Long Range Transportation Plan

The Lee County MPO Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) is the 25-year vision for the community’s transportation needs and expectations. It considers all types of travel and identifies projects that will best serve drivers and their passengers, bicyclists, pedestrians, and people using public transportation. How and where freight movement occurs through and within the county also is part of the LRTP.

The strongest transportation plan for Lee County’s future depends on a clear understanding of how people and goods move around the county today and how these movements are expected to occur in the next 20 to 25 years. Every five years, planners and engineers have brought their expertise to the development of the long range transportation plan, and ideas and opinions from community members participating in public meetings, workshops, and surveys have been essential to the creation of a successful plan. The prior plan was completed in 2040, and we just completed the process of updating to a 2045 version. Information on both can be found below.

2045 Information

What is the 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP)?

The Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is a federally mandated and funded transportation policy-making Board made up of representatives from local government and transportation providers. The MPO guides how federal funding for transportation projects and programs is applied in Lee County, with one of its major activities being the management of the LRTP.

The Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) is a federally mandated plan that identifies a vision and addresses all transportation needs of a community over the next 20 years, with updates added every five years. The 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) is the latest five-year update and a multimodal plan that makes recommendations for road, bus, bike, sidewalk, and freight related projects with identified short-term and long-term strategies.

The 2045 LRTP includes two major components in its goal to meet the ever changing mobility needs of the county:

– Identifying what’s needed: The LRTP identifies all the transportation projects that are anticipated to be needed over the next 20 years and how they may affect the transportation system by analyzing factors including county policy, demand from future population and employment growth, changes in transportation technology and community input about what transportation improvements are desired moving forward.

– Creating a cost-affordable plan: The LRTP identifies which needs can be funded with available transportation revenues from federal, state and local sources, and will consider all modes of travel. With input from the public and the MPO member communities, the transportation needs were ranked and prioritized using technical criteria developed to be consistent with the National Planning Factors.

What’s the schedule?

The long-range planning process includes:

a comprehensive technical analysis of the current transportation system,
projections of population and employment growth to the year 2045,
the development of goals and objectives for the plan,
development of a Needs Plan, and
creation of the Cost-Affordable Plan.

The 2045 LRTP update was a multi-year process that began in 2019 and was completed and adopted on December 18, 2020, with the project’s schedule providing several opportunities for the community to get involved.

The MPO values and is committed to public participation in its planning processes. During this uncertain time, we made adjustments to the public involvement process to ensure safe opportunities for the community to get involved and comment during the LRTP.

WORKSHOPS

The MPO held two public workshops during the development of the Needs and Cost Feasible Plans. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, alternative workshop formats and times were considered. The option decided on included online virtual participation open to the public with electronic information available through the MPO website for review.

ONLINE SURVEY –

An online survey was available for public input from September 18^th through October 21^st. More than 175 individual responses to the survey were provided. A summary report of the public input and comments was compiled and presented to the MPO in conjunction with the Cost Feasible Plan.

2045 LRTP Goals

GOAL 1: Enhance the safety and security of the transportation system for both motorized and non-motorized users.
GOAL 2: A transportation system that offers meaningful transportation choices for existing and future residents, visitors and businesses.
GOAL 3: A transportation system that is financially feasible and uses the best available technology to improve the efficiency of the system.
GOAL 4: A transportation system that is sensitive to the community’s health and character, as well as its changing environment.
GOAL 5: A sustainable transportation system that supports the economic competitiveness of the region.
GOAL 6: A transportation system that manages congestion, enhances connectivity between modes and improves the resiliency and reliability of the system.
GOAL 7: A transportation system that is coordinated through local, regional and state agencies, and encourages quality growth and sustainable land development practices.
GOAL 8: A transportation system that supports the development and implementation of Autonomous, Connected and Mobility on Demand options for our residents and visitors.

What’s Required to develop an effective LRTP?

Community Input

Federal and state guidelines and requirements set the larger framework for the 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) and ensure that the plans for all metropolitan areas are consistent in process and basic content. However, it is the residents within each metropolitan area and region who ultimately decide the future of their transportation system. Therefore, engaging the public through a variety of involvement activities during the entire LRTP development process is vital to accurately capture the needs and collective vision for the area and region.

An effective LRTP will also have a solid foundation – consisting of a framework of established local, comprehensive and other regional and short-term transportation plans. It is a unifying document that considers and builds upon the projects and initiatives of all local and regional transportation implementing agencies for a cohesive plan. The LRTP ultimately considers all other plans and initiatives within and around the region of Lee County, sets priorities, and applies fiscal constraints to develop the most accurate picture of an area and region’s future transportation system.

Federal and State Requirements

The 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) was developed to be consistent with the requirements of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), which was signed into law on December 4, 2015. This legislation builds upon previous federal transportation acts, such as the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). The FAST Act is the first federal law passed in more than a decade that provides long-term funding for surface transportation planning and investment. As with previous transportation laws, the FAST Act includes a series of metropolitan planning factors that ensure that the work of the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is based on a continuous, cooperative and comprehensive process.

Metropolitan planning regulations require that in formulating the long range transportation plan, the MPO should provide for consideration of projects and strategies that consider the following thirteen (13) evaluation factors, as they relate to a minimum twenty (20) year forecast period:

Support the economic vitality of the United States, the States and the Metropolitan planning areas, especially by enabling global competitiveness, productivity and efficiency;
Increase the safety of the transportation system for motorized and non-motorized The safety element shall incorporate or summarize priorities, goals counter measures or projects contained in the Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP);
Increase the security of the transportation system for its users. The security element shall incorporate or summarize the priorities, goals or projects set forth in the transit safety and security planning review process, plans and programs;
Increase accessibility and mobility of people and freight;
Protect and enhance the environment, promote energy conservation, improve quality of life, and promote consistency between transportation improvements and State and local planned growth and economic development patterns;
Promote participation and coordination among interested public, tribal and private parties;
Enhance the integration and connectivity of the transportation systems, across and between modes, for people and freight;
Promote efficient system management and operation; and
Emphasis the preservation of the existing transportation system; and
Improve the resiliency of the transportation system and reduce or mitigate stormwater impacts of surface transportation; and
Enhance travel and tourism; and
Address the Transportation Performance Measures;
Plan for the development and implementation of Automated, Connected, Electric and Shared Use Vehicles.

In addition to addressing the federal planning factors, the 2045 LRTP goals and objectives are consistent with the FDOT’s 2015 Florida Transportation Plan (FTP) Policy Element and the goals and policies included in the local government comprehensive plans.

Long Range Transportation Plan

2045 Information

2045 Supporting Documents

2040 Supporting Documents

2040 Transportation Plan Appendices

2040 Transportation Plan Amendments

2035 Transportation Plan