Michiana residents are concerned about roadway safety, and they want better public transit and facilities for bikes, pedestrians and buggies. That’s according to input given to the Michiana Area Council of Governments at recent community events.
MACOG Director of Transportation Caitlin Stevens says themes have been similar in online survey responses. “I think the thing that mostly stands out to me in this is, kind of, the safety at intersections tends to be something that people are finding poor or very poor,” Stevens told MACOG's Transportation Technical Advisory Committee on Wednesday.
MACOG is collecting input for its update to the Michiana on the Move plan, which is meant to guide the overall vision for the area’s transportation network over the next 25 years. MACOG is also putting together its next transportation improvement plan – a shorter-term document listing specific projects between 2028 and 2031.
But it’s unclear how much federal money may be available for those projects. MACOG Executive Director James Turnwald said Congress has yet to finalize a long-term transportation funding bill.
"We aren’t taking anything very aggressively," Turnwald explained. "We’re going very conservative in our estimates in assuming no growth in, kind of, that funding stream."
He noted that projects can be added later, if funding is increased.
