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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Market For Amazonian Açaí (Euterpe Oleraceae) Stimulates Pulp Production From Atlantic Forest Juçara Berries (Euterpe Edulis), Adriana Carla Dias Trevisan, Alfredo Celso Fantini, Abdon Luis Schmitt-Filho, Joshua Farley

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Three important policy goals in Brazil are economic growth, forest conservation and poverty alleviation. Agricultural production makes a major contribution to economic growth while posing a major threat to forest conservation, while the conversion of farmland to forest necessary to protect the Atlantic Forest threatens to drive small family farmers into poverty. Development of commercially important non-timber forest products (NTFPs) can play an important role in alleviating this conflict. The Euterpe genus stands out among the Brazilian NTFP production chains, with Euterpe oleraceae in the Amazon Basin and Euterpe edulis in southern part of Atlantic Forest - one of the …

A Gpi-Based Critique Of "The Economic Profile Of The Lower Mississippi River: An Update", Eric Zencey

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications

The Genuine Progress Indicator, or GPI, is an alternative economic indicator that seeks to measure net economic welfare—the economic welfare that is gained by economic activity after the costs of producing that welfare (such as the costs of air pollution, water pollution, resource depletion, climate change, and the like) are deducted. From a GPI perspective, the economy of the Lower Mississippi River Corridor is not nearly as robust as traditional modes of economic analysis would suggest. There are clear paths to increasing GPI (and human economic wellbeing) that have implications for environmental, economic and river-management policy.

Spending And Student Achievement: Money Matters When Equity Is At Issue, Michelle B. Mathias, Bud Meyers, John D. Rogers

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

Equity Of Opportunity To Learn, Spending And Student Achievement, H. W. Meyers, John D. Rogers

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

Teacher Salaries And Opportunities To Learn, John D. Rogers, H.W. Rogers

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

Why A Comprehensive Approach To Educational Reform Is Necessary: Children Learn What They Live Outside Of, As Well As Inside Of Schools, Dean Corrigan

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

The Eenergy Vermont Collaborative: Bringing The Smart Grid To The State Of Vermont, Christopher Koliba, Nancy Brune, Mercy Berman, Asim Zia, Jeff Moreau

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

Interim Report On Act 153: An Act Relating To Voluntary School District Merger, Virtual Merger, Supervisory Union Duties, And Including Secondary Students With Disabilities In Senior Year Activities And Ceremonies, James M. Jeffords Center

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

A Census Of The Us Near-Roadway Population: Public Health And Environmental Justice Considerations, Gregory Rowangould

University of Vermont Transportation Research Center

This study estimates the size and distribution of the population living near high volume roads in the US, investigates race and income disparities in these near roadway populations, and considers the coverage of the national ambient air quality monitoring network. Every US census block is classified by traffic density and proximity to roads falling within several traffic volume ranges using year 2008 traffic data and the 2010 and 2000 US Census. The results indicate that 19% of the population lives near high volume roads. Nationally, greater traffic volume and density are associated with larger shares of non-white residents and lower …

Educational Productivity And Opportunities To Learn: An Overview Of Concepts And Discussion Points, Kieran M. Killeen

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

Addressing The Needs Of Children Of Incarcerated Parents, Talia Glesner

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

Student Mobility And Opportunity To Learn: Money Matters, H. Bud Meyers

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

Identifying Opportunities For Integrated Service Delivery To Children, Youth, And Young Adults With Disabilities, James M. Jeffords Center

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

Windham Region Mobility Study: Coordination Of Transportation Services To Improve Mobility For All Of The Windham Region’S Residents, Steadman Hill Consulting Inc., Diana Whale

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.

Interim Report On Act 153: An Act Relating To Voluntary School District Merger, Virtual Merger, Supervisory Union Duties, And Including Secondary Students With Disabilities In Senior Year Activities And Ceremonies, James M. Jeffords Center

James M. Jeffords Center for Policy Research

No abstract provided.