The Central Shenandoah region is in the national spotlight. The National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) recently released a new installment of its EDDs in Action video series featuring the CSPDC and the work we do alongside local partners to grow the regional economy.

EDDs, or Economic Development Districts, are regional organizations designated by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to plan for and invest in long-term economic growth. NADO’s video series travels the country to show what that work looks like on the ground. This spring, a NADO film crew visited the Valley as part of a focus on Appalachian communities in western Virginia and West Virginia.

The result is a nine-minute look at how the CSPDC helps turn local visions into funded, completed projects. As CSPDC Executive Director Ann Cundy puts it in the video, “We pride ourselves on knowing what each of our jurisdictions needs.” That planning knowledge helps us match partners with the right funding opportunities.

Watch the video on NADO’s website

The video highlights three projects the CSPDC helped fund and implement, Shenandoah Valley Airport’s Aviation Technology Park, SVCAL’s Award-Winning Go2Work Program, and the Virginia Innovation Accelerator in Buena Vista.

Partnerships That Build a Stronger Region

We are grateful to NADO for telling this story, and to our partners at Shenandoah Valley Airport, SVCAL, and The Advancement Foundation for sharing their work. Together, these investments in site readiness, workforce training, and business development are creating new opportunities across the Central Shenandoah Valley.

Watch the full EDDs in Action video and learn more about the CSPDC’s economic development work at cspdc.org.

CSPDC Executive Director Ann W. Cundy has received the 2026 Gordon N. Dixon Award from the Virginia Association of Planning District Commissions (VAPDC). The award was presented at the Commission’s August 17 meeting. It recognizes an executive director or commissioner whose leadership has advanced regional cooperation across Virginia.

The VAPDC created the award to honor Gordon N. Dixon, who spent 16 years as executive director of the New River Valley and Fifth Planning District Commissions. Virginia’s 21 Planning District Commissions (PDCs) and Regional Commissions help local governments plan together for needs that cross local boundaries, such as transportation, housing, and economic development.

Ann has served as Executive Director since 2024. Before that, she spent more than 11 years with CSPDC, including as Director of Transportation, where she managed the agency’s transportation and transit programs. She also served with the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. In his nomination, CSPDC Director of Finance Donnie Kern said Ann “has demonstrated the type of visionary, collaborative, and service-oriented leadership that strengthens not only the organization, but also the broader mission of Planning District Commissions throughout Virginia.”

A hallmark of Ann’s leadership is her hands-on approach. She works directly with elected officials, administrators, planners, and economic development professionals in our 21 member localities, from the Town of Monterey to the City of Harrisonburg, so that every community has a voice and access to regional resources. Director of Transportation Paula Melester noted that Ann’s vision “has energized our team and deepened our ability to serve our partners.”

Please join us in congratulating Ann. To learn more about the VAPDC and its work across the Commonwealth, visit vapdc.org.

Afton Express ridership increased 25% between March and August 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. During the same time period, the average price of gas in the region was roughly 30% higher than the year before.

Rising fuel costs are likely one factor behind the ridership growth. Others include expanded marketing efforts in FY26, a schedule realignment that took effect in December 2025, and organic ridership growth.

Afton Express riders see significant savings by taking the bus instead of driving. The average rider saved about $750 on gas alone from March through August of this year.

Visit aftonexpress.org to learn more about the Afton Express.

The Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission (CSPDC) has been awarded $11.8 million to help bring health care closer to the places where rural residents live and work. The CSPDC will partner with the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) to carry out the Mobile and Hybrid Care initiative, part of the Rural Health Transformation Program’s Connected Care, Closer to Home effort.

The funding will be awarded to local health care providers through a competitive application process. Projects may include mobile care units, telehealth kiosks, electronic consultations between providers, and other creative ways of delivering care in rural communities. Grants will cover the start-up costs of mobile and technology-enabled care to support primary care, behavioral health and substance use treatment, dental care, vision care, screenings, and diagnostics.

Why It Matters

For many rural Virginians, a routine checkup can mean a long drive, time off from work, or a missed day of school. Those barriers often lead people to put off preventive care until a small problem becomes a serious one. The Mobile and Hybrid Care initiative aims to change that by taking services directly into communities, improving health outcomes for rural residents with care that fits into everyday life.

A Regional Partnership

Rural health needs don’t stop at county lines, so the program is a collaboration among three regional commissions. The CSPDC will lead the effort and administer the funds. It will work alongside the New River Valley Regional Commission and the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission to identify strong projects throughout their combined service areas.

