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Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission 2035 Rural Long Range Transportation Plan Mount Jackson

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Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission 2035 Rural Long Range Transportation Plan Mount Jackson Shenandoah Shenandoah COUNTY PAGE PAGE Stanley Stanley New Market New New Market New Luray Luray Mount Jackson Mount Mount Jackson Mount Edinburg Edinburg COUNTY SHENANDOAH SHENANDOAH Woodstock Woodstock Front Royal Front Front Royal Front Toms Brook Toms Toms Brook Toms COUNTY WARREN WARREN www.virginiadot.org www.virginiadot.org www.lfpdc7.state.va.us important transportation initiatives in your area. your in initiatives transportation important Strasburg Strasburg this and other other and this regarding information additional find to website VDOT the visit Please Middletown Middletown Stephens City Stephens Stephens City Stephens Boyce Boyce COUNTY CLARKE Berryville Berryville COUNTY FREDERICK FREDERICK FREDERICK COUNTY Berryville CLARKE CLARKE COUNTY Boyce Stephens City Middletown Strasburg WARREN COUNTY Toms Brook Front Royal Woodstock SHENANDOAH COUNTY Edinburg NORTHERN SHENANDOAH VALLEY REGIONAL COMMISSION 2035 Rural Long Range Transportation Plan Mount Jackson Luray New Market Stanley PAGE COUNTY Shenandoah 2011 NORTHERN SHENANDOAH VALLEY REGIONAL COMMISSION 2 1 NORTHERN SHENANDOAH VALLEY REGIONAL COMMISSION VIRGINIA TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION AND PUrpose TransportatIon SYsteM PERFORMANCE & RECOMMENDATIONS OVERVIEW OF THE REGION Roadways Description and Function of the Safety Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission Operations and Maintenance Summary of Transportation Network Capacity Goals and Objectives Public Transportation Airports DEMOGRAPHIC AND LAND USE TRENDS Goods Movement Relationship of Land Use and Development to Transportation Land Use and Future Growth Population Trends Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Demographic Trends Travel Demand Management Transportation Implications PLAN ADOPTION REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM Roadways REFERENCES Public Transportation Airports Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Travel Demand Management Goods Movement Land Use NORTHERN SHENANDOAH VALLEY REGIONAL COMMISSION INTRODUCTION & PURPOSE The Transportation and Mobility Planning Division (TMPD) of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has worked with other modal agencies to develop VTrans 2035, the Commonwealth’s multi-modal long range plan and a more detailed subset report known as the 2035 Surface Transportation Plan. The highway element of the 2035 Surface Transporta- Each rural regional plan has a horizon year of 2035 and tion Plan includes proposed improvements on Virginia’s federal function- addresses the anticipated impacts of population and ally classified roadways. This Rural Long Range Transportation Plan is one employment growth upon the transportation system. piece of the 2035 Plan. VDOT, Virginia’s Planning District Commissions (PDCs), This plan will be reviewed and updated as needed. and the local governments they represent are partners in the development Each rural plan was developed as a vision plan, ad- of this new initiative to create regional transportation plans in rural and dressing all needs of the transportation system studied small urban areas that complement those in Virginia’s metropolitan areas. regardless of anticipated funding availability. It is envi- sioned that each regional plan will be used as a basis The transportation system within the rural areas for each region was to identify transportation funding priorities. Additional evaluated, and a range of transportation improvements - roadway, rail, details on topics discussed in this plan can be found in transit, air, bicycle, and pedestrian - are recommended that can best the Technical Report. satisfy existing and future needs. Some of the PDCs contain urbanized areas whose transportation needs are coordinated by a metropolitan planning organization (MPO). In the case of the Northern Shenandoah STUDY APPROACH Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC), much of the region is rural, how- • Development of regional transportation goals ever, the Winchester-Frederick Metropolitan Planning Organization (Win- and objectives, Fred MPO) conducts the transportation planning for the City of Winchester, • Public involvement, Stephens City, and the immediately adjacent urbanized areas of Frederick • Data compilation and collection, County. The Win-Fred MPO is responsible for developing a long-range trans- • Data analysis, portation plan for the MPO area: the 2035 Fiscally Constrained Long Range • Identification of transportation deficiencies and recommendations, and Transportation Plan, which is a separate component of the 2035 Surface • Environmental overview. Transportation Plan. For the purposes of this Plan, only the transportation