Burlington North-South Corridor: Separate Bike Facility, Light Rail and Sidewalk! --A Burlington Green Transport Corridor!

Create a Multi-modal Sustainable North-South Burlington Corridor by Adding Companion Light Rail to:  The “Burlington Bikepath” Gets a City Length Twin, “Ethan Allen Bikeway”?

        —the Burlington “North-South Multi-mode Corridor”: sidewalk, 

            separate bike facility and light rail 

Within a day or two of proposing a north-south separate/safe bikeway it became clear from feedback one needs to add a companion which came up in discussions of various planning and development undertakings including the North Avenue Corridor Plan, the Rail Enterprise Project (REP), Sinex’s initial public meetings on City Place and various Pine Street meetings on a workable Champlain Parkway:  a north-south light rail line.  To use a name to start (community must make the final one) let’s call it the “Burlington Green Corridor” (BTVGC).  The BTVGC features a north (from Flynn School) to South (continuing into South Burlington from Pine St/Queen City Park Rd/I 189-Parkway) a sidewalk, a separate/safe bicycle facility and a light rail line (like the new system opening this year in Montreal and found in Toronto, Sacramento, San Francisco and my other North American cities).

Most Burlington recent transportation planning centered on connecting the waterfront, Marketplace and UVM/UVMMC—that was the route chosen in the 1990s in a light rail study.  In Sinex’s City Place I even suggested a north-south and waterfront—UVM line would intersect in an underground station.  

So, a multi-modal north-south corridor composed of light rail, a separate and safe bike facilitation (protected bike lanes [cycle track] and two-way bikeway, and a sidewalk.  A plan process can get us ready for a sustainable future in the Queen City, the Burlington Green Corridor!

Here is the bike corridor put out over the weekend.  Please excuse the name “Ethan Allen”—any name should be something determined by the Burlington community at large—Alexander Twilight and Abenaki have been mentioned—Montpelier went through a public process in naming Stonecutter’s Way and the East West Bikepath, Siboinibe.

                                   ——————————

      

A series of unrelated planning, policy, and advocacy processes weave a new and very possible bikeway route from Plattsburgh Ave in the New North End to the  South Burlington border at Queen City Park Road and Pine Street—the “Ethan Allen Bikeway” route.

The “Ethan Allen” features 100% protected bike lanes (cycle track)/or a separate 10-foot wide two-way dedicated bikeway.  The difference between the “Ethan Allen” and the “Burlington Bikepath” (Bikepath) is two fold: first, the Ethan Allen is for cyclists only and, second, it is a fully lit, year-round maintained transportation facility.  

There are at least four key sections which have been discussed separately: (1) the North Avenue Corridor Plan (2014) which calls for cycle track end-to-end, Plattsburgh Ave to North Street; (2) the North Champlain two-way bikeway between Manhattan Drive and Pearl Street though the heart of the Old North End; (3) the City Place reconnection of Pine Street between Cherry and Pearl Streets; and (4) in its latest iteration, the Pine Street Coalition redesign guidelines in the form of New Street ( SafeStreetsBurlington.com ) developed this spring which extends a separate bikeway from Curtis Lumber/Kilburn Street through to Home Avenue even further on the Parkway to connect with Queen City Park Road and Pine Street, the interchange with I  189.

Two planning documents completed in 2017 provide a backdrop to the Ethan Allen outlining parts of it as protected bikelanes or a bikeway: PlanBTV Walk Bike adopted by the City Council and “Active Transportation,” the plan completed by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission.

Here are some further important “connectors” necessary:

1. Starting from Plattsburgh Ave, there would be a link from North Ave to the North Champlain Bikeway via Ward St and Manhattan Drive, or North Street. 
2. A one-block “jog” occurs between North Champlain at Pearl Street and Pine Street—likely by protected bike lanes.
3. Pine Street from Pearl to Main Street involves addition of protected bike lanes and the necessary re-design of the restored Pine Street through City Place which currently has no provision for quality, separate, bicycle accommodation.
4. As everyone knows, there is not a single inch of protected bike lanes along the existing design of the Champlain Parkway—a key reason (along with a net loss of sidewalk and not a single inch of sidewalk along the Parkway route, no roundabouts, etc., etc.!!) the Walk Bike Council endorsed the Pine Street Coalition Redesign Guidelines in 2016.  At that time the separate two-way bikeway from Kilburn St/Curtis Lumber ended at the Home Ave/Parkway intersection.  Thinking has evolved in part from new Coalition members from the “borderlands” residential areas both in South Burlington (Red Rocks, for example) and Burlington’s southwest corner area.  So the idea came forth to extend the bikeway right down to Queen City Park Rd/I 189/Pine Street Parkway interchange.  This also recognizes the importance of City Market South End as a major attraction of walk/bike trips in a wide area.  Of course, New Street provides an at-grade connection between Ethan Allen and Bikeway at Sears Lane/Harrison Ave at Lakeside Terrace.

The above presents an outline with details that need to be filled in along the entire route through a full corridor planning effort—but if the Parkway can be redesigned to accommodate all cyclists and the City Place Pine Street altered to add dedicated cycle service, an Ethan Allen is a very real possibility!

Tony Redington

TonyRVT99@gmail.com

August 4, 2020

What if We Had a Pandemic and No One Cared--No Lives Matter, mostly, in the US Highway Fatalities Pandemic

What if We Had a Pandemic and No One Cared--No Lives Matter, in US Highway

                                       Fatalities Pandemic

  “Yes, ’n’ and how many deaths will it take’ till he [a man] knows that

  too many people have died.”

—“Blowing in the Wind” 1963 

The analysis that follows this introduction outlines the Burlington and Chittenden County huge proportion statewide of high crash intersections and the lack of addressing those intersections with even a single roundabout built to date.  But this data takes place in a nation which itself is in a pandemic of highway fatalities.  Here are some of my thoughts on the larger question followed by the high crash intersection analysis.

There is a wholesale breakdown in our US highway fatality pandemic with its 21,000 yearly excess deaths extending from from top to bottom—the fed level, state (note a few states/provinces make the roundabout the standard, NY did it in 2005), metro planning (CCRPC) and our particular Burlington Department of Public Works.  (My home town, Keene, NH has five going on seven roundabouts, including one on Main Street at the Keene State College/Post Office gateway to downtown paid for with $4 million property tax monies.)  When it comes to highway safety in the United States a policy of “no lives matter” mostly prevails.  I have come to the conclusion a mix of factors is involved including but limited to: simple resistance to change, lack of leadership at every level, malign and benign neglect, a black hole in highway engineering education in regard to systemic safety, publicly employed traffic engineers too often diverted from any safety concerns for those who walk, lack of a "transportation safety" Fauci--all a reflection of systemic failure.  We all know now what systemic failure is, we are daily living or dying with it in the form of Covid-19.     

Norway seems to have broken away from #s 2, 3, and 4 nations where in 1990 we stood at #1 (and Sweden dropped to 5th in the most recent numbers).  Even admitting variance in national collection data, Norway latest year, 108 highway deaths versus Vermont average of about 70 now.  They did not record a single "child" death--US 15 and under highway deaths top 2,000.  Norway is now putting in median treatments on two lane rural roadways to prevent head on crashes and it has gotten measurable positive results.  We cannot get protected bike lanes yet much less roundabouts.  

            Chittenden County—26% of State Population, 42% of 111 High Crash 

               Vermont Intersections (Burlington Even Worse!)

Chittenden County (County) and Burlington streets and roadways hold a disproportionate number of Vermont high crash intersections.  

High crash intersections are those on major roads and streets averaging at least one injury a year in the most recent Vermont Agency of Transportation tabulation of 111.  A large majority of high crash intersections (all but one in the case of Burlington) are signalized, a now mostly obsolete and dangerous technology.  Most concerning is the apparent lack of any effort in either Burlington or Chittenden County to replace injury prone traffic signals with “best practices” roundabouts proven in Vermont downtowns averaging about one injury a decade.  Roundabouts cut serious and fatal injuries by about 90%.  (See Vermont high crash locations report here: https://vtrans.vermont.gov/sites/aot/files/highway/documents/highway/Formal%202012-2016%20High%20Crash%20Location%20Report.pdf  )

America itself has suffered three decade collapse of highway safety in fatalities per mile of travel, slipping from 1st to 15th among nations since 1990, the first year a roundabout was built in the US.  US now records 21,000 excess deaths compared to the performance of the top four nations.  This is the very definition of a “highway fatality pandemic.”  Add to this the 50% increase in pedestrian fatalities over the last decade which disproportionately affects African Americans and Hispanics. US excess deaths exemplify real carnage and permanent mark on the Federal Highway Administration whose funds traditionally drive all Vermont roadway capital investments.

  

Applying the national numbers to Vermont, about 30 of our 70 road fatalities per year are excess stemming from lack of “systematic safety” which begins with safe infrastructure investing.  Unfortunately Chittenden County and Burlington high crash intersection data show them worst of the worst.  Even more disturbing is not only the lack of attention to safety in investments in the County and Burlington but the specific inattention to dealing with high crash intersections—the “BTV Crash 20” high crash intersections injuries record of 28 injuries per year represents 18% of all injuries (including one fatal) tabulated in the 2012-2016 period.   And those roughly 150 injuries a year are composed of about one bicyclist/pedestrian injury weekly and two car occupants weekly.

For the County—using the 1.4 injuries per year per BTV Crash 20 intersection—the frequency of injury (66 total) at the County’s 47 high crash intersections is above one per week!   

There is a systemic failure to address unsafe intersections in the City and County.  As the third 3-year term—9 years—of Mayor Weinberger administration nears it end, not a single one of the BTV Crash 20 intersections is scheduled for a roundabout.  In fact there are no roundabouts in the County—a “metro area” and likely one of a handful in the nation without a single roundie.  While a roundabout is on the drawing board in Colchester, Mayor Weinberger was handed ready to design/build with 100% federal funds a roundabout at the “rotary” on Shelburne Street bordering Christ the King Elementary School—and after nine years could not move to construction!!   This intersection, known in the neighborhood as the “intersection of death,” is desperately wanted by those who live in the area.  Now the target date for that roundabout has slipped to 2022.  (Note the Burlington “intersection of death” was previously in the top five statewide but was taken off the list since the project was ticketed and programmed for final design and construction back about 2010.)  Just this summer a demonstration of a roundabout at a BTV Crash 20 intersection was dropped by the Department of Public Works and now will be done in 2021—the first roundabout presence at any busy public intersection in the County.  The roundabout situation in the County and City brings into question what the use of the term that safety is “critical” in highway investments (Burlington Transportation Plan, 2011) means in actual practice.  

Vermont was an early leaders in US roundabouts in the mid and late 1990s, then faded.  The first roundabout east of Vail, CO and north of Maryland was built in Montpelier in 1995 (19th in US) followed shortly by the first Manchester Center in 1997 and first 2-lane roundabout as well as interstate interchange in the northeast in 1999 (Brattleboro Keene-Turn).  But by 2005 when NY State Department of Transportation adopted the “roundabouts first” regulations a few other states undertook significant roundabout installations (over 7,000 today in North America).  The New Hampshire Department of Transportation leads now in New England, 

         State Numbers

Overall 41 of 255 Vermont municipalities recorded at least one high crash intersection 2012-2016.  But only eight municipalities recorded more than three high crash intersections: Burlington 20; Bennington 9; Brattleboro and South Burlington 7 each;  Colchester 5; and Essex, Williston and Winooski 4 each.  

Obviously Burlington sticks out like a sore thumb with more than twice the high crash intersections of any town in the state.  And the County towns listed (plus Richmond with 3) total of 47 amounts to 42% of the State total. 

Since Chittenden County is the only “metro” in Vermont and its Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) has a yearly Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) planning funds entitlement of about $550,000 (2018).  It is well known that Governor Phil Scott has been supportive of roundabouts in the past, recognizing their safety aspects as a race driver.  The Winooski traffic circle often is referred to as a roundabout—it is not one and about five of the Montpelier sized roundabouts would fit in what is really an old traffic circle design and still leave plenty of room!  The Winooski circle is in fact about the same size—500 feet by 200 feet—as the quarter mile oval at Thunder Road in Barre Town where many of Governor Scott’s racing victories occurred.  It is also noteworthy that the former CCRPC transportation policy director has for more than five years has been director of VTrans Policy and Planning Division including during the time when the VTrans secretary retained and imposed six injury generating and global heating signalized intersections on Burlington when the issue of “best practices” roundabouts came up in 2015 revisions decisions on the Champlain Parkway design.

                                          ---------------------

Finally, AAA has been a recent Paul Revere in US highway safety (see their 2017 report https://aaafoundation.org/safety-benefits-of-highway-infrastructure-investments/ ) and the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety have led in providing data and sounding the alarm starting with their 2001 research showing roundabouts reduce serious and fatal injuries about 90%.  And we must be thankful for the Organization for Economic and Community Development which hosts the International Transport Forum which produces an annual report enabling us to understand the American road safety plight within modern nations as we have plummeted to the lower depths.   https://www.itf-oecd.org/road-safety-annual-report-2019

New Street Proposal to City, Vermont Agency of Transportation and Federal Highway Officials

Let’s shape a street the City can love!

                                     PINE STREET COALITION PROPOSAL:

NEW STREET

                     …An economically viable, environmentally sound alternative to the

 “Champlain Parkway/Southern Connector"

NEW STREET is the forward-thinking transportation alternative to the stalled, obsolete Champlain Parkway/Southern Connector project. NEW STREET incorporates many  elements of the plan, so can proceed to construction with minimal additional state and federal review. 

NEW STREET eliminates previous safety, environmental and social justice roadblocks, addressing much community opposition which has until now stymied the Champlain Parkway. 

NEW STREET protects the safety of travelers (vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists) and vulnerable adjacent populations. It bolsters long-term sustainability and development of Burlington's South End. We anticipate that NEW STREET should cost millions less to build than the proposed Champlain Parkway project. The New Street design cuts 1.5 lane-miles of roadway construction, maintenance, and storm-water infrastructure.

NEW STREET incorporates the most recent Environmental Justice initiatives from the Federal Highway Administration, thus avoiding disproportionate impact to Burlington's predominant minority and low-income neighborhoods.  NEW STREET responds to the Climate Emergency resolution adopted by the Burlington City Council on 9/23/19 and signed by the Mayor on 9/25/19. New Street reduces pavement,  promotes bike and pedestrian travel, and protects the Englesby Brook natural wildlife corridor.

                           NEW STREET OUTLINE: SECTION by SECTION 

1. RESTORE and REFURBISH as a two-way, two-lane road the EXISTING PORTION of the never-completed SOUTHERN CONNECTOR. This runs from I-189 at Route 7 to Home Avenue. 

A roundabout intersection at south end of Pine Street retains connection between I-189, Queen City Park Road and South Burlington. LARGE TRUCK traffic, is REROUTED to the restored CONNECTOR roadway. Automobiles, light trucks, and bikes may travel this route or travel NORTH on PINE, and WEST or EAST on QUEEN CITY PARK ROAD.

From the Pine Street roundabout to Flynn Avenue the road will be posted as “TRUCK ROUTE.” The restored road ends at HOME AVENUE.

A sidewalk and separate bikeway is built on the west side of the restored connector from Pine Street to Home Avenue.

2.   NEW STREET FROM HOME AVE TO FLYNN AVE

Beginning on NEW STREET, at the intersection of restored CONNECTOR and HOME AVENUE, light trucks, cars and bicycles may travel NORTH or SOUTH on NEW STREET, or EAST or WEST on HOME AVENUE.  LARGE TRUCKS continue SOUTH ON NEW STREET which ends at FLYNN AVENUE.

A new intersection on NEW STREET serves as entrance to CITY MARKET and PETRA CLIFFS businesses.

Between HOME  AVENUE AND FLYNN AVENUE the sidewalk and separate bikeway continue on the West (City Market) side of NEW STREET as well a sidewalk on the East side.   

NEW STREET replaces BRIGGS STREET and a small section of BATCHELDER STREET in the new design remains as in the current design on the east side for residences access to the adjacent Addition road network.

From NEW STREET intersection with Flynn Avenue cars and light trucks will be routed  WEST and EAST on Flynn and SOUTH on NEW STREET. LARGE TRUCKS are REROUTED West on FLYNN.

3.  NEW STREET ENDS AT FLYNN AVENUE—SIDEWALK AND SEPARATE BIKEWAY CONTINUE TO MAIN STREET   

The Westside sidewalk and separate bikeway continue NORTH to ENGLESBY BROOK—the sidewalk and separate bikeway crossing the Brook will likely feature an historic iron bridge of the VTrans program of historic preservation.  The sidewalk and separate bikeway continue to Sears Lane and through to Lakeside Avenue.   At Lakeside Avenue the sidewalk and bikeway turn East one block to Pine Street, then North toward downtown on the  Westside of Pine to Kilburn Street-Curtis Lumber. From Kilburn Street  to Main Street the sidewalk continues and bicyclists use a protected bike lanes on Pine Street.  No traffic signals would be installed at either Pine Street/Maple Street or Pine Street/King Street intersections. 

May 16, 2020   Pine Street Coalition L3C     Rev. 1

SafeStreetsBurlington.com

Pine Street Coalition New Street Proposal--A Street our South End and City Can Love!!

 Let’s shape a street the City can love! 

                                     PINE STREET COALITION PROPOSAL:

NEW STREET

                     …An economically viable, environmentally sound alternative to the

 “Champlain Parkway/Southern Connector"

NEW STREET is the forward-thinking transportation alternative to the stalled, obsolete Champlain Parkway/Southern Connector project. NEW STREET incorporates many  elements of the plan, so can proceed to construction with minimal additional state and federal review. 

NEW STREET eliminates previous safety, environmental and social justice roadblocks, addressing much community opposition which has until now stymied the Champlain Parkway. 

NEW STREET protects the safety of travelers (vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists) and vulnerable adjacent populations. It bolsters long-term sustainability and development of Burlington's South End. We anticipate that NEW STREET should cost millions less to build than the proposed Champlain Parkway project. The New Street design cuts 1.5 lane-miles of roadway construction, maintenance, and storm-water infrastructure.

NEW STREET incorporates the most recent Environmental Justice initiatives from the Federal Highway Administration, thus avoiding disproportionate impact to Burlington's predominant minority and low-income neighborhoods.  NEW STREET responds to the Climate Emergency resolution adopted by the Burlington City Council on 9/23/19 and signed by the Mayor on 9/25/19. New Street reduces pavement,  promotes bike and pedestrian travel, and protects the Englesby Brook natural wildlife corridor.

                           NEW STREET OUTLINE: SECTION by SECTION 

1. RESTORE and REFURBISH as a two-way, two-lane road the EXISTING PORTION of the never-completed SOUTHERN CONNECTOR. This runs from I-189 at Route 7 to Home Avenue. 

A roundabout intersection at south end of Pine Street retains connection between I-189, Queen City Park Road and South Burlington. LARGE TRUCK traffic, is REROUTED to the restored CONNECTOR roadway. Automobiles, light trucks, and bikes may travel this route or travel NORTH on PINE, and WEST or EAST on QUEEN CITY PARK ROAD.

From the Pine Street roundabout to Flynn Avenue the road will be posted as “TRUCK ROUTE.” The restored road ends at HOME AVENUE.

A sidewalk and separate bikeway is built on the west side of the restored connector from Pine Street to Home Avenue.

2.   NEW STREET FROM HOME AVE TO FLYNN AVE

Beginning on NEW STREET, at the intersection of restored CONNECTOR and HOME AVENUE, light trucks, cars and bicycles may travel NORTH or SOUTH on NEW STREET, or EAST or WEST on HOME AVENUE.  LARGE TRUCKS continue SOUTH ON NEW STREET which ends at FLYNN AVENUE.

A new intersection on NEW STREET serves as entrance to CITY MARKET and PETRA CLIFFS businesses.

Between HOME  AVENUE AND FLYNN AVENUE the sidewalk and separate bikeway continue on the West (City Market) side of NEW STREET as well a sidewalk on the East side.   

NEW STREET replaces BRIGGS STREET and a small section of BATCHELDER STREET in the new design remains as in the current design on the east side for residences access to the adjacent Addition road network.

From NEW STREET intersection with Flynn Avenue cars and light trucks will be routed  WEST and EAST on Flynn and SOUTH on NEW STREET. LARGE TRUCKS are REROUTED West on FLYNN.

3.  NEW STREET ENDS AT FLYNN AVENUE—SIDEWALK AND SEPARATE BIKEWAY CONTINUE TO MAIN 

STREET   

The Westside sidewalk and separate bikeway continue NORTH to ENGLESBY BROOK—the sidewalk and separate bikeway crossing the Brook will likely feature an historic iron bridge of the VTrans program of historic preservation.  The sidewalk and separate bikeway continue to Sears Lane and through to Lakeside Avenue.   At Lakeside Avenue the sidewalk and bikeway turn East one block to Pine Street, then North toward downtown on the  Westside of Pine to Kilburn Street-Curtis Lumber. From Kilburn Street  to Main Street the sidewalk continues and bicyclists use a protected bike lanes on Pine Street.  No traffic signals would be installed at either Pine Street/Maple Street or Pine Street/King Street intersections. 

May 16, 2020   Pine Street Coalition L3C     Rev. 1

SafeStreetsBurlington.com

Burlington Snapshot Rental Survey--354 Vacant Apartments--7% Vacancy Rate a "Glut"?

Draft  5/10/2020

Burlington Snapshot Rental Vacancy Survey— 

           Draft Data and Analysis - May 2020

Here are numbers from a May 8-10 snapshot inventory of available Burlington rentals gathered from online services Zillow, Craigslist, apartments.com, etc.

There were two surprising numbers.  First, the median prices  changes per year from the 2017 snapshot survey to this survey were less than 1% median price increase per year for the predominant rentals offered, 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom units.  Increases per year for the 2017-2020 three year period were 0.6% per year for 1-bedroom median price and 0.1% per year increase in price for the median price 2-bedroom as offered.

Note most rentals do not include electricity and in a large proportion heat is not included.   There is a clear indication that rental prices in Burlington have been fairly stable 2016 to date in 2020.  Clearly housing development coming on line starting in 2016 has helped to stop the price increases in apartment rentals, but there is no indication that prices are dropping at all to this point.

                              May 2020 Snapshot Burlington Rental Inventory

Median Rent Sample Size

Studio $1,225 21

1 Bedroom             1,350 99

2 Bedroom              1,500       136

3 Bedroom              2,000         64

4+ Bedroom            3,000         34 

Clearly apartment rentals prices remain inflated.  Note a Craigslist survey of Plattsburg rents done last fall found a 1-bedroom median of $790 and 2-bedroom median off $900, $570 less per month for a 1-bedroom rent an $600 a month less for a 2-bedroom rent than the May 2020 numbers for Burlington. 

Second, the available rental numbers, 354, are up 50% over similar surveys of about 225 taken in 2017 and 2019.  There is no question that there are a sizable number of rental units on the market.  The causes include both sizable new rental inventory coming on line in Burlington (Cambrian Rise and Bayberry Commons are examples) and several other projects throughout the County.

One very important factor which could disrupt the Burlington rental market is the impact of student rental demand decline which may materialize this fall from UVM, demand itself composed of two unknowns, the likely decline in students overall even in the best of times and the effect of Covid-19 dampening both foreign student numbers (now about 6 percent of all students) and the normal 9,000 out-of-state students incoming as well as continuing student numbers.

Landlords with experience in Burlington may have a better sense of these various trends at the moment, but its is hard to imagine any trend but downward in student rental demand as UVM overall census has been unchanged since 2010 as most other residential colleges have sustained drops in students.  

  Burlington Rental Vacancy Rate—Likely about 7%, Glut Territory

For the 1990-2015 period Burlington rental vacancy rate stayed in at most 1-2%, far less than the desirable “healthy” 3-5% rate posited by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission.  

In fact, the 356 rentals offered on line in the last three days represents about a 3.5% vacancy rate using the roughly 10,000 US Census rental inventory.   This rate vastly understates the percentage of units available in the so-called “private market,” perhaps only half the 10,000 Burlington rentals, about 5,000 rentals.  There is practically a zero vacancy rate in federal subsidized rent assistance found in “Housing Choice Voucher” occupancy in the market (about 1,500), another well over 1,000 fed assisted housing units in Burlington Housing Authority and other developments with assigned federal Section 8 type units, 1,000 shallow subsidy non-profit housing units (Champlain Housing Trust and Cathedral primarily)  and likely about 1,500 inflexible student demand unaffected by normal private market forces, primarily UVM students.   Note Burlington Housing Authority and Cathedral wait lists total over 2,000 today.

With 354 units of rentals available on a “real” inventory of 5,000 rental units in the “private” rental market, the vacancy rate is about 7%, far higher than “healthy” and definitely near or in rental glut territory.  An unhealthy vacancy rate means landlords cannot generate necessary revenue to cover costs and maintain their units—values of rental inventory decline, etc.   There is a good reason to move as much inventory out of the private market as possible—again, compare the Burlington rents to Plattsburg where no market forces like the growth of UVM students 1990-2010 occurred helping to artificially increasing Burlington and Chittenden County rents.

Tony Redington     TonyRVT99@gmail.com"?

Burlington Scores 18% of Highest Crash VT Intersections--the "BTV Crash-20

Burlington Scores 18% of Highest Crash VT Intersections--the "BTV Crash-20

“BTV Crash-20”: Burlington's 20 Intersections in the Vermont High Crash Location Report 2012-2016 

See the full report and list of BTV Crash-20 high crash nodes at :  TonyRVT.blogspot.com

Twenty of Vermont's high crash intersections reside within Burlington—20 or 18% of the 111 tabulated high crash intersections statewide in the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VAOT) 2012-2016 report containing five years of data. They are the “BTV Crash-20” in Burlington averaging at least one injury a year.

Burlington's BTV Crash-20 averaged 1.5 injuries—and received an overall rating taking into account injury severity and other factors. A roadway fatality occurs in Burlington about every three years. Four of seven recent Burlington fatalities were a pedestrian or bicyclist and all but one occurred at a signalized intersection (no longer the standard for safe intersections).  

Burlington Scores 18% of Highest Crash VT Intersections--the "BTV Crash-20

“BTV Crash-20”: Burlington's 20 Intersections in the Vermont High Crash Location Report 2012-2016

Twenty of Vermont's high crash intersections reside within Burlington—20 or 18% of the 111 tabulated high crash intersections statewide in the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VAOT) 2012-2016 report containing five years of data. They are the “BTV Crash-20” in Burlington averaging at least one injury a year.

Burlington's BTV Crash-20 averaged 1.5 injuries—and received an overall rating taking into account injury severity and other factors. A roadway fatality occurs in Burlington about every three years. Four of seven recent Burlington fatalities were a pedestrian or bicyclist and all but one occurred at a signalized intersection (no longer the standard for safe intersections).

Not only did Burlington hold six of the top 20 high crash slots (30%), the BTV Crash-20 list did not include the Shelburne/St. Paul/Locust/S. Willard intersection, locally known as the “intersection of death” because it is scheduled to be a roundabout in 2022 under a 100% federal highway funding program for safety investments.

Based on four of recent intersection fatalities a pedestrian (3) or bicyclist (1), a pedestrian or bicyclist occurs about every five years here. Nationwide the growth of pedestrian fatalities, over 45% since 2010, led to the highest number of pedestrian deaths in 2018, over 6,000, since 1990. Note that six of the last seven Burlington fatalities were at signalized intersections—the two 2018 fatalities were a pedestrian at an unmarked crossing at North Avenue/Poirier Place and a car occupant at Shelburne Street/Home Avenue.

Roundabouts according to an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety 2001 report reduce serious and fatal injury crashes by about 90%. While the “Burlington Transportation Plan” issued in 2011 states safety as a “critical” element for transportation improvement there remains not a single “safe” intersection, aka roundabout, on a busy public street in the City or in the County. Note the $47 million Champlain Parkway project will introduce six new obsolete and unsafe traffic signal installations which promise a backward step in Burlington safety by increasing injuries and crashes in Burlington's South End. (It must be noted in view of the climate emergency a roundabout instead of a signal reduces global warming emissions 22-29% amounting to from 3,000 to over 10,000 gallons of gasoline reduction along with associated global warming emissions compared to a signalized intersection—the higher the traffic volume the higher the reduction in gasoline use and global warming emissions.)

All but one of the BTV Crash-20 intersections are signalized—the one sign controlled high crash intersection is North Street/North Union with three-way stop sign control. The BTV Crash-20 are a quarter of Burlington's total of about 75 signalized intersections. Burlington's share of high crash locations has been going up over the last three reports, from 14.5% in 2006-2010 to 18% of high crash locations 2012-2016. 

 

Burlington also features the number one highest crash rate in Vermont, the intersection of Main Street and South Winooski Avenue. Main/South Winooski in the five year period experienced 11 injuries—over two a year—98 crashes total with 90 crashes property damage only (no injuries resulting).

 

Based on frequency, just about every household has a member involved in a roadway crash every decade in Burlington or elsewhere. With about 150 injuries a year in the City and 1,400 property damage only crashes--about 16,000 crashes each decade mostly involving two vehicles or the equivalent of 30,000 affected households in a City of 16,000 households. Those fortunate not to be affected by a highway crash certainly observe a crash each decade or know those affected by a roadway crash.

The BTV Crash-20 costs can be calculated from value of types of crashes provided in the State report—it comes to $2.5 million a year, $12.4 million for the five years of data tabulated. These costs go into the costs of auto insurance policies for vehicle owners. 

 

The BTV Crash-20 represent about 10% of all injuries each year and a similar proportion of property damage only crashes.

Burlington High Crash Location Intersections Data 2012-2016


Base Data from Current Vermont High Crash Report


Data from“High Crash Location Report: Sections and Intersections 2012-2016”
Vermont Agency of Transportation


                                  Burlington High Crash
                                  Intersections of All State          % of Estimated 150 All Modes
                                  Intersections      % of State      Burlington Injuries/year
2006-2010                   18 of 124          14.5                              --
2010-2014                   19 of 132          14.4                   22.5 (34 injuries)
2012-2016                    20 of 111          18.0                   19.6 (29 injuries)


--6,840 PDO 2013-2017. 1,368 per year Citywide. 696 PDO 2012-2016 at 20 high crash locations, each year 139—10% of all PDO citywide.
--per decade approximately Citywide: 13,700 PDO crashes, 1,500 injury crashes; about 15,000 crashes overall Citywide per decade—equivalent to about one crash per decade per household in Burlington. About one third of all annual injuries or 50 injuries are a bicyclist or pedestrian, about equally divided.

2012-2016 High Crash Location Report
--“The average economic costs in 2014 as used in the report are: Fatality (Death) $1,500,000; Injury (Disabling Injury) $ 88,500; No Injury Observed $ 11,300 [property damage only, PDO]. P 6 [Note the U.S. Department of Transportation uses a value of life method, right now a life is valued in excess of $10 million.]
--20 BTV Intersections: 1 fatality, 147 injuries [1.47 injuries per intersection per year], 29.4 injuries/ 20 intersections per year--equals 19.6 of all roadway injuries recorded yearly (~150 based on recent survey)
--All are signalized except North Street/North Union
--111 Intersections reached threshold for high crash status, then are ranked
--the 20 BTV intersections are 18.0% of the 111 high crash intersections tabulated; 21.8% of the highest 87 crash ranked intersections
--696 property damage only (PDO), 139 PDO crashes per year, 7.0 PDO crashes per intersection per year
--cost of all crashes (five years): Fatality $1,500,000
Injuries $3,000,010
PPO $7,864,800
Total: 5 years: $12,364,810
Cost/year: $2,472,962


https://vtrans.vermont.gov/sites/aot/files/highway/documents/highway/Formal%202012-2016%20High%20Crash%20Location%20Report.pdf


2010-2014 High Crash Location Report

--19 of 132 intersections tabulated or 14.4%

--169 injuries 33.8 injuries per year, 1.8 injuries per intersection per year

2012-2016 High Crash Location Report


Tabulated Burlington Intersections—19 signalized, 1 3-way stop control

#1 S. Winooski/Main (Alternate US 7) 0.990 5 years/98 crashes/11 injuries/90 PDO


#5 Colchester/Barrett 0.990 5 years/34 crashes/7 injuries/1fatality/26 PDO


#11 South Prospect/Main (US 2) 0.220 5 years/72 crashes/9 injuries/65 PDO


#14 South Willard-US 7/Main 2.110 5 years/65 crashes/9 injuries/58 PDO


#15 Colchester/East Ave 0.430 5 years/44 crashes/9 injuries/35 PDO


#20 North Union/South Union/Pearl 0.000 5 years/19 crashes/5 injuries/15 PDO


#23 North/North Champlain 0.220 5 years/43 crashes/12 injuries/17 PDO


#24 Main/St. Paul 0.250 5 years/39 crashes/7 injuries/32 PDO


#25 Pearl/South Prospect/Colchester 0.930 5 years/40 crashes/12 injuries/34 PDO


#31 Battery/Main 0.220 5 years/45 crashes/8 injuries/38 PDO


#32 VT 127 Beltline 1.340 5 years/5 crashes/6 injuries (Location ?)/2 PDO


#38 North Winooski (Alternative US 7)/Pearl 1.310 5 years/61 crashes/13 injuries/51 PDO


#40 Park/North 0.280 5 years/19 crashes/4 injuries/16 PDO


#46 North Winooski (Alternate 7)/North 1.620 5 years/19 crashes/3 injuries/16 PDO


#47 US 7 North Willard/Pearl 2.420 5 years/57 crashes/13 injuries/47 PDO


#52 Main/South Union 0.520 5 years/37 crashes/9 injuries/30 PDO


#64 US 7 North Willard/Riverside Alternative 7 3.050 5 years/27 crashes/5 injuries/23 PDO


#76 Swift/Shelburne Rd. (S. Burlington/Burlington) 1.720 5 years/60 crashes/1 injuries/59 PDO

#87 North Union/North 0.300 5 years/15 crashes/0 injuries/15 PDO (3-way stop)


#110 North Avenue/North 0.180 5 years/20 crashes/4 injuries/17 PDO


Tony Redington
Safe Streets Burlington
TonyRVT99@gmail.com
November 13, 2019