A lack of foresight in the overall transportation planning process and the focus on short term transportation projects without considering long term needs were the main concerns that came out of two public forums last week.
Members of the Jonesboro Metropolitan Technical Advisory Committee heard those concerns about the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Improvement Plan that would run through 2020.
Short term projects would be constructed gradually over those four years. One of the main concerns was that the projects are not being planned with a “big picture” thought process. This concern was especially noted in the city of Jonesboro as it relates to land use and master street plans. They were afraid that building projects without thinking about future long term needs would lead to more transportation projects and traffic backlogs in the future. While these concerns were stated about transportation problems throughout Craighead County, they were especially concerned with Jonesboro, since a lot of traffic flows from and through Jonesboro.
There were concerns about the need for land use and street plans to go together in Jonesboro. In terms of short term projects, members of the public said they were concerned there was not an overall planning process of all of the projects and how they will flow together. They said as it is now, it is a project by project basis, instead of everything being looked at together. Those members of the public also felt like their concerns about transportation needs were not being heard.
The total amount of the projects over the four year people would be just over $116 million dollars. Long term projects for the MPO through 2040 would be over $421 million dollars. The Jonesboro Metropolitan Technical Advisory Committee approved the TIP plan and said that as the overall plan is looked at, the public’s comments would be analyzed and would be addressed. The Jonesboro MPO’s Policy Committee will meet April 19th to consider the plan for approval.
