resilience In Vermont After The 2023 Flooding Event, Alex Poniz

Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects

Between July 10th-11th 2023 Vermont experienced catastrophic flooding after receiving prolonged heavy rainfall of up to 9” over 48 hrs. Damage from the 2023 event rivals the historic destruction of Hurricane Irene in 2011 and is exceeded only by the Great Vermont Flood of 1927, an event predating modern flood controls. We collected oral histories from Vermonters to better understand their lived experience of the flood and its impacts, and identifed common themes related to community and individual resilience.

The Role Of Information And Education On Modifying Support For Gas Tax Alternatives Using An Informed Choice Questionnaire, Clare Nelson, Gregory Rowangould

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

In the United States, transportation fuel excise taxes commonly referred to as the “gas tax” provide a large share of funding to state agencies for transportation maintenance and construction projects. The revenue generating capacity of the gas tax is threatened by increasing vehicle fuel efficiency, electric vehicles adoption and inflation. Alternative funding schemes are necessary, but public acceptance of tax changes is low. We surveyed residents of Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire to gauge understanding of and support for a mileage-based user fee and a flat fee as potential replacements for the current gas tax and the potential to modify …

Traffic Safety Toolbox: Speeding Countermeasures Toolbox For Vermont, James Sullivan, Dana Rowangould, Erica Quallen, Danica Dytioco

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

Reducing vehicle speeds is an important strategy for reducing the risk and severity of collisions and ensuring the safety of drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists, especially in transition zones, where rural highways with higher posted speeds (typically 50 mph) enter a village or town center. This Traffic Safety Toolbox (“Toolbox”) of speeding countermeasures is intended for use by Vermont towns with posted speeds that are not widely adhered to by drivers, whether in a transition zone entering a village or town center (roads with speed limits of 35 mph and above and functional classifications of 3 or 4), or within the …

An Exploratory Guide To The Work, Efficacy & Potential Of The Usda-Natural Resources Conservation Service In Vermont Through The Perspectives Of Nrcs Staff, Ellen L. Friedrich

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is the largest provider of conservation incentives payments in private agricultural working lands in the United States. This transdisciplinary and action orientated report is an exploratory guide to the work, efficacy, and potential of the USDA-NRCS in the Vermont context through the perspectives of NRCS staff. The report is built around themes identified from semi-structured interviews conducted with seven NRCS-Vermont staff members. Interviews explored a variety of different topics including natural resource & environmental concerns in Vermont, barriers to conservation and sustainable agriculture, the …

Food Resilience Toolkit, Neishaly Serrano-Cortés, Claire Whitehouse, David Conner Ph.D., Robinson Rodríguez-Pérez Phd, Naomi M. Cunningham, Travis Reynolds Ph.D., Kerry Daigle, Valery Desravins, Jane Kolodinsky Ph.D.

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

This toolkit is intended to help community leaders and technical support professionals assess and build food system resilience in their regions. The toolkit is available in English and Spanish and in written and video format. In the introduction, we explore the concept of resilience and the Community Capitals framework and suggest possible indicators of food system resilience. In Chapter 2, we outline four tools for assessing community advantages and challenges and developing plans to address them. These tools are: asset mapping, focus groups, nominal groups, and strategic planning. While many research techniques can be deployed for resilience building, we have …

Policy Brief: Mode Constrained Travel At Uvm: Travel Preferences, Barriers, And Policy Implications, Sierra Emma-Leigh Espeland, Dana Rowangould

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

One of the objectives of the Chittenden Area Transportation Management Association (CATMA) is to encourage commuters to shift from driving to more sustainable travel modes such as walking, bicycling, and public transit. To understand barriers to switching to greener modes among UVM employees, we evaluated CATMA’s 2019 Transportation Survey to compare the modes that UVM employees currently use to the modes that they prefer to use. We also identify barriers to switching to preferred travel modes. The results show untapped potential for divesting from driving, with respondents citing several mitigatable barriers.

