Meeting Set on Area’s Long-Range Road Plans

By Pat Kinney, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa

Jan. 5–WATERLOO — The year 2035 is just around the corner, especially for local transportation planners.

And the Black Hawk County Metropolitan Area Transportation Policy Board is in the process of updating its 2035 Long-Range Transportation Plan, a federally and state-mandated planning document scheduled to be completed in August.

In preparation for that, the Policy Board, a group of local elected officials and transportation planners, is holding a series of public input meetings next week to get public comments on what should be included in the metro area’s plan.

Those meetings are scheduled for:

–Tuesday, 5 to 6:30 p.m., St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 207 W. Louise St.

–Wednesday, 5 to 6:30 p.m., Cedar Falls Tourism and Visitors Bureau, 6510 Hudson Road, Cedar Falls.

–Thursday, 5 to 6:30 p.m., Kimball Avenue United Methodist Church, 1207 Kimball Ave.

The meetings will include all transportation modes — highway, rail, air, bicycle and pedestrian accommodations and related safety issues, all of which will be part of the long-range plan.

Public comment at past public meetings have led to such present-day improvements as the recently completed reconstruction of Viking Road between Iowa Highway 58 and Cedar Heights Drive in Cedar Falls, and the Ansborough Avenue-U.S. Highway 20 interchange in Waterloo, said Kevin Blanshan a transportation planner with the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments, which staffs the Transportation Policy Board.

The sessions will be informal, where the public can review and comment on current maps, plans and projects. Those comments will be the basis for the new long-range plan.

Any questions about the meetings may be directed to the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments at 235-0311.

Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or pat.kinney@wcfcourier.com.

—–

To see more of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wcfcourier.com/.

Copyright (c) 2008, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.