Title
Public Comment on the Transportation Action Plan
Action
Action:
Receive public comments on the Transportation Action Plan.
Body
Committee Chair:
Vi Lyles, Transportation & Planning
Staff Resource(s):
Norm Steinman, Transportation
Explanation
§ The Transportation Action Plan (TAP) is Charlotte’s long-range, comprehensive, multimodal transportation plan.
§ The TAP describes goals, policies and objectives to achieve the City’s vision of becoming the premier city in the nation for integrating transportation and land use. The TAP was first adopted in 2006, and was last updated in 2011.
§ The TAP also describes eight categories of transportation investments including maintenance, streets, signals, safety, pedestrian, and bicycle projects and advance planning activities necessary to help accommodate Charlotte’s growth and provide more transportation choices.
§ In 2016, the Transportation & Planning Committee discussed the TAP five times and Charlotte WALKS three times. These two plans were developed jointly and directly complement each other as Charlotte strives to better integrate land use and provide more transportation choices.
Community Input
§ Since early 2015, staff has collected public comments at a number of events held throughout the city, including hosting a transportation fair; small pop-up meetings, joint workshops with the City’s Planning Department, presentations to the Charlotte Chamber’s Transportation Committee and Sustain Charlotte’s Transportation Choices Alliance, and community events such as Open Streets 704.
§ Staff gathered information from the City’s 2016 Transportation Survey and is collecting comments on the draft TAP using an online survey accessed through the City’s website.
TAP Recommendations
§ The 2016 TAP Update recommends investing $5.1 billion in the city’s transportation network over a 25-year period. This level of investment is necessary to build, maintain, and operate a travel network with safe options for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and motorists in Charlotte.
§ Key investments include building 100 multimodal arterial projects, 40 multimodal intersections, 250 miles of new sidewalks, 250 miles of new bicycle facilities, and 150 traffic-calming projects over the next 25 years. The TAP also recommends maintaining city streets at a 12-year street resurfacing cycle.
Transportation & Planning Committee Discussion
§ Throughout calendar year 2016, staff provided information about the TAP to the Transportation & Planning Committee. Several discussions took place involving goals, policies, and implementation strategies.
§ The Transportation & Planning Committee discussed the TAP five times throughout calendar year 2016.
§ On December 12, 2016, the Committee voted unanimously (Lyles, Phipps, and Smith voted yes; Autry and Kinsey were not present) to recommend the TAP to the full City Council for public comment.
Next Steps
§ The Transportation & Planning Committee is expected to make a recommendation on the TAP at its regular meeting on February 13, 2017.
§ Staff will ask City Council to adopt the TAP at the Business Meeting on February 27, 2017.
Attachments
Attachment
The Transportation Action Plan can be found online at: <http://charlottenc.gov/Transportation/Programs/Documents/TAP%20Draft%20Plan.pdf>