Through the years, Shelburne has faced significant increases in traffic, heavy reliance on vehicular movement, speeding cars and trucks, and significant safety concerns for pedestrians.  The village is populated with multiple neighborhoods whose residents are drawn to many businesses, services, and cultural attractions in town.  Since 2016, the Village Pedestrian Safety Group has worked closely with Local Motion and town and regional partners to shape a village that accommodates the needs of all: pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles. 

The vision of the Village Pedestrian Safety Group is a culture of year-round walkability and connectivity in the village, where walking feels safe and comfortable and is both encouraged and given priority in town spending, goals, and objectives. 

Our mission is to help create an environment with safe paths, sidewalks and crosswalks, bicycle routes, and vehicular traffic that adheres to speed limits and crosswalk laws. 

We value collaborative relationships with town employees and elected officials, volunteer committees and boards, and the general public. While safety is a top priority, we also value changes that add physical, visual, and spatial aesthetics which improve the economic vitality in the village.

Our work aligns closely with Shelburne’s 2019 Comprehensive Town Plan objectives, which includes this language:

“Recognize that having a physical environment that rewards walking is the key to creating a superior public realm in Shelburne’s Village.  Maintain and enhance pedestrian accessibility within and to the Village by expanding pedestrian routes within the Village and connecting the Village to surrounding areas and/or facilities.  Street intersections shall contain marked crosswalks at all sidewalk crossings.  Signaled intersections shall contain pedestrian-activated walk phases and travel lanes on Town highways shall be marked at a width of 10 feet.  Develop typical conceptual designs for sidewalk crossings at midblock, at intersections, and at signalized intersections.”

and

“Maintain and reinforce the town's configuration as a compact and prominent village center that is closely connected to surrounding residential neighborhoods. The more densely settled portions of the town shall contrast with rural areas featuring lower-density development and a diverse mixture of open lands, agriculture, and natural areas.”

Examples of pedestrian safety concerns that led to our formation as an advocacy group:

Among our early steps was to do a ‘walkabout’ with Local Motion staff to assess several village roads.