Strategy Description:

These modifications may include roadway design standards, setback requirements, right-of-way widths, landscaping, signage, etc.

The goal of the strategy is to have local and state agencies use an open, public involvement process with creative thinking for highway design projects so that design standards can be carefully modified to be more sensitive to the surrounding environment especially in historic, scenic, and small town settings. This process will not only educate citizen participants and local/state officials, but it will also establish a context and logic for modifying highway design standards for critical roadway links. The strategy builds from the framework established through the functional classification system and is part of the long-range planning efforts. This "global" planning would clearly depict the role such design modifications would have on a road linking more than one municipality and aid in consensus development.

Key Components:

• Consider context sensitive design modifications to key roadway improvement projects located on "sensitive" corridors identified in the long-range county-wide planning process.

• Long-term planning would both educate and provide a basis for design modifications; i.e. context sensitive roadway design opportunities.

• Public participation would ensure an open discussion of creative options available to highway designers.

• The role each municipality plays in making such design modifications effective will be more clearly discussed and documented. Otherwise, one municipality may introduce design modifications only to have the adjacent municipality totally disregard such modifications.

• Once sensitive areas are identified using a long-range planning process, areas can be prioritized and incorporated into an adopted comprehensive plan which is coordinated among municipalities and updated.

• This "global" process avoids the politics of some sensitive areas being protected by certain interested groups and other sensitive areas being completely ignored.

• Context sensitive design could incorporate changes to the AASHTO "green book" design criteria or introduce new traffic calming ideas such as roundabouts.

• Once specific sensitive road links and projects are identified, then pros and cons of short and long-term actions can be developed.

• The coordinated county-wide comprehensive planning process ensures a "global" assessment of the situation as it relates to highway design modification opportunities as compared to dealing with one highway project at a time which will not really achieve long-range regional or county-wide objectives.

• Such a comprehensive review of the "global" situation also allows sub-area decisions to be considered regarding future highway projects which may eliminate or enhance opportunities to protect the environment, historic, scenic and small town areas using highway design modification techniques

A regional approach, if not county-wide long-range planning within the comprehensive planning process, would allow all municipal and public participants to carefully weigh highway design and traffic calming opportunities. A municipality-by-municipality approach to this problem will in no way protect these sensitive elements to the extent it could be achieved through a cooperative regional or county-wide effort.

Implementation:

Action steps for implementation.

• Provide a regional workshop for identifying highway design modification projects either now or in the future in the context of a coordinated 50-year comprehensive planning process. Use 2025 year traffic projections provided by the county to establish at this workshop 2025 daily traffic impact on key road links based on one set of land use projections. Conceptualize change to 2050.
• Select and evaluate a representative list of context sensitive design projects so as to prioritize actions over time.
• Establish a process for monitoring highway design project activity over time to ensure that opportunities are not overlooked and the latest design modifications/traffic calming techniques are incorporated.
• As comprehensive plans are updated by municipalities, monitor to ensure route continuity of actions for sensitive highway corridors.

• Number of sensitive roads identified
• Establishment of a monitoring process
• Establishment of design modification guidelines
• Number of miles of highway with context sensitive design modifications

Funding as part of the county comprehensive plan or the long-range transportation plan.