Vehicle emissions account for 44% of greenhouse gas emissions in New Hampshire. Reducing vehicle miles travelled (VMT) is key to reducing vehicle emissions.
In Hanover, VMT over all major roads, and all local roads coming in and out of Hanover has been decreasing. VMT used to be over 125,000 miles driven per day in Hanover, and has been on a gradual decline. In the past decade VMT in Hanover has declined from just over 118,000 miles driven per day to 107,000 miles per day. Every trip you shift makes a difference!
*Methodology and sources below.
Hanover Bike Walk aims to reduce VMT by fostering the development of more inviting walk, bike and transit networks throughout Hanover and the Upper Valley, and encouraging "smart growth" to locate people and destinations closer together.
Making walking, biking and taking transit easier can have a profound impact on reducing green house gas emissions. Shifting just one trip from car to walking or bicycling each day saves the average person 500 lbs of carbon a year! If 10% of people replaced one car trip a day with a bike ride, carbon emissions from transportation would drop by 10%.
Communities such as Boulder, CO, Seattle, WA and Arlington, VA that have invested in walking, bicycling and transit have seen significant shifts away from vehicle travel towards walking, bicycling and transit, and a decrease in VMT even as their populations increase. Shifting away from vehicle use also combats climate change by decreasing reliance on vehicles, which have high greenhouse gas lifecycle costs, and reducing wear and tear of our roads and other carbon intensive infrastructure.
Shifting away from driving also reduces microplastic pollution. Microplastic pollution rivals tailpipe emissions in scope, contaminates our water, air and soil, and contributes to global warming.
This map shows the roads and counters used to calculate Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) in the Hanover Area.
The red diamonds represent where counts are gathered to calculate the Average Annual Daily Travel (AADT) on different roads.
VMT in the Hanover area = the sum of all (AADT * Road Segment Length)
The road segment lengths are multiplied by the nearest calculated AADT, and cover road mileage for all minor arterials (the town's most trafficked roads), collectors (the town's medium sized roads), and a few local roads that are entrances into Hanover.
The following Road Segment lengths and AADT counters were used:
0.550 MILES | NH 10A (WEST WHEELOCK ST) AT VERMONT STATE LINE (EB-WB) (01203091-01203092)
0.844 MILES | NH 10 (LYME RD) AT GIRL BROOK NORTH OF IVY POINTE WAY
0.714 MILES | NH 10 (SO. MAIN ST ) AT LEBANON TOWN LINE
0.110 MILES | COLLEGE ST NORTH OF EAST WHEELOCK ST
0.168 MILES | NH 120 (LEBANON ST) SOUTH OF BARRYMORE RD
1.71 MILES | EAST WHEELOCK ST EAST OF PARK ST
0.380 MILES | COLLEGE ST WEST OF NO. PARK ST
0.910 MILES | RIP RD NORTH OF PINE DRIVE
0.460 MILES | NH 120 (SO. PARK ST) SOUTH OF EAST WHEELOCK ST
0.470 MILES | RESERVOIR RD EAST OF NH 10
1.890 MILES | GREENSBORO RD EAST OF NH 120
0.537 MILES | LEBANON ST EAST OF SO. MAIN ST
0.198 MILES | NH 10 (SO. MAIN ST) SOUTH OF DORRANCE PLACE
0.830 MILES | GREAT HOLLOW RD OVER MINK BROOK
4.520 MILES | RUDDSBORO RD EAST OF ETNA RD (local road entrance into Hanover)
1.820 MILES | ETNA RD NORTH OF RUDDSBORO RD
1.131 MILES | NH 120 (LEBANON ST) NORTH OF GREENSBORO RD
5.745 MILES | NH 10 (LYME RD) SOUTH OF RIVER RD
0.290 MILES | NH 10 (NO. PARK ST) NORTH OF EAST WHEELOCK ST (SB-NB) (81203089-81203090)
2.050 MILES | RIVER RD OVER SLADE BROOK (local road entrance into Hanover)
1.270 MILES | STEVENS RD OVER MINK BROOK (local road entrance into Hanover)
2.370 MILES | KING RD OVER MINK BROOK (local road entrance into Hanover)
4.710 MILES | BAKER HILL RD AT LYME TOWN LINE (local road entrance into Hanover and along Hanover Center Road)
4.256 MILES | RENNIE RD EAST OF NH 10 (counter in Lyme) (local road entrance into Hanover and along Rennie and Hanover Center Road south of Rennie)
2.75 MILES | GOOSE POND ROAD AT TOWN LINE (local road)
Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) = Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) * Road Miles
AADT data source: https://nhdot.public.ms2soft.com/tcds/tsearch.asp?loc=Nhdot&mod=
Road Miles data source: https://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/NHGRANIT::nh-dot-roads-1/explore?location=43.695720%2C-72.280072%2C15.54
Spreadsheets calculations for AADT & VMT: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-dcLi5Koy8uBRPX-StYSWKig-zUzH251z9fY8Cy_Zu4/edit?gid=1609684309#gid=1609684309
Spreadsheet calculations for Road Segment Miles: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pN_VO2fcabaZoAYJZ9tSPqYWvkeI7q1cq_HyTyU1zXE/edit?usp=sharing