Strategy Description:

The focus of this strategy is to develop a process for assessing and revising a county-wide functional roadway classification system to better understand how long-term land use decisions will impact the roadway system in the Mid-Bald Eagle Watershed Region and beyond. Such information will be useful in updating the Long-Range Transportation Plan.

Key Components:

• Communicate clearly the importance of the functional classification system in building a sustainable future. The primary audience would be the region’s decision makers. The message should begin with these talking points:

• The classification of county-wide highways into different administrative, operational, and functional groups is necessary for communication among engineers, administrators, and the general public.

• Functional classification, the grouping of highways by the character of service they provide, was developed for transportation planning purposes.

• Regional and county-wide comprehensive transportation planning, which is an integral part of total economic and social development, uses functional classification as an important planning tool.

• Complicating the process is the fact that over a 20- to 40-year period certain existing roadways will be upgraded, relocated, and reclassified by function and new roadways will be added (i.e., I-99).

• For serious long-term transportation planning in Centre County within the next 20 years and thereafter, it is critical that the county-wide roadway system be functionally classified and updated frequently.

• The functional roadway classification and the long-term planning process will provide a framework for other strategic efforts, such as: interchange area planning and the corridor access management program, context sensitive roadway design in highway projects, and traffic calming measures. These strategies will help sustain the system’s function.

• For the long-term, other modes of transportation will be added into the transportation planning effort. Roadways alone may not solve all transportation system deficiencies.

• Develop a new functional classification system for the region as part of the Long-Range Transportation Planning Process and integrated with the current Centre County Comprehensive Plan effort, which includes other modes of transportation’s use of highways or special corridors.

• Begin with a fundamental decision - whether the future should continue to focus on the movement of cars and/or trucks or if new modes or other alternatives should be given attention. The financial reality may be that these modes may lose money and these realities must be a part of the consideration; however, in some instances the public welfare or quality of life may be a higher priority consideration than costs. Many considerations must be examined in the comparison of alternatives, including changes that go beyond transportation but include changes to land use.

• Determine the key players: The key players in developing the system include PENNDOT (which fits roadways into a state classification system) the county, the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and the local governments. Generally, the State and MPO classifications may be similar – the local classifications may vary.

• Support the expansion of the MPO from the Centre Region Council of Governments’ organization to a county-wide organization. This would provide more opportunities for the County Planning Office and the MPO to pursue the effort and coordinate transportation and land use planning as part of long-range transportation and land use planning.

• Use the conceptual classifications developed through the Vision 2020 planning process as a starting point for discussion. These tools are provided in the Strategy 3: Interchange Area Planning Process Appendix. The Map Book at the end of the plan includes a functional classification of the Vision 2020 study area in the Probable Future report. This roadway system was "futurized" for discussion with government officials. These two illustrations of a future situation illustrate how a functional classification system regionwide can change over time and interfaces with other modes of transportation. It also shows how future roadways need to be integrated to achieve a cohesive regionwide, if not county-wide, roadway system.

• Endorse the 50-year long-range planning horizon for coordinated transportation and land use planning.

• Recognize that the 50-year horizon is out of scope with the current FHWA and PENNDOT process. The PENNDOT 12-year program process and even elements of the long-range planning process are geared towards moving projects forward ; they are not geared to the level of effort included in a 50-year study. It may be unreasonable to think that these are one in the same.

• Approach the 50-year horizon as an outgrowth of the current 20-year long- range transportation planning process.

• Collect the information needed for developing the classification system:

• 2025 year traffic projections provided by the county to establish 2025 daily traffic impact on key road links based on one set of land use projections and a future road system with improvements

• Conceptualized roadway changes due to 2025 projections and also post 2025 to 2050

• GIS base maps to depict county-wide roadway and other transportation elements in the region

• All adopted and draft municipal comprehensive plans

• Centre County comprehensive plan (in process of completion)

• Available 2025 land use and transportation data and analyses for Centre Region. The result of the 2025 land use / transportation analysis is a primary consideration in the development of a long-range plan for Centre County.

• Planned four-year CIP projects / anticipated roadway improvements: both public and private

• Develop and officially adopt a functional highway system such as the following:

• Limited access (freeway-Interstate)
• Major arterial
• Minor arterial
• Major collector
• Minor collector

• Explore the resolution of the differences between municipal classifications and county classifications. Ideas to be considered: provide more education on the importance of the relationship between the two, begin thinking in a larger sense to understand the relationship beyond the municipal boundaries, and develop a common set of relationships or standards.

• Establish a five- or six-year review period to tune up the system and to decide when a project needs to be moved forward.

The consolidated county-wide 20-year and 50-year functional roadway (transportation) classification system needs to be integrated with local planning and implementation.

Indicators:

• Number of municipalities with a local functional roadway classification system based on 2025 projections and municipal and county level cooperation
• Number of municipalities with a revised local functional transportation system based on a region-wide 50-year planning process
• Number of municipalities that have addressed roadway improvements in designated growth areas
• Level of service at key intersections
• Accident data on key corridors and at key intersections

Project funding through the MPO, the county, and the local level as part of a comprehensive planning process.