Ccrpc Bicycle Count Data Analysis And Count Program Design Strategies, Gregory Rowangould, Eliana Fox, Rose O'Brien, Julia Clarke

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

In 2017, the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) completed the most recent update of the region’s Active Transportation Plan (ATP) with the goal of creating “a safe, comfortable, and connected regional network of pedestrian and bicycle routes that appeal to all ages and abilities”. Developing a “robust” bicycle count program was one of the key non-infrastructure recommendations in the ATP (CCRPC, 2017). The UVM Transportation Research Center (“TRC”) was contracted to evaluate current bicycle data collection efforts in the region, identify gaps and limitations and make recommendations on how to develop a comprehensive bicycle count program that could better …

Seeds Of Resilience: Learning From Covid-19 To Strengthen Seed Systems In Vermont, Ali Brooks, Carina V. Isbell, Daniel Tobin Ph.D., Travis Reynolds Ph.D., Eric Bishop Von Wettberg Ph.D., David Conner Ph.D., Evie Wolfe

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Seeds are central to crop-based production systems, yet in the United States seeds have been largely overlooked in both research and local and regional food systems initiatives. This report seeks to address the gap in seed-related research by assessing current strengths and vulnerabilities of Vermont’s seed systems. In particular, the findings presented in this report illuminate how seed systems can maintain function in the face of external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and how we can apply the lessons learned toward building resilience for an uncertain future due to factors such as climate change. Despite the turmoil caused by …

Data-Driven Analysis Of Rural Equity And Cost Concerns For Mileage-Based User Fees In Vermont, Clare Nelson, Gregory Rowangould

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

Examining substitutes to the current state and federal gasoline and diesel fuel excise taxes has become a pressing issue, exacerbated by the rise of high efficiency and alternative fuel vehicles threatening the revenue generating capacity of these taxes. A mileage-based user fee has been frequently proposed in the literature as an alternative which would offer greater benefits to rural and low-income populations than to urban and higher income populations. However, most prior analyses relied on small data sets and aggregated data. This study examined the impact of replacing the Vermont state fuels tax with a revenue-neutral mileage-based user fee using …

Comparing Travel Behavior And Opportunities To Increase Transportation Sustainability In Small Cities, Towns And Rural Communities, Erica Quallen, Julia Clarke, Clare Nelson, Gregory Rowangould

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

The vast majority of travel behavior and sustainable transportation research has focused on urban areas. A rural perspective is lacking. This paper aims to dive deeper into understanding how people travel and their perceptions and opinions about various components of travel in a majority rural state. By speaking directly with Vermonters through in-person interviews, uniquely personal points of view were discovered and analyzed to find commonalities and differences between urban, suburban, and rural Vermonters. Questions on day-to-day challenges of traveling, suggestions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, responses to fuel prices, and opinions on electric vehicles were asked. Some key findings …

Hemp In The United States: An Analysis Of Policy And Consumption, Amanda Falkner

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

As highlighted by its history, the association between hemp and marijuana has proven to be a barrier to success for industrial hemp production for decades. Once a prevalent agricultural crop in the United States, prohibitive legislation discouraged its production and formally made hemp an illegal crop in 1970. Consequently, hemp and its myriad applications remained underutilized by the United States for over forty years. It wasn’t until the 2014 Farm Bill that hemp production was reintroduced as an option for farmers. This hemp hiatus has created the need for interdisciplinary research in order for the market for the crop to …

Travel Behavior, Responses To Fuel Prices, And Barriers To Change In Small And Rural Communities, Erica Quallen

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Travel behavior and the factors which drive it in small and rural communities has been historically understudied in transportation research. By understanding these factors and behaviors, a clearer picture of these regions can be drawn so that meaningful change towards greenhouse gas reductions can be realized. My research aims to examine barriers to making sustainable travel behavior changes such as using multi-modal transportation, reducing overall amounts of travel, or moving to locations closer to necessary services. I do this by first evaluating what “rural” means in terms of existing definitions of the term. The assessment of rural definitions analyzes vehicle …

