2025 Metropolitan Transportation Plan
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Wilmington Area Planning Council 2025 Update CONNECTIONS to the st 21 Century 2025 Metropolitan Transportation Plan Adopted February 23, 2000 Wilmington Area Planning Council 850 Library Avenue, Suite 100 Newark, DE 19711 Phone (302) 737-6205 Email [email protected] Fax (302) 737-9584 Web www.wilmapco.org Wilmington Area Planning Council * Council: Anne P. Canby, Secretary, Delaware Department of Transportation, Chairperson Robert J. Alt, Mayor, City of Elkton, Vice Chair Nelson K. Bolender, President, Cecil County Commissioners Jeffrey W. Bullock, Chief of Staff, Delaware Governor’s Office Thomas P. Gordon, County Executive, New Castle County James F. Grant, Mayor, Town of Odessa Marsha J. Kaiser, Director, Maryland Department of Transportation Office of Planning & Capital Programming Raymond C. Miller, Director, Delaware Transit Corporation James H. Sills, Jr., Mayor, City of Wilmington Technical Advisory Committee: Public Advisory Committee: Anna Marie Gonnella, Delaware River & Bay Authority, Chairperson Anita Puglisi, City of Newark Citizen, Chairperson Phil Wheeler, Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Barbara Washam, Upper East Side Neighborhood Association, Vice Chair Environmental Control, Vice Chair Doug Andrews, Delmarva Rail Passenger Association Eugene E. Abbott, Delaware Department of Transportation David Blankenship, Wilmington Department of Public Works David Baker, Southern New Castle County Citizen Anthony J. Di Giacomo, Cecil County Office of Planning and Jan Baty, Newark Planning Commission Zoning & Parks and Recreation Lynn Broaddus, Brandywine Hundred Citizen Bobbie Geier, Delaware Transit Corporation Harry Brown, City of Wilmington Citizen Markus R. Gradecak, Maryland Office of Planning John J. Casey, Delaware Contractors Association Herbert M. Inden, Delaware Office of State Planning Bob Dietrich, Delaware Motor Transport Association Coordination Gwinneth Kaminsky Rivera, Wilmington Department of Planning Dennis Flint, White Clay Creek Bicycle Club James P. Lisa, Delaware Economic Development Office Ben Harrington, Cecil County Citizen Albert Loyola, Newark Department of Planning William Jeanes, Jr., Upper Chesapeake Watershed Association Jeanne D. Minner, Town of Elkton Spiros Mantzavinos, New Castle County Chamber of Commerce Michael W. Nixon, Maryland Department of Transportation Thomas Meyer, Committee of 100 Roger P. Roy, Transportation Management Assoc. of Delaware Joseph Mitchell, New Castle County Citizen James E. Thompson, Maryland State Highway Administration Donald Petillo, Cannonshire Maintenance Association Shawn P. Tucker, New Castle County Department of Land Use Joshua Pollak, Delaware State Chamber of Commerce ex-officio: Norman Spector, New Castle County Citizen Larry Budney, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Joseph Thompson, Home Builders Association of Delaware John Garrity, Federal Transit Administration Peggy Tracy, New Castle County Citizen Paul J. Lang, Federal Highway Administration John Tylee, Wilmington Renaissance Susan S. Quatresols, AMTRAK Gail Van Gilder, Delaware Greenways Michael D. Sprague, Diamond State Port Corporation Frances M. West, New Castle County Citizen Harlan Williams, Cecil County Board of Realtors Miriam Willis, League of Women Voters of New Castle County Staff G. Alexander Taft, Executive Director Charles L. Baker, Deputy Director Tigist Zegeye, Senior Planner/Engineer Heather Ehrlich, Planner David Saladino, Transportation Analyst Daniel S. Blevins, Transportation Analyst Alison Burris, Public Outreach Coordinator Betty J. Reeder, Director of Administration Eleanor R. Rafalli, Administrative Assistant Virginia Q. Craig, Secretary * Committees and Staff as of February 23, 2000 The preparation of this document was financed in part with funds provided by the Federal Government, including the Federal Transit Administration, through the Joint Funding Simplification Program, and the Federal Highway Administration of the United States Department of Transportation. February 23,2000 WILMAPCO’s 2025 Metropolitan Transportation Plan i Table of Contents Page 1.0 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................1-1 1.1 WILMAPCO AND THE METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION PLAN...............................................1-1 1.2 SCHEDULE....................................................................................................................................1-3 2.0 REVIEW OF THE 2020 MTP AND NEW INFORMATION..............................................2-1 2.1 EFFECTIVENESS............................................................................................................................2-2 2.2 PROJECTIONS ...............................................................................................................................2-4 