The City of Columbus, Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), and Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) today unveiled LinkUS, a collaborative effort with private sector and neighborhood partners that allows for mobility implementation efforts within the region to be centered under an umbrella program.
The goal of the LinkUS Mobility Corridors Initiative is to help address traffic congestion, provide new mobility options, expand access to resources, and promote equity and economic vitality along key regional corridors.
LinkUS says it will provide a consistent and equitable approach to implement transit and multimodal transportation improvements, coupled with new jobs and housing opportunities. This effort builds on previous regional planning studies, including MORPC’s Insight 2050 Corridor Concepts study.
LinkUS has begun with the Northwest Corridor Mobility Initiative—the first of several corridor action plans that will identify and carry out preferred strategies to develop high-quality transit and mobility choices while bringing new housing and jobs to the corridor. Implementation efforts will also begin this year for an East-West Corridor, including West Broad Street, and a study of East Main and East Broad Streets. Other future corridors have been identified as part of a broader framework strategy created to guide the initiative.
“The recent events in our community and across our country have underscored various social and public infrastructure disparities that impede equity," COTA president/CEO Joanna M. Pinkerton said in a statement. "COTA believes affordable, accessible, and equitable public mobility systems will not only help better connect our most vulnerable residents to opportunity, but also prepare our region to handle the mobility needs of a million more people by 2050. I am incredibly grateful COTA is partnering with forward-thinking community leaders to prepare our region for a bright future.”
Stakeholder and public engagement are critical parts of the LinkUS initiative, the consortium says. Throughout the process, the public will be invited to provide input to help ensure solutions address community needs.
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SOURCE: LinkUS