Building Relationships And Resilience: Local Food Systems In Vermont And New England During The Covid-19 Pandemic And Beyond, Claire Whitehouse

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

This thesis brings together two studies of local food systems in Vermont and New England. The first study focuses on the experience of Vermont local food businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic by combining two surveys conducted in the first half of 2021: one of foodservice operations that procure food locally and one of Vermont farms that sell directly to consumers. We analyzed descriptive statistics, open responses, and conducted Kruskal-Wallis rank sum tests to assess which factors were related with business’ financial status before and since the pandemic. Pre-pandemic financial status was related with business type, whether the business went on …

Understanding The Relationship Among Durable Goods, Academic Achievement, And School Attendance In Colombia, Hans Walter Cabra

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

A joint report from the United Nations Development Program and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative indicates that while the number of people living with less than $1.90 a day declined globally, dropping from 2 billion in 1990 to 736 million in 2015, the number of people who experienced non-income poverty reached 1.3 billion in 2020. Non-income poverty, referred to as multidimensional poverty, assesses the extent to which people are deprived from accessing basic services such as health, education, or attaining decent living standards, despite having income levels well above $1.90.

Research on development and welfare economics points to …

Effect Of E-Bike Use On Route Choice And Bicycle Infrastructure Preference, Stephen Montaño

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

As e-bikes become more popular, understanding how e-bikes may affect bicyclist travel behavior and infrastructure preferences can provide useful information to policymakers and bicycle facility designers to address inadequate bicycle facilities and potential safety concerns. We evaluate survey responses about infrastructure preferences of e-bike and conventional bicycle users, including their safety concerns in Chittenden County, Vermont. Generally, we find that conventional bicyclists and e-bike users have similar infrastructure preferences. The study finds that e-bike users tend to travel more frequently than conventional bicyclists, especially for utilitarian purposes. However, e-bike users may be more willing to use roadways with fewer bicycle …

Estimating Aviation And Passenger Vehicle Emissions For Surveyed Long-Distance, Intercity Trips, Elizabeth Duffy

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Transportation in the United States is the largest sector contributor to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) (EPA, 2020). The proportion of passenger miles for long-distance, intercity travel is estimated to be 30% of the total for air, on-road passenger vehicle, and other modes. Methods for estimating and mitigating these emissions have received limited focus and there is a need to evaluate if a reduction in long-distance travel emissions is feasible through behavior change including modal shift, vehicle occupancy, or destination choice. The focus of this research is the design and implementation of a carbon calculator that estimates the CO2 emissions of …

After The Flood: Exploring The Influence Of Risk Perception And Decision Criteria Preference On Flood Mitigation In The Lake Champlain Richelieu River Basin, Emma Jane Spett

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

In April of 2011, heavy rainfall paired with snow melt from the Green and Adirondack Mountains caused unprecedented flooding in the Lake Champlain Richelieu River (LCRR) basin. A study was subsequently convened by the International Joint Commission (IJC), and was tasked with identifying how flood forecasting, preparedness, and mitigation could be improved in order to reduce the impact of flooding in this transboundary watershed, and build the greater community’s resilience to flooding. A component of this study includes an assessment of the social acceptability and political feasibility of potential flood mitigation measures, which was in part carried out through the …

Policy And Economic Variables Influencing Adoption Of Sustainable Electrification In Rural Sub-Saharan Africa, Payne William Morgan

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Limited access to electricity remains a primary constraint to economic growth and the improvement of livelihoods throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In rural areas, electricity access is especially sparse. The reasons for the scarcity of electricity supply in the region are well documented, with low population density, limited household incomes, and poor regulatory institutions compounding to often make the investment of expanding electricity access result in poor or risky economic returns. However, the declining cost of solar PV and mandates for clean energy development throughout the region have created new channels for bringing electricity supply in potentially more cost-effective ways.Despite these macro …

