For Immediate Release Village to Village Committee Kate Whitehead kwhitehead.danvillevt@gmail.com Danville, VT – Temporary painted advisory shoulders and signage are being installed on a .3 mile stretch of Peacham Road in Danville this summer to provide traffic calming, bicycle facilities and pedestrian safety improvements. The advisory shoulders will begin at the Danville School drive and extend to the entrance of the Town Recreation Fields. Advisory shoulders are a new experimental road treatment being tested in communities across the country on streets that are otherwise too narrow for traditional bike lanes. An advisory shoulder looks like dedicated bike lanes, except a dashed line is used in place of a solid bike lane stripe. These markings give bicyclists and pedestrians a designated area to ride and walk, but are also available to vehicles if space is needed to pass oncoming traffic. Advisory shoulders bring greater awareness to the roadway as a shared space and can help to reduce vehicle speeds and improve roadway safety. This project stems from a comprehensive planning process completed this past fall that resulted in the development of the Danville Activity Center Master Plan. With the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (LVRT) at its core, the plan outlines multi-modal transportation alternatives and economic development recommendations for Danville. To jump start implementation, the Town of Danville was awarded a grant from the Vermont Department of Health in 2019 that funded small-scale healthy community design projects to complement long-term goals and recommendations from the plan. Last summer, new bike racks were installed around town as well as a trailside bike repair station and water access at Danville’s Historic Railroad Station located on the LVRT. The work will continue again this summer under the grant with new landscaping at the Railroad Station and the start of the advisory shoulder pilot study. The pilot study will continue for a 3-month testing period starting in mid-July and will be closely monitored for changes in traffic volume and speed, and interactions between bikers, walkers and vehicles. A full evaluation of the project will be completed in the fall. As we slowly move back into public life our outdoor public spaces including streets, parks and trails are more important to our health than ever. As we adapt to physical distancing, we are being made keenly aware of the role they play in our social infrastructure, as they allow us to safely connect with our neighbors and other community members. Please visit the project website at v2v-danvillevt.org to learn more about how advisory shoulders operate, case studies from other communities and to keep up to date on activities related to the pilot study. The Village to Village Committee is currently conducting a survey for Danville residents and others who regularly use Peacham Road to walk, bike or drive. The survey can be found online at nvda.net/danville and will close on July 1, 2020. Please contact Kate Whitehead at kwhitehead.danvillevt@gmail.com for more information. Download the Press Release Here
