 | Community Connections: A 21st Century Thoroughfare Plan for Motorized and Non-Motorized Travel
City of Muncie and Delaware County, IndianaAbstractThis planning effort will merge a traditional thoroughfare plan, containing classifications and right-of-way widths for the community's street network, with bicycle and pedestrian networks. In this era of smart growth, sustainable development and livable communities, the need for an integrated thoroughfare plan is self-evident. Having proposed right-of-ways, individual site design regulations and subdivision standards for amenities is good and essential but without a big picture view of how pedestrian circulation within a commercial development connects with neighborhoods or how a subdivision trail system connects with countywide bike routes or how pathways can divert arterial traffic, quality development can occur in isolation. There is no planned connection between communities - commercial areas, neighborhoods, the downtown, education centers, major employment centers, health facilities, parks and the natural environment. This project will develop a plan for existing and proposed roads, streets, bicycle routes, bicycle paths, pedestrian pathways, multi-purpose trails and sidewalks by applying the same principles which govern a traditional thoroughfare plan - functional classification, right-of-way widths, trip generation, and design standards - to trails, paths, and sidewalks. Appropriate criteria will be developed for the functional classification of these alternative modes of travel as well as design standards. Based on background data including a needs assessment, inventories, land use patterns, development densities, community desires and projected use, a thoroughfare map will be produced as a part of the plan document showing an integrated surface transportation system for driving, walking and riding throughout the Muncie and Delaware County community. Previous Page |