Sustainable And Equitable Financing For Sidewalk Maintenance, Alexis Corning Padilla, Gregory Rowangould

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

In many communities’ sidewalks are discontinuous, inaccessible to those with physical disabilities, and poorly maintained. Correcting these problems would be a first step in providing infrastructure to achieve the active travel and related transportation goals of many communities. One nearly universal challenge to maintaining sidewalks is an adequate, sustainable and equitable source of funding. Municipalities typically maintain and repair their streets; however, most require residents to maintain and repair public sidewalks adjacent to their property. These policies are difficult to enforce and may be at least partly responsible for the poor condition of many sidewalks. They also place a relatively …

Estimating Exposure To Fine Particulate Matter Emissions From Vehicle Traffic: Exposure Misclassification And Daily Activity Patterns In A Large, Sprawling Region, Mohammad Tayarani, Gregory Rowangould

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

Vehicle traffic is responsible for a significant portion of toxic air pollution in urban areas that has been linked to a wide range of adverse health outcomes. Most vehicle air quality analyses used for transportation planning and health effect studies estimate exposure from the measured or modeled concentration of an air pollutant at a person’s home. This study evaluates exposure to fine particulate matter from vehicle traffic and the magnitude and cause of exposure misclassification that result from not accounting for population mobility during the day in a large, sprawling region. We develop a dynamic exposure model by integrating activity-based …

Measuring Comprehensive Wellbeing In Vermont: An Applied Economics Perspective, Katherine Gallagher

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

While human “wellbeing” has historically been measured by economic growth, traditional metrics do not fit the challenges of the 21st century. Increasingly, decision-makers are adopting new guiding frameworks that encompass a more holistic understanding of wellbeing and progress including concepts such as ecological health and subjective wellbeing. Yet, the development processes and implementation challenges faced by these initiatives - as well as the opportunities for advancement - remain relatively unexamined for state and regional communities. This research considers the implementation and potential of existing wellbeing indicator systems in Vermont. With limited research on wellbeing measurement at the state or local …

Master’S Project: Vermont Town Forest Recreation Planning And Community Assistance Program: The Future Of Forest-Based Outdoor Recreation, Taylor M. Luneau

Rubenstein School Masters Project Publications

The Vermont Town Forest Recreation Planning Community Assistance Program (VTFRP) was a comprehensive community planning process held in ten diverse towns across Vermont. Led by the Urban and Community Forestry Program and the SE Group, the VTFRP helped towns develop a vision for the future management of their forests through open house workshops, site visits, steering committee meetings, and community surveys. The process provided towns with a forest recreation planning toolkit and an individualized action-based forest stewardship and recreation plan. By analyzing data from the community surveys and open house activities across all ten towns, my project considered the recreation …

Modeling Electric Vehicle Energy Demand And Regional Electricity Generation Dispatch For New England And New York, Sarah E. Howerter

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

The transportation sector is a largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the U.S., accounting for 28.6% of all 2016 emissions, the majority of which come from the passenger vehicle fleet [1,2]. One major technology that is being investigated by researchers, planners, and policy makers to help lower the emissions from the transportation sector is the plug-in electric vehicle (PEV). The focus of this work is to investigate and model the impacts of increased levels of PEVs on the regional electric power grid and on the net change in CO2 emissions due to the decrease tailpipe emissions and the increase in …

The Vermonter's Guide To The Farm Bill, Olivia A. Peña

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

The Farm Bill is a comprehensive set of laws and programs that dictates United States policies across the food system. While it may seem that a farm bill is only related to agriculture, this legislation, in reality, includes a broad set of policies on food production, nutrition assistance, rural community development, research, the environment, international trade, and more. Often known as a farm and food bill, the legislation impacts food systems stakeholders, including those who farm, live in a rural community, and even those who eat food—so that is everyone.

Considering the widespread impacts of the Farm Bill, it is …