Transportation Glossary

The following is a listing of transportation-related terminology and phraseology developed by CCMPO.
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Term	Acronym	Definition
Validation		The process of evaluating the accuracy of a transportation model.
Vanpool		A service where passengers share the use and expense of a van to commute to work.
Variable Message Sign	VMS	Electronic highway signs where the displayed message can be changed to inform motorists of diferent road, traffic, or weather conditions, etc.
Vehicle Hours of Delay	VHD	An indicator reflecting the time it takes to travel a roadway during peak periods v.s. the time it would to travel at a free-flow 35 miles per hour.
Vehicle Hours of Travel	VHT	Transportation performance measure that considers the amount of time trip-making takes.
Vehicle Miles Traveled	VMT	An indicator of occuring traffic, calculated using Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) multiplied by the length of a particular road in question. One car traveling one mile represents 1 unit of VMT.
Vehicle Trip		An Origin-to-Destination journey by a single vehicle. A bus carrying 40 people from an origin to a destination makes one vehicle trip, while its occupants make a total of 40 person trips.
Vehicles Per Day	VPD	Traffic Volume or Capacity is generally expressed in "Vehicles Per Day" or "Vehicles Per Hour".
Vermont Agency of Transportation	VTrans	Agency that establishes state policies and plans, and implements programs and projects, for all modes of transportation.
Vermont Association of Planning & Development Agencies	VAPDA	Organization comprised of Regional Planning Commission directors and the Chittenden County MPO director, chartered to coordinate a combination of environmental and economic planning strategies
Vermont Association of Snow Travellers	VAST	VAST is Vermont's non-profit, private volunteer snowmobiling organization, responsible for maintenance of Vermont trails. VAST has thousands of members and is one of the oldest such organizations in the U.S.
Vermont Center for Geographic Information	VCGI	Initiated in 1994, under Act 204 (10 VSA Chapter 8), the Vermont Center for Geographic Information, Inc. (VCGI) is a non-profit public corporation tasked with the development and management of GIS data, and coordination of GIS activities for the State of Vermont.
Vermont League of Cities and Towns	VLCT	Founded in 1967, VLCT is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization serving Vermont municipal officials.
Vermont Local Roads Program		The Vermont Local Roads Program at Saint Michael’s College is part of the Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP), a nationwide effort financed jointly by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and individual State Departments of Transportation. Its purpose is to provide road and bridge know-how to municipal people involved with highways. There are LTAP Centers in 50 states and Puerto Rico and six Native American locations.
Vermont Online Bridge & Culvert Inventory Tool	VOBCIT	An online user-friendly application to record and update bridge and culvert data for structures owned by communities in Vermont. The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) was directed by the Vermont Legislature to complete and deploy an integrated software product to handle data entry, access and status reporting of town bridge and culvert inventories currently collected by Regional Planning Commissions (RPCs), the Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization, municipalities, and their contractors. Data within VOBCIT complies with the state "Bridge & Culvert Data Exchange Standard".
Vermont Planners Association	VPA	A Vermont membership-based, non-profit organization of professional planners, citizen planners, landscape architects, engineers, housing and economic development specialists, and developers.
Vermont Rail Advisory Council	VRAC	Instituted in 1993, VRAC was created to advise the Governor and The Agency of Transportation on rail issues. Meeting about 5-6 times per year, members are recruited from private rail industry, operators on state-owned railroads, freight shippers, environmental and economic development organizations, regional chambers of commerce, regional planning commissions, the House & Senate Transportation Committees, and travel and recreation organizations.
Vermont Rail Advocacy Network	VRAN	A grassroots network of advocates promoting greater rail mode utilization for passenger and freight in Vermont.
Vermont Railway	VTR	A privately operated railroad company.
Vermont State Standards	VSS	Formally known as the "Vermont State Standard for the Design of Transportation Construction, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation on Freeways, Roads and Streets", VSS was developed during the mid-1990's, standardizing the physical design parameters and guidelines of Vermont bridges and roadways. VSS was initially created for two purposes: 1. To provide clear technical direction to the designers of transportation projects in Vermont. AND: 2. To achieve roadway and bridge designs which provide access, mobility and safety for users, and which are also sensitive to the social and environmental context of Vermont.
Vermont Statutes Annotated	VSA	The official codification of the laws enacted by the Vermont General Assembly (i.e. Legislature).
Vermont Transportation Authority	VTA	Operator of passenger rail services.
Viewshed		The area within view of a defined observation point or corridor.
Volatile Organic Compounds	VOC	A group of chemicals that reacts in the atmosphere with NOx in the presence of heat and sunlight to form ozone. Examples include gasoline fumes and oil-based paints.
Volume to Capacity Ratio	V/C	An indicator of congestion levels measured by the number of vehicles per hour (volume) divided by the maximum number of cars the road is designed to handle (capacity).

OTHER TRANSPORT TERMINOLOGY REFERENCES: