The purpose of this effort is to support transportation agencies working to enhance collaboration with stakeholders, safeguard communities and build partnerships that promote a healthy environment. The USDOT/FHWA will provide training and technical assistance in six communities where the local transportation agency will use a data-driven and performance-based decision-making Framework to incorporate multimodal access, improve health outcomes, and enhance community considerations into corridor planning.
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is currently developing new guidance for the development of corridor plans to be used throughout the state. Promoting health and safety across the transportation system is the first goal of the agency. Caltrans is in partnership with the San Luis Obispo Council of Governments (SLOCOG) to develop a comprehensive multimodal corridor plan and Concept of Operations for US 101 in southern San Luis Obispo County. The technical assistance will allow Caltrans to integrate health into corridor planning throughout California while providing an example in the US 101 corridor.
The Frontier MPO, serving Western Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma, selected Rodgers Avenue in Fort Smith, Arkansas to test the Framework in order to provide mobility options, access to jobs and healthcare, and new economic development. Partnerships between local government agencies, hospitals, businesses and developers, and many other stakeholder groups will be used as a means to encourage local decision makers to budget funding for associated improvement projects.
The Main Street Corridor runs between Bloomington and Normal, Illinois. With a 2007 adopted plan and a 2016 submitted TIGER application, the Central Corridor section is undergoing transformation in order to attract investment. The MPO has partnered with the Illinois Department of Transportation, transit agencies, hospitals, and universities to apply the Framework with the goal of maximizing access to services, jobs, and education in this historic corridor.
The Department of Public Works and Transportation in Prince George's County, Maryland will use the Framework to create walkable-bikeable connections along Addison Road. This corridor connects the Central Avenue Connector Trail to four Metro stations in Washington, DC. Building on previous planning and design efforts, the goal is to enhance safety in the corridor and build new connections through stakeholder involvement and identifying transportation alternatives that support health in the community.
In Summit County, Utah local departments of Community Development, Health, and Regional Transportation Planning partnered with Park City Transit to propose the SR-224 "gateway corridor" for technical assistance to use the Framework. The County wants to connect the many recent studies of the corridor and adjacent trails with an upcoming Utah Department of Transportation corridor master plan, ensuring full multimodal options in an essential corridor.
The Houston District Office of the Texas Department of Transportation will use the Framework to study a section of the I-10 Katy Freeway corridor. The goal is to incorporate health outcomes from active transportation as it relates to the built environment and improve safety for pedestrian, bicycle, and transit mobility. Decision makers will be supported with a dashboard that depicts health impacts of improved pedestrian and bicycle mobility on corridors.
