MANSFIELD, Ohio — Richland County Regional Planning Commission (RCRPC) held an open house drecently to explain their updated Long Range Transportation Plan. This year there aren’t any specific projects–instead the focus was on five-year goals.
The plan forecasts the county’s transportation goals for the next 25 years, said Transportation Director Technical Director Todd Blankenship. The federally mandated long range forecast, which is to be updated every five years, looks a little different this year, according to Blankenship.
“This year we don’t have any projects in our plan,” he said. Instead, the RCRPC updated their plan to contain policies and goals. RCRPC came up with five goals to strive for in the next 25 years. Blankenship said the goals set a vision for the county’s transportation needs and wants. He said this is a more realistic approach to accomplishing tasks.
“Goals have not been present in our other long range plans. I think goals better lay the work that needs done and it makes us accountable,” said Blankenship.
One of the RCRPC’s goals involves improving and maintaining safety in the county’s transportation systems. The goal’s objectives are “to reduce the total number of crashes in the region, to reduce crash severity, and to prevent bicycle and pedestrian crashes.”
Blankenship said safety is of utmost importance to him. He said one of the strategies in carrying out the commission’s goal for safety will be to form a county-wide safety program.
Another goal for the commission is to improve the county’s quality of life through implementing plans for active transportation and alternative transportation modes like biking and walking.
Blankenship said the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) currently receives $128,000 from the federal government per year to spend toward alternative modes of transportation. He said RCRPC is about one year away from spending that money, since it is a new program.
In addition to the monies for TAP, RCRPC receives approximately $1.3 million from federal funds. Blankenship said the commission gets to decide how that money is spent. TAP is a federal program that funds active transportation or “complete streets” projects.
The rest of RCRPC’s goals include furthering economic vitality, managing system preservation and reliability, and getting more public involvement through educational activities.
