The Vermont Agency of Transportation is readying grants via its Vermont Better Roads Program to support municipal road projects that improve water quality and result in maintenance cost savings. The agency said it would accept grant applications until December 17.

[Above photo by VTrans]

That pool of grant funding – provided by VTrans in partnership with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources – promotes the use of erosion control and maintenance techniques that save money while protecting and enhancing water quality statewide.

The application scoring for those grants will be in line with Vermont’s Clean Water Act (Act 64) and its Municipal Roads General Permit or MRGP, VTrans noted in a statement. In an effort to prioritize funding for projects that provide significant water quality improvements, applicants must indicate whether their projects will be in full compliance with the MRGP or not.

Meanwhile, VTrans invited all Vermont schools to join a naming contest for its 250 full-size highway snowplows and participate in “Vermont Plow Day” on November 17.

In early October, VTrans invited just elementary schools to submit one snowplow name per school, with 123 schools participating in the effort. Now VTrans is extending its “Name a Plow” program to all Vermont schools.

“The response so far has been wonderful,” said Joe Flynn, Vermont’s transportation secretary, in a statement. “We hope to engage even more students in brainstorming names and holding schoolwide votes to name a snowplow that is maintaining Vermont’s highways.”