Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) Public Input Meetings

admin December 16, 2008 @vabike

The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) will hold five public input meetings in January 2009. (Coming up soon!) The purpose of these meetings is to receive public input about revisions to VDOT’s current Six Year Improvement Plan — the schedule for road construction and upgrades. As you might have guessed, this is mostly about deciding which projects will be cut due to budget shortfalls. You can read the press release about it at VDOT’s website.

Here’s your chance to lobby for the road projects that you think are most important. But since the CTB directs Virginia’s overall transportation policy, these meetings are a good place to call for policies more favorable to cyclists.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board oversees both the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT); as well as the Port of Virginia, and the Virginia Department of Aviation.

What You Can Do

First, identify projects in your area that are most important to your organization, your community, and you. Refer to VDOT’s Six Year Improvement Program page for the projects in your area (searchable database), and the ones slated to be cut or delayed (PDFs in the middle of the page). Prepare comments about these. If you don’t know which VDOT district you’re in, see our Find Your VDOT District page.

Next, prepare comments about policy issues important to cyclists. For example:

A mandatory statewide Complete Streets policy
Mandatory bike/ped access for bridge projects
Bike access on passenger trains, and at train stations
Bike access at airports
Railroad support of rails-with-trails projects, in return for being allowed to expand rail operations

We also encourage you to ask for the things laid out in VBF’s position paper. We update this document periodically, and we’re in the process of updating it again; hopefully in time for January’s meetings. We’ll make it available in a downloadable, printable format for you to give to the CTB members, and to pass around generally. So check back here for updates.

Your comments may be delivered verbally at the CTB meetings, or submitted in writing.

Finally, while any relevant comment is welcome at these meetings, please review the CTB’s public comment guidelines, and behave yourself! Be the best ambassador for cyclists that you can.

CTB Public Input Meeting Schedule January 2009

Try to attend the meeting for your VDOT district, but for comments about statewide policy it probably doesn’t matter which meeting you attend. Again, if you don’t know which VDOT district you’re in, see our Find Your VDOT District page. All meetings start at 6pm.

Bristol and Salem Districts

Monday, Jan. 5, 2009
New River Valley Community College
5251 College Drive
Dublin

Culpeper and Staunton Districts

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009
VDOT Culpeper District Auditorium
1601 Orange Road
Culpeper

Hampton Roads District

Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009
Hampton Roads Planning District Commission
723 Woodlake Drive, Chesapeake
Hampton Roads

Richmond, Fredricksburg, and Lynchburg Districts

Monday, Jan. 12, 2009
VDOT Central Office Auditorium
1221 E. Broad St.
Richmond

Northern Virginia District

Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009, 7 p.m.
Fairfax County Board Room
12000 Government Center Parkway
Fairfax

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