It is time for feedback on the projects in the transportation plan that prioritizes 25 years out all types of surface transportation needs in Harrisonburg, Bridgewater, Dayton, Mount Crawford and the surrounding parts of Rockingham County—from driving on roadways, to cycling on greenways, walking on sidewalks, and rides on public transit.
Earlier this year, planners asked for community participation in a visioning survey to inform the plan.
Regional transportation planners have looked at your feedback and have come back with specific projects to address what was raised in the survey.
Now they need to know if they got it right.
Attend an Open-House
August 18, 4-6 p.m.
Lucy F. Simms Community Center
August 31, 4-6 p.m.
Turner Ashby High School
There are several ways to participate by the September 16th comment deadline:
- You can submit feedback on specific projects at any time using the Metroquest interactive map.
- There will be a webinar on August 16 at 7 p.m. to recap the long-range transportation plan process and walk though how to make comments via the Metroquest map. View the recording.
- There will also be two open-house meetings where you can review projects and direct questions to transpiration planners
- August 18, 4-6 p.m. at Lucy F. Simms Community Center
- August 31, 4-6 p.m. at Turner Ashby High School
We’ve had a look at the proposed projects (tabs 2 and 3 of the survey) and are glad to see a variety of well-thought-out proposals to improve and enhance the many ways people get around the more urbanized areas of our city and county–biking, walking, public transit and cars.
We believe, at least in part, this comprehensive set of projects is due to planners incorporating robust public feedback starting from the very beginning of the planning process and you, the public, responding with valuable on-the-ground experience. Bravo.
Many of the projects that have concerned us in the past–like the ever-lingering sections of the loop road on Switchboard Road and Research Drive–are now considered ‘proposed studies’ (tab 4 of the survey). Ideally, these projects would just be dropped as the projected development that justified their inclusion in the plan years ago never materialized, and now the county has committed to focusing development in the Urban Development Area east of Harrisonburg. If these bad projects must remain in the plan as studies, at the least, there will be additional data gathered, the need re-vetted and hopefully found lacking, and additional opportunities for public input.