Braiding the Way for Outdoor Recreation in the Rockbridge Area is in the process of developing a Master Outdoor Recreation and Trail Plan for the Rockbridge, Buena Vista, Lexington area. The Steering Committee has chosen a design logo for the project. The logo, in the shape of Rockbridge County, uses a colorful braided pattern to represent the greenways, blueways, bikeways and walkways of the area. The logo will be used to market the area as an outdoor recreation destination.
Liza Vick (CSPDC), Dave Hirschman (Hirschman Water & Environment, LLC), and Devin Floyd (Center for Urban Habitats, LLC) recently teamed up to complete an assessment to identify environmentally sensitive areas on the James Madison University campus as part of the biodiversity component of JMU’s Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) program. Field work was completed in three specific areas: Edith J. Carrier Arboretum, JMU Farm, and the riparian area near the golf course. The STARS program is a way for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance.
In March, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization updated and adopted its Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). The 2040 LRTP outlines the goals, objectives, policies and improvements that are needed to maintain a safe and efficient multimodal transportation system for the movement of people and goods throughout the area. The LRTP is updated every five years.
A travel demand model was updated with variables for the 2015 base year and then used as a guide to estimate when and where people will travel and to identify potential deficiencies in the transportation network. Staff will use the travel demand model and other available data to continually evaluate and track the performance of transportation investments for the region.
The CSPDC is hosting a water and sewer infrastructure and financing workshop on May 4th from 9:00am to 12:15pm at the Virginia Regional Transit Facility in Fishersville, VA. All administrators, public works staff, planners, and engineers from localities within the region are invited to attend. The goal of the workshop is to equip participants with the knowledge and resources to make informed decisions about financing their water and sewer projects. Subject matter experts from USDA Rural Development, VA Department of Health, VA Department of Environmental Quality, VA Department of Housing and Community Development, and Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project will present several different options to the localities. The workshop is being sponsored by the following CSPDC on-call consultants: A. Morton Thomas and Associates, Inc. (AMT), Draper Aden Associates, Hurt & Proffitt, Timmons Group, and Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB). A link to register can be found here.
The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization held a meeting on March 15th with the Town of Bridgewater, Virginia Department of Transportation consultant Kimley Horn to kick off a Main Street/VA 42 Small Area Study. The study is funded through the MPO’s Small Area and Corridor Study Program, and will focus on access management solutions, street connectivity/realignment, intersection reconfiguration, public policies guiding (re)development, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and streetscaping along the Main Street/VA 42 corridor in Bridgewater. The Small Area and Corridor Study Program advances projects from the concept to application phase, providing the locality or localities with a project ready for SMART SCALE, or other transportation funding programs.
The Shenandoah Valley GO Virginia Regional Council has been named and held its first meeting on April 3rd. The 28-member Council represents large and small business, higher ed and k-12 education, elected officials, local government and economic workforce development entities. The majority of the Council is private sector as required by the state. At its organizational meeting, Mr. George Pace, Shenandoah Valley Angel Investors, was elected Chairman and Mr. Chris Kyle, Shentel, was elected Vice-chair. Mr. Frank Friedman, Chairman of the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission will serve on the Council representing local government in the CSPDC region. To see a full list of the Regional Council, please click here.
The Regional Council will be responsible for completing an economic growth and diversification plan, overseeing the GO Virginia program in the region, soliciting applications for projects within the region and recommending projects to the Go Virginia State Board for funding.
The 27th Annual Virginia GIS Conference was held at Virginia Tech’s Skelton Conference Center in Blacksburg, VA. The April event provided CSPDC GIS staff the opportunity to attend workshops, training sessions, and presentations on a variety of GIS topics including ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, LiDar, and Utility Mapping.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board invites the public to share comments on transportation projects that have been scored and recommended for funding. A public meeting will be held April 27, at 5:30 p.m. at the Blue Ridge Community College’s Plecker Center in Weyers Cave. Those unable to attend the meeting may view the displays and provide comments online.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board will take these comments into consideration as it develops the Six-Year Improvement Program (FY 2018-2023). The program allocates public funds to highway, road, bridge, rail, bicycle, pedestrian and public transportation projects. Interested individuals can review the list of scored projects for public comment at www.SmartScale.org.
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A joint letter of intent to form a GO Virginia Regional Council in the Shenandoah Valley was submitted to the state in February. The letter was written on behalf of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission, Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission, and Shenandoah Valley Workforce Development Board. Referred to as GO Virginia Region 8, the proposed council represents a very large and diverse geographic area covering ten counties and six cities in the Shenandoah Valley, with a population of over 525,000. The Council will fully reflect a mix of large and small business, higher ed and K12 education, elected officials, local government, and economic and workforce development entities. The Regional Council will be responsible for completing an economic growth and diversification plan and vetting projects that help generate private sector growth and job opportunities in the Valley. GO Virginia is a state financed economic development initiative that provides a new framework for strengthening the economy in each of the nine regions of the Commonwealth through enhanced collaboration by business, education and local government. The Regional Council was certified by the State GO Virginia board at its meeting on March 14th.
Bike the Valley, a regional marketing program that promotes the Shenandoah Valley as a premier bicycling destination in the eastern United States, was recently awarded a Virginia Tourism Corporation Marketing Leverage Grant totaling $12,500. The funding will be used for rebranding the nearly decade old program and switching the current website to a mobile ready platform. Incorporating data and comments gathered from a recent bike survey and economic impact study of the region’s bicycle tourism, the marketing upgrades will be designed to better appeal to the needs of visiting cyclists and to grow bicycle and outdoor recreation tourism throughout the region.