Long Range Transportation Plan

The Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) is the instrument for coordinating the metropolitan long range transportation planning for the urbanized area along the Eastern Shore of Baldwin County. The LRTP identifies transportation improvements that will be needed in the Eastern Shore area over the next 25 years. The LRTP implements the 3-C planning process:

Comprehensive (including all modes);
Cooperative (involving a broad array of stakeholders and other interested parties); and
Continuous (being updated at least every five years)

The 3-C planning process is established in Federal statute and is required for areas designated as “urbanized” (have a population of 50,000 and above). The LRTP is one of the key products of the planning process for the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization (ESMPO).

Federal regulations (see 23 CFR § 450.322) also require MPOs to develop long range transportation plans which identify the projected transportation demand of persons and goods in the metropolitan planning area over the period of the plan (a minimum of 20 years). In addition, MPOs have been required (23 CFR § 450.316) to develop transportation plans and programs that are consistent with projections of potential transportation demand. This demand is based on the interrelated levels of activity in the areas of economic, demographic, environmental protection, growth management, and land use activities in accordance with metropolitan and local development goals. Travel demand models have become the primary tools used to identify the existing and future travel demand of person and vehicle travel.

The LRTP planning process must also include citizen and public official involvement and participation as well as a financial plan that provides a strategy for funding transportation improvements over the next 20 to 25 years.