2.3 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION...............................................................................................................2-6 2.4 CONTINUING CHALLENGES .........................................................................................................2-7 3.0 PLAN DEVELOPMENT & ASSESMENT...........................................................................3-1 3.1 PLAN DEVELOMENT.....................................................................................................................3-1 3.2 2025 MTP ASSESSMENT .............................................................................................................3-8 4.0 METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION PLAN................................................................4-1 4.1 REGIONAL GOALS.......................................................................................................................4-1 4.2 STRATEGIES TO LINK TRANSPORTATION AND LAND USE ..........................................................4-2 4.3 STRATEGIES TO PROTECT OUR NATURAL & HISTORIC RESOURCES.........................................4-11 4.4 STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE OUR MOBILITY ................................................................................4-16 4.5 STRATEGIES TO MANAGE OUR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM......................................................4-23 4.6 STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE COMMERCE......................................................................................4-31 4.7 PLANNED INVESTMENTS ...........................................................................................................4-37 SUPPLEMENT - ANNUAL EFFECTIVENESS REVIEW.......................................................S-1 APPENDICES A. TRANSPORTATION PLANNING GLOSSARY B. DATA SUMMARY C. 2020 MTP STATUS OF ACTIONS D. RECORD OF PUBLIC COMMENTS E. RECORD OF PUBLIC OUTREACH F. PUBLIC COMMENT FORM G. SCENARIO ASSESSMENT H. DEMOGRAPHIC DATA I. AIR QUALITY CONFORMITY DETERMINATION J. FINANCIAL REASONABLENESS February 23,2000 WILMAPCO’s 2025 Metropolitan Transportation Plan ii Chapter 1 1.1 WILMAPCO and the Metropolitan Transportation Plan 1.0 Introduction 1.1 WILMAPCO and the Metropolitan Transportation Plan The Wilmington Area Planning Council (WILMAPCO) is the regional transportation planning agency for the Cecil County and New Castle County area, known as the Wilmington Metropolitan Region. As the federally designated metropolitan planning organization (MPO), WILMAPCO is charged with planning and coordinating the many transportation investments proposed for this region. Every three years, the MPO must update a long-range transportation plan with at least a 20 year planning horizon. This long-range plan must be financially reasonable and conform to air-quality standards. Significantly, no transportation projects in this region may be funded with federal money unless the projects are found in an approved long-range transportation plan. Additional discussion about an MPO’s planning responsibilities can be found in Section 3.1.1. The purpose of a long-range transportation plan is to first examine the forecasted trends for the region such as population, employment, housing, and trip making. We then identify the transportation challenges that these trends predict, and propose transportation investments that will mitigate these challenges. Its purpose is to steer our region into the transportation future that will provide the quality of life our citizens desire. The long-range transportation plan provides not only a framework for future decision making, in that all future proposed transportation projects must support the goals of the Plan, but it also lists all of the anticipated short and long term transportation projects. In this respect, the long-range transportation plan is both a policy document and an action document. The goals of the long-range plan will be accomplished through the efforts of the member Departments of Transportation, Transit Authorities, States, Counties and municipalities. In 1996 we adopted a long-range transportation plan called the 2020 Metropolitan Transportation Plan, Connections to the 21st Century. It was the first plan to be completed for this region after the passage of the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) and it marked a sharp departure from all previous plans. This plan was revolutionary in that it encouraged transportation choices to improve quality of life. However, we needed to update it for two reasons. First, federal law requires an update every three years. Second, sound transportation and regional planning for the future demands that plans have updated information, be relevant, and be useful. From the