The Kentucky Department of Highways announced the finalization of its “Long-Range Transportation Plan: Planning to Make A Difference in America’s Tomorrow: 2014-2035.” The plan was conceived as a mode of assistance in planning for the future of the state’s transportation system.
In 2013, a transportation survey saw public response in excess of 16,000 people, in which the populous was polled as to what it desired in transportation improvements and maintenance, and also what it saw as immediate problems needing redress. Following the survey, and in part based on its results, a plan was drafted, after which a second survey was sent to nearly 1,000 people. The results of that survey was likewise integrated into the plan’s redraft.
The last time the state laid out a long-range transportation plan was in 2006, but according to Jeff Moore, transportation planner for the state’s DOH, “ a lot of things have happened in the world since 2006, and [the new 2014 plan] grasps a lot of that.”
The new plan is primarily intended to be an educational tool that unpacks the current state of the transportation system and anticipates some challenges the system will likely experience in the years to come, including a drop in funding for road projects, which is one of the more imminent issues not only for Kentucky but the nation at large.
The results of the public surveys showed that Kentuckians are less concerned with road growth than in vast and immediate improvement in the state’s present roads and bridges system. An aging populous remains mobile, which also means investment in public transit systems, which statewide is approximately one-quarter the ridership as seen on average nationwide. These systems are expected to grow in the coming years, in response to what the DOW now recognizes as public demand.
