Economic Competitiveness and Prosperity is one of the goals in the Vision 2040: Roanoke Valley Transportation Plan, which seeks to invest in a transportation system that “supports a robust and diversified economy [enabling] global competitiveness, productivity, and efficiency, and enhances travel and tourism.”
Likewise, the economic development goal of the Partnership for a Livable Roanoke Valley Plan is to “create jobs, increase incomes and grow businesses to improve the quality of life for all residents of the Roanoke Region”.
Additionally, goals for the 2021 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy seek to “ensure the region has adequate infrastructure in place to facilitate the growth of higher-wage industry clusters” and to “ensure connectivity with regions nationally and globally,” as well as to “improve the multimodal transportation network of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Region.”
Therefore, the Roanoke Valley Transportation Planning Organization conducted a Regional Study on Transportation Project Prioritization for Economic Development and Growth to identify how the region’s economic vitality can be supported through transportation improvements. Transportation improvements have wide ranging effects on a region’s economy, including increased productivity, enhanced supply chain efficiency, and increased access to labor markets.
The study was updated in August 2021 and addresses several interrelated goals:
- Engaging businesses and economic development stakeholders to identify transportation needs related to economic growth in the Roanoke Valley;
- Prioritizing the most important transportation needs for economic development and recognizing ongoing and possible solutions; and
- Identifying a list of 10 transportation priority projects to address transportation needs within the area that could support regional economic goals.
The 2021 study can be found here:
Regional Study on Transportation Project Prioritization for Economic Development Growth
The previous 2018 study can be found here: