by Sen. Richard Westman
Town meeting week is always a good time to reflect as we take a break before we head into the second half of the legislative session. What did I learn from the first couple of months of the session and what now do I need to think about for the next two and a half months?
As the new chair of the Senate Committee on Transportation, I’ve been working to help the committee and my colleagues in the Legislature understand the fiscal reality of Vermont’s transportation situation. In the committee, we have been digging into the finances of the Transportation Fund and of road construction.
We all know the shift to electric cars is affecting our revenues because of the lack of fuel taxes. But most of us don’t think about the fact that the efficiency of our gas and diesel cars and trucks is also reducing revenues for the upkeep of our roads.
I saw in a publication from Texas about that state’s transportation problems recently that “the primary source of the loss of revenue is a 25 percent rise in the overall vehicle fleet fuel economy.” The fact that fuel efficiency was the biggest reason for a lack of revenues for the upkeep of our highways isn’t a total surprise, but it certainly is worth taking note of.
In addition, all across the country, we’re all traveling more miles on our roads. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, “Travel on U.S. roads in 2024 rose 1 percent to 3.28 trillion miles, setting a new yearly record and topping pre-COVID-19 levels for the first time.”
In Vermont, more than $12 million in General Fund one-time surplus moneys are being transferred to the Transportation Fund. Even with that and the T Fund relieved of over $20 million worth of expense for public safety — Vermont State Police — now to be paid for by the General Fund, we’re having trouble keeping up in the upcoming FY26 budget.
In the budget as presented to us, we’re looking at sending less money to towns for their roads and we’re looking at paving about 100 miles less on the state system than we are this year.
Projections are that next January, as we begin to look at putting the FY27 budget together, we will be more than $30 million short in state transportation funds. We match federal dollars for road construction. The federal/state match for interstate highways is 90 percent federal and 10 percent state and on regular state highways, like Route 15, for example, the match for construction is 80 percent federal and 20 percent state.
The average combined match of the state is about 17 percent, balancing interstates and the rest of the system. A $30 million shortfall in state funds would translate into Vermont being short on matches for federal dollars we’re eligible to draw down.
I’ve seen estimates that we could leave as much as $180 million in federal dollars on the table in Washington if we had such a match shortfall. To put that in perspective, Vermont has never not drawn down our full allotment of federal dollars.
We’ve been paving at a rate of around $103 million dollars a year. If we continue at that flat rate, we are going to see a significant deterioration of our highway system. The following report for Vermont Agency of Transportation tells a worrisome story: tinyurl.com/bdwvh7kb.
The chart on page six suggests that, by 2029, if we stay on the same track we’re on, we’ll go from seeing 26 percent of our roads in 2025 in poor or very poor condition to 60 percent.
When I took over as chair of the Senate Committee on Transportation in January, I knew transportation was in difficulty. I have to admit it’s going to be more challenging than I even would have expected.
Richard Westman, a Republican from Cambridge, represents all the towns in Lamoille County, except for Stowe, in the Vermont Senate.