How Providers Can Apply

The CSPDC will soon advertise a Request for Applications (RFA) to identify the strongest projects to fund. Applications will be reviewed competitively, with attention to community impact, the quality of the proposed approach, and the project’s ability to reach rural residents. Health care providers, clinics, health systems, and other organizations interested in bringing care closer to rural communities are encouraged to start planning now. Watch for the RFA announcement on the CSPDC website at https://cspdc.org/.

Senior Transit Planner Devon Thompson has been appointed to an at-large seat on the board of the Community Transportation Association of Virginia (CTAV), the statewide association representing Virginia’s small public and community transit providers. Board members serve as volunteers.

Devon brought  her 13 years of transit planning experience to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Local Programs Workshop in Roanoke on September 22. She joined staff from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) on a panel about how state agencies and transit agencies can work together so that transit infrastructure is incorporated into larger transportation projects from the start.

When a road is widened or an intersection redesigned, a bus stop, shelter, or safe crossing is far easier to include during design than to add afterward. Devon does this work for BRITE every day, coordinating with local planners and the Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (SAWMPO) to deliver new bus shelters across the service area, focused on busy stops at the Augusta County Government Center and the Fishersville and Waynesboro public libraries.

During her two-year term, Devon will help plan CTAV’s statewide events, including the Roadeo, Young Professionals in Transit trainings, and the Annual Conference & Expo. Her service keeps BRITE and the Central Shenandoah region at the table where Virginia’s transit priorities take shape.

The Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission (CSPDC) worked with the Town of Grottoes and its public works staff to complete the Grottoes Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Trails Multimodal Master Plan, which identifies potential project including 17 sidewalk segments, 12 pedestrian crossing improvements, and 7 trail and greenway projects. Altogether, the projects outlined in the plan reflect a $13.8 to $15.6 million investment in multi-modal improvements to the Town of Grottoes.

The projects are prioritized and ranked within the Plan, giving the Town a roadmap of what to pursue first. Three projects are positioned to lead the way: completing the 14th Street sidewalk loop between Holly and Forest Avenues, extending the Painter Park riverwalk along the South River, and advancing a signal study at the US-340 and 3rd Street intersection. The prioritization of these projects reflects the Town’s growing need to connect people to important destinations like the grocery store and parks, and the need to provide safe crossings as traffic increases. The plan also provides recommendations on non-construction activities that will help make the town more walkable and bike-friendly such as developing a new bicycle ordinance.

Following the completion of the plan, CSPDC staff assisted the Town of Grottoes in applying for Ready, Set, Go! funding from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). The Ready, Set, Go! program provides 100% funding to develop concept drawings and cost estimates to increase project readiness for future VDOT funding cycles.

Grottoes was awarded funding through this program for the Augusta Avenue sidewalk project Over the coming months, VDOT staff and consultants will work with the Town staff to get the project ready to apply for construction funding in 2027.

The Harrisonburg-Rockingham MPO (HRMPO) and the Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro MPO (SAWMPO) each began a transportation study to plan for increasing growth along key regional corridors. Both studies will produce recommendations that localities can use to guide development review and pursue future funding.

HRMPO and Kimley-Horn began the Stone Spring Road and Ridgedale Road Transportation Master Plan with a September 29 kickoff meeting with Rockingham County, the City of Harrisonburg, and VDOT. The study will identify roadway needs for Stone Spring Road, Ridgedale Road, Greendale Road, and Ramblewood Road, evaluate an alignment for a future Peach Grove Avenue extension, and address bicycle and pedestrian connections. Once the consultant completes the study in spring 2027, Rockingham County plans to use the recommendations to guide future rezoning and proffer decisions and to update its Stone Spring Urban Development Area (UDA) Plan.

SAWMPO and Timmons Group began the Frontier Drive Corridor Study with an August 5 kickoff meeting with Augusta County, the City of Staunton, VDOT, and BRITE Transit. The corridor runs from US 11 in Augusta County to Richmond Road (US 250) in Staunton and carries about 9,300 vehicles per day. Current and proposed development could add approximately 2,000 new housing units along the corridor, which would add a significant amount of new traffic beyond current volumes. The consultant will develop improvement alternatives this winter, hold a public open house in early 2027, and complete the study in spring 2027 to support future funding applications.