network outside of the MPO is analyzed and addressed in this report. OVERVIEW OF THE REGION Description and Function of the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission 522 The Northern Shenandoah Valley region contains the valley around the Shenandoah River and the Allegheny Mountains west of the valley to West Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east. The NSVRC serves the 50 Counties of Clarke, Frederick, Page, Shenandoah, and Warren, the City of Winchester, and the Towns of Berryville, Boyce, Edinburg, Front Royal, 7 Luray, Middletown, Mount Jackson, New Market, Shenandoah, Stanley, Berryville FREDERICK 340 Stephens City, Strasburg, Toms Brook, and Woodstock. The region’s topog- COUNTY Boyce 55 Stephens City CLARKE raphy is varied. The majority of the area lies within Virginia’s Valley and COUNTY 50 Ridge Physiographic Province with a small portion within the Blue Ridge Middletown Strasburg Physiographic Province. Most of the cities and the towns lie within the Shenandoah Valley along the tributaries and north and south forks of 81 66 Toms Brook the Shenandoah River. The surrounding rural areas are very mountain- Front Royal 55 11 ous with narrow valleys. The Valley has been a major transportation 522 corridor and agricultural region for hundreds of years. SHENANDOAH Woodstock COUNTY 340 48 Edinburg 42 WARREN Summary of Transportation Network COUNTY I-66 and I-81 pass through the region. Primary east-west Mount Jackson corridors include US 50, US 211, VA 7, and VA 55. The main ROAD AND RAILROAD north-south corridors are US 11, US 17, US 340, US 522, and VA 42. Luray Railroads Roads Public transportation in the region is provided by Virginia Regional 211 Shenandoah Nat’l Park New Market Transit and Winchester Transit. There are four general aviation airports Win-Fred MPO in the region. Within the NSV, there are two Class I rail carriers, Norfolk Stanley Southern and CSX, and one Class III carrier, the Winchester and Western. 340 There are ten official VDOT maintained park and ride lots within the region. Shenandoah The RideSmart program promotes carpools, van pools, and commuter bus PAGE services through ride-sharing promotion, matching services, and outreach. COUNTY Passenger rail service is not currently available in the region. NORTHERN SHENANDOAH VALLEY REGIONAL COMMISSION 1 Goals and Objectives Needs for each regional plan were developed based on regional and statewide goals and objectives. Similar concepts within the goals of the PDCs were found and used to shape common regional long range plan goals (at right) to address rural transportation planning across the Commonwealth. A basic goal for all transportation programs in Virginia is the provision for the effective, safe, and efficient movement of people and goods. The plan for the NSV was developed with this primary goal in mind, along with other goals including consideration for environmental issues and local travel desires. Each PDC developed transportation goals Common Rural Long Range Plan Goals and objectives that were used to guide the development of the Region- In addition to the regional goals, al Long Range Transportation Plan for their area. Rural transportation a number of goals have been planning in the NSV is guided by a technical advisory committee. The developed to address rural trans- committee, with support from the NSVRC, established goals and objectives portation planning across the in order to address particular transportation concerns within the region: Commonwealth. These were developed using input from each of the 20 PDCs in Virginia that GOAL 1 Incorporate the established Goals and Objectives from Commis- include rural areas within their sion jurisdictions. boundaries. These goals are con- GOAL 2 Establish and maintain long term regional transportation priorities sistent with those of VTrans 2035: in recognition of the different viewpoints of local jurisdictions, to GOAL 1 Enhance the connectivity of the enable regional decision-making/consensus. existing transportation network GOAL 3 Build on the Northern Shenandoah Valley’s historical role as trans- within and between regions across portation corridor having many crossroad communities and mar- all modes for both people and freight. ketplaces by improving the regional transportation system to ser- vice both local and through traffic for Winchester City, the Towns GOAL 2 Provide a safe and secure transpor- of Berryville, Boyce, Edinburg, Front Royal, Luray, Middletown, tation system. New Market, Mt. Jackson, Shenandoah, Stanley, Stephens City, Strasburg, Toms Brook, Woodstock, villages and rural destinations in the unincorporated areas of the Counties of Clarke, Frederick, GOAL 3 Support and improve the econ- Page, Shenandoah and Warren. omic vitality of the individual regions by providing access to GOAL 4 Anticipate the growth of the industrial market and the growth of economic opportunities, such as the Inland Port through transportation improvements that man-
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