Attend the Livable Roanoke Valley Summit on June 25th

vision-valley

Please join us for a half day Summit to unveil the final Livable Roanoke Valley Plan.  The Summit will feature a keynote address by Bill Shelton, the Director of the VA Dept. of Housing & Community Development and community leaders that have agreed to champion initiatives in the areas economic development, workforce, health, and natural assets. By attending to the event you will receive a bound copy of the plan, as well as a networking breakfast and lunch.  You can view the completed plan and supporting information at www.livableroanoke.org.

Register Here

 

PROGRAM

7:30AM   Networking Breakfast

8:30AM   Welcome and Opening Remarks
Wayne Strickland, Executive Director of the Regional Commission

8:45AM   Keynote Address
Bill Shelton, Director of the Virginia Dept. of Housing & Community Development

9:15AM   Livable Roanoke Valley Plan – Strategies and Champions
Lisa Garst, Chair of The Partnership for Livable Roanoke Valley

10:00AM   Break

10:15AM   Featured Economic and Workforces Development Initiatives
High Speed Broadband – Kevin Boggess
Regional STEM-H Programs – Jonathan Whitt
Xperience – Thomas Becher
Industry Sector Partnerships – Zenith Hamilton

11:15AM   Featured Health and Natural Asset Initiatives
Stormwater Banking Program – Mike McEvoy
Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program – Brent Cochran
Alternative Transportation – Jeremy Holmes
Community Dental Clinic – Eileen Lepro

12:30PM   Networking Lunch
Meet the Champions 

Annual Open House – May 27, 2014 – 3:00 to 6:00 pm

Please come to our Annual Open House which will feature in progress transportation planning work including a draft of the next long-range transportation plan’s vision statement and goals.

Please not that none of the links in the image below are click-able.

2014OpenHouseGraphic

MPO Welcomes Public Comments Concerning the FY2015-2018 Transportation Improvement Program

The Roanoke Valley Area MetropolitanTIP15-18 Cover Page Planning Organization is giving the public an opportunity to request, review, read, and comment on the draft Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for Fiscal Years 2015-2018 for the Roanoke Valley Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, available at www.rvarc.org.  Click the Draft FY2015-2018 TIP image to the right to review the draft document.  

For convenience, you may provide comments on the Draft TIP by clicking here and submitting your comments to us online.  

For more information and to view the currently adopted FY12-15 document, visit the TIP page on the MPO website.

The public comment period will be in effect for no fewer than 45 days from the publication of this notice.  An official “Public Hearing” will be held after the public comment period has elapsed.  This Public Hearing will be duly advertised according to applicable laws.  For special accommodations or further information, contact Bryan Hill, Phone:  540-343-4417, Fax:  540-343-4416 or E-mail: bhill@rvarc.org.  Hearing impaired persons can call 711 for access.   Thank you for your comments and participation in the Transportation Improvement Program update process!

Can we re-think the sidewalk and the bike lane?

Bicycle Lanes retrofitted into grocery store parking lot-small Bike and Pedestrian Lanes Mulhouse #3

I have placed these two images from Europe in several social media channels, in order to stoke discussion about whether similar approaches could work here.  For the sake of discussion let’s defer on whether the differences between European and American engineering design, safety standards and/or laws-ordinances would allow these or similar designs in the Roanoke Valley.  Instead, let’s assume that developers could re-purpose a portion of a mall or grocery store parking lot to contain pedestrian paths and/or bike lanes; or that local governments could re-configure the concept of a sidewalk as a multi-user path.

Do you think it would work here?  Would developers be interested in participating?  Would a different approach to the concept of a sidewalk help increase our “amenities” from economic development and transportation perspectives?  Do you have new and different ideas on non-motorized transportation?  Do you have your own pictures of non-motorized transportation infrastructure that you can share via a link in the comment box?

We would like your feedback and discussion.  Please use the comment boxes below to add your ideas. 

Join Us and Others in Celebrating Bike Month

CCC_facebook-eventThe Regional Commission’s alternative transportation program, RIDE Solutions is celebrating Bike Month 2014!  All May, they will be hosting events for every interest and every skill level, from greenway rides to film screenings, concerts to safety clinics, making it easy for you to get out and ride this spring. The individual rewards are bigger than ever this year, with weekly drawings and prizes given to Clean Commuters throughout SW VA.

Every May, The Regional Commission’s staff forms a team and takes the Clean Commute Challenge, where we pledge to get to work using transit, carpools, bikes, our feet, and even teleworking to reduce our impacts on the air we breath and the roads we travel. Forming a team is easy and we encourage you to join us and dozens of other local organizations, companies, and local governments in promoting a healthy region to work, live, and play.