The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission hopes to approve a Regional Transportation Plan for the Pioneer Valley by the end of the month.
Motorists make their way up Boston Road past Pasco Road, as this section of the road is expected to be part of an improvement project from Pasco Road to Main Street in Wilbraham SPRINGFIELD – The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission wants the public to have a say as to which road, transit and trail projects should be priorities and which might have to fall by the wayside.
“We need to be better about how we are using transportation funding,” said Gary M. Roux, a principal planner with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission.
The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission hopes to approve a Regional Transportation Plan for the Pioneer Valley Aug. 30, Roux said. The document is due to the U.S. Department of Transportation soon thereafter where, if approved, it will be used to prioritize projects for federal funding starting in 2012 but looking forward until 2025.
Residents of the 43 cities and towns covered by the commission drove an estimated 15.2 million miles in 2009, up from 14.9 million miles in 2000, based on traffic counts according to the draft plan. To put that in perspective, 15.2 million is more than 31 trips to the moon and back.
“This plan is our four-year snapshot of we are with our regional transportation system and where we expect to be in the next 20 years,” Roux said Monday. “Everything we do, whether it is a construction project or a study project, needs to be in this document.”
Regional Transportation Plans are updated every four years.
A draft version is available online at, http://www.pvpc.org/activities/transportation.shtml.
Public hearings are set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9, at Northampton City Council Chambers, Puchalski Municipal Building, 212 Main Street, Northampton located behind City Hall and at 7 p.m., August 18 at Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, 60 Congress Street, 2nd Floor, Springfield.
The draft report includes has a list of 36 high-priority projects. Some, like the $80-million Great River Bridge project in Westfield are already under construction, Roux said.
But others have yet to be put out to bid, including a $9.2 million-reconstruction of Boston Road from Pasco Road in Springfield east to Dumaine Street in Wilbraham. planners have yet estimate when this project would take place.
Another example of a high-priority project is a $690,000-project to improve the intersection of Main Street, Maple Street and Jabish Street in Belchertown that is tentatively scheduled construction 2012. Planners have also included a $691,000 park-and-ride lot to be built near Look Park in the Leeds section of Northampton scheduled for construction in 2013.