MANSFIELD — The Richland County Regional Planning Commission is seeking public input for an active transportation plan.
The transportation and land use planning organization will use the results of its Active Transportation Survey to determine how it will invest in and implement future active transportation options, such as bike lanes and larger sidewalks.
“We want to make sure the needs of people using active transportation are being addressed, and this will help inform what the public interests are (and) what some deficiencies are that could be addressed,” said executive director Jotika Shetty.
She encouraged all Richland County residents to take the survey, especially those who are often underrepresented.
Beginning in April, transportation planner Nick Leturgey will be responsible for sorting through the survey results and will bring together a group of stakeholders to develop the plan.
“It’s just important to have different viewpoints of the situation. It’ll be good to have contrasting voices to make a plan that’s good for everyone,” Leturgey said.
He anticipates that stakeholder meetings will start in May.
The goal, he explained, is to develop a plan that provides more active transportation options.
“The hope is to be able to give people more options to ride bikes to work if they want to. We want to make it easier for them to walk, bike and skateboard,” Leturgey said.
Shetty talked about how the active transportation plan will address several ideas in the “Mansfield Rising” Plan. It will likely address adopting a complete streets policy, implementing traffic calming measures for the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians and more. Further, it aligns with the plan’s guiding principles of having “big-city amenities with a small-town feel” and seeing “placemaking as economic development.”
Surveys must be completed by March 31. Surveys can be accessed here.
