Transportation is a priority issue in Region 6W, so UMVRDC is planning a Spring Transportation Forum for township, city, and county representatives and other interested parties.
The Spring Transportation Forum will be on
Monday, April 16, 2012
at the Appleton Civic Center at
323 West Schlieman Avenue in Appleton
from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm
with MnDOT presentations at 2:30 pm and 5:00 pm.
Come and talk with local MnDOT officials from Willmar and Detroit Lakes on a variety of topics. There will be short presentations from MnDOT and LOTS of time for one-on-one questions and answers.
- Provide feedback on MnDOT’s new transportation corridor-based process to gather input from cities and counties on their needs and future projects.
- Get information on the use and prioritization process of federal transportation dollars on roads, bridges, rail road crossings, safety improvement, public transit and more!
- Learn how to access funding like:
Landscape Partnership:The Community Roadside Landscaping Partnership Program offers technical and financial assistance to enable communities to install and maintain landscape planting on eligible state highway rights of way. The program goals include:- Roadside Beautification
- Community Improvement
- Environmental Stewardship
- Transportation Enhancements:
- Provision of facilities for pedestrians and bicycles;
- Provision of safety and educational activities;
- Acquisition of scenic easements and scenic or historic sites;
- Scenic or historic highway programs;
- Landscaping and other scenic beautification;
- Historic preservation of a transportation related structure;
- Rehabilitation and operation of historic buildings, structures, or facilities;
- Establishment of transportation museums;
- Preservation of abandoned railroad corridors;
- Control and removal of outdoor advertising;
- Archaeological planning and research; and
- Mitigation of water pollution due to highway runoff.
- Safe Routes to School: The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program, created by the Federal Surface Transportation Act, establishes a grant program providing communities with the opportunity to improve conditions for bicycling and walking to school. The goals of the program are threefold:
- to enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school;
- to make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative, thereby encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age; and
- to facilitate the planning, development, and implementation of projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution in the vicinity of schools.
- Cooperative Agreements: Where a mutual benefit and a demonstrated transportation need exist on a MN Trunk Highway, MnDOT endorses cooperative construction projects with local units of Government and may be able to cost share in the project costs.
For more information about the Spring Transportation Forum, contact Lindsey Knutson, Transportation Planner at the UMVRDC, at lindsey.knutson@umvrdc.org or 320-289-1981 ext. 7.
