By Cheril Lee
Omaha, NE – Transportation Manager Greg Youell says MAPA applied for the federal grant because of all the different projects taking place across the metro.
He says Bellevue recently passed an ordinance that says all streets must be designed for vehicles as well as other types of transportation. Omaha has a transportation master plan that places heavy emphasis on other modes of transportation. Youell says other jurisdictions are working on similar projects.
Thus, he says the grant money will be put toward creating a plan to combine these efforts, "So we thought this would be an opportunity to get everybody together and make sure that as these activities are going on, they're done so in a coordinated and strategic fashion. The goal of this study would be to create a spine of pedestrian and bicycle networks that allows people to travel throughout the metro area using another mode of transportation, if they would like to do so."
Youell says MAPA will launch the study at the Transportation Summit September 30th. He says the summit will focus on alternative modes of transportation. Public meetings and open houses will follow.
Details are available online at mapacog.org.