Every 4 years, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration “review” each MPO in the Country to ensure that they are following established (and proper) planning processes. Although the review centers on the MPO as a unit of geography, it is really an assessment of the region, and all the players, and how they do transportation planning.
As part of that two day review process, there will be a meeting on the evening of Thursday, August 6th, where the federal review team would like to hear from constituent groups, interested parties, etc on how the planning process works for them. This would be a great opportunity for any and all interested parties to provide meaningful input into the transportation planning process – the nuts and bolts, not just the end results.
The meeting is scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. on August 6, 2009 on the 31st Floor of the Regional Enterprise Tower.
Show up and tell the feds that SPC should spend more time, energy and money on multi-modal planning!!!
man o man, I sent an email to erok last week about this. attached were the press release and a comment card, both in .pdf format.
p.s. if you go, then have fun and good luck.
p.p.s. and the Regional Enterprise Tower is at 425 Sixth Ave downtown.
Is there a written comment period? If so, how long do we have, who does it go to, and are there guidelines on how to frame the questions or answers?
Yes there is. I'll post all the email addresses that you can write to to give commentary. I'll look up the due date as well.
Next up:
The State Transportation Committee hearings, they are scheduled for August 21, 2009 here in Pittsburgh. STC Commissioners will hear public testimony relative to the update of the Pennsylvania Twelve Year Transportation Program on that date. SPC staff is available to help organize a meeting in your county to assist with your testimony for the hearings, at the request of your Panel chairpersons. Panel members are welcome to give testimony, even if your county Panel chooses not to participate in the hearings. Attached to this e-mail, is a summary of the guidelines for presenting testimony to the STC. Testimony will be accepted starting August 5th, 2009 thru September 30th 2009.
A link to the State’s website with complete STC guidelines can be found here: ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/Bureaus/Cpdm/STC/PublicHear/STCHearingguidelines.pdf
The actual meeting date and time for our region, are as follows:
Friday, August 21, 2009 (8am -5pm)
Regional Enterprise Tower
425 Sixth Ave, 31st floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
If you have questions or require further information, please contact me using the information below.
Regards,
Matt
Matthew S. Pavlosky
Transportation Planner, Public Involvement/Outreach
Southwestern PA Commission
425 Sixth Ave. Suite 2500
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
(412) 391-5590 x361 (phone)
(412) 391-9160 (fax)
mpavlosky@spcregion.org
www.spcregion.org
***Contact Matt to get the guidelines for testimony.
