What’s happening?
As previously reported by Community Impact, H-GAC officials are working on creating the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan for the eight-county region. As part of the process, public meetings were held in each county to gain feedback on transportation initiatives for each county.
Brandon Mosley, a principal planner for the 2050 RTP, said the existing 2045 Regional Transportation Plan will expire Nov. 1, 2027, which is why the process for the new plan is starting now.
“The Regional Transportation Plan ... serves as a guide for future transportation investments, programs, policies. and development in the region for the next 20 to 25 years,” Mosley said. “The feedback you'll share tonight will help us shape the vision, the goals and priorities for the future.”
How it works
The meeting was held at the Shenandoah City Hall , and attendees were able to take part in a number of interactive activities such as drawing on county maps, identifying which modes of transportation are most important to residents and placing beans into various containers to simulate funding allocation priorities.
“Our region is expected to grow by 39%, that's roughly around 3 million people by 2050,” Mosley said. “So planning now will help us create a transportation system that will help keep up with this growth ... If we don't plan ahead, traffic and travel could get much worse.”
Residents who were not able to attend one of the in-person meetings can still submit comments and recommendations directly to H-GAC online.
What’s next?
Following completion of all in-person public meetings Aug. 14, Mosley said H-GAC officials will begin drafting the proposed 2050 plan using resident and local government feedback. The proposed vision plan is expected to be ready by fall 2025.
