MPOS

16 May: AMATS’ 2012 Annual Report now available

The 2012 Annual Report from AMATS is now available.  The report details the agency’s accomplishments during the year that marked AMATS’ 50th Anniversary as a metropolitan planning organization. Readers can find out why agency leaders agreed that preservation of the Greater Akron area’s existing transportation system should be a priority over costly expansions. There are also summaries regarding the development of several items integral to the release of Transportation Outlook 2035, the area’s upcoming long-range regional transportation plan.  There’s also information about the agency’s ongoing efforts to promote regional connectivity and sustainability through its various cycling initiatives. To view the report, please click the graphic above.

07 Mar: Vibrant NEO 2040 and Scenario Planning

SCENARIOS are stories about the future.  They summarize likely future outcomes based on what we know about the present and what we know about how the world works.  Every weather forecast, for example, presents a scenario for the future, based on what meteorologists know about the current weather and what they know about how weather patterns develop.  VibrantNEO 2040’s scenarios will tell stories about our possible futures, based on where Northeast Ohio is today and the choices we might make about how we use our land and how we invest our resources.  Once we create these scenarios, we will be able to compare how successful they are at achieving our common goals for the region, judge which choices would be best for Northeast Ohio’s future, and create a shared vision and framework for the future around those choices. VibrantNEO 2040’s Scenario Planning  Step 1: Where is Northeast Ohio today? Every…

06 Feb: Transit Space Race 2013

At Reconnecting America’s Transit Space Race page you’ll find a map of all the under construction and planned fixed guideway transit projects in the United States.  These projects were gathered in 2012 from local sources including but not limited to, long range plans, discussions with local officials, and newspaper coverage.   We understand that these projects are fluid and the estimates of cost as well as the projects themselves are subject to change frequently.  This list should be seen as a snapshot in time and not a definitive source on the subject matter. Projects listed within the Transit Space Race are fixed guideway projects including heavy rail, commuter rail, LRT, streetcars, various technologies such as cog railways, and Bus Rapid Transit lines that have more than 50% of their right of way dedicated to the bus alone.  Rapid buses without dedicated lanes are an important part of any transit network…

13 Dec: Sustainable Communities Across the Country

The Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium is only one of a number of Sustainable Communities grantees. Recently, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published profiles describing some of the work other recipients are doing.   “Every now and then you’ve got to ask the hard questions.  The one we choose to ask is: How will the Southeast Florida Region evolve over time to ensure that the development of the knowledge-based economy of the 21st   century provides opportunity for the inclusive participation of all of the region’s residents?”  – Dr. Mark B. Rosenberg, President, Florida International University. Flint, MI is using a HUD Community Challenge grant to complete its first master plan since 1960, charting a new course for the community’s future. The Tomorrow Plan, Des Moines, IA’s three-year planning effort funded by a HUD Regional Planning grant, fulfills Central Iowa’s need for a unifying vision that addresses how future growth will affect the region….

09 Nov: Engaging MPO’s in our Conditions and Trends

The image above is part of the  Vibrant NEO 2040 presentation that will be presented today at the first in a series of meetings with Northeast Ohio’s Metropolitan Planning Organizations/Council of Governments Board of Directors.  This morning at the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), we will be discussing the overall status of the project, the upcoming scenario planning process, project outcomes/products and engagement. This conversation will be followed by brief roundtable discussions on four of our work streams:  Economic Development, Environment, Connections and Housing and Communities.   Utilizing the findings from the Conditions and Trends Platform, we hope to engage local leaders in exploring the following: What do these findings mean to you and your community? What do these findings mean to the region? What else do you need to know about your community? What else do you need to know about Northeast Ohio? Over the course of the next…

30 Oct: Learn and Create: AMATS Connecting Communities Grants

AMATS, the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, is one of the four Metropolitan Planning Organizations involved in Vibrant NEO 2040 that we discussed in our post last week.  One of their many initiatives is the Connecting Communities program which “is designed to provide communities with funding to develop transportation plans that will lead to the identification of projects eligible for AMATS funds.” The Connecting Communities grant program was a recommendation from  AMATS’s Connecting Communities Planning Initiative (link is to a large pdf file) in 2010.   The purpose of Connecting Communities – A Guide to Integrating Land Use and Transportation is to promote a region that balances environmental, social and economic concerns by improving coordination between land use and transportation. Connecting Communities utilizes a regional planning process to explore strategies to increase transportation choices and accessibility, help communities make collaborative, informed decisions to coordinate development, reduce environmental impacts and improve regional connectivity….

26 Oct: Act: Add your voice to transportation projects!

A significant component of NEOSCC’s leadership are the four Metropolitan Planning Organizations in Northeast Ohio. What is a Metropolitan Planning Organization? You can find out in the following presentation – NEOSCC_Overview_101_What is an MPO.  Here is some quick background:   NEOSCC and the Vibrant NEO 2040 planning process includes the following MPO’s and their county jurisdictions: Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS) – Portage and Summit Counties Eastgate Regional Council of Governments – Mahoning and Trumbull Counties Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Area (NOACA) – Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and Medina Counties Stark County Regional Planning Commission and the Stark County Area Transportation Study (SCATS) – Stark County The two other counties Ashtabula and Wayne County that are part of the Vibrant NEO 2040 effort are covered through Councils of Governments.  This is a topic that will be covered soon in the Vibrant Daily. As part of their planning process, the MPO’s…