LOUISVILLE — After collecting public comments for eight weeks, the Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency is ready to start compiling the data to update its long-range 2030 transportation plan.

KIPDA Transportation Planner David Burton provided an update at KIDPA’s Transportation Policy Committee meeting Thursday and said the first phase of collecting information in order to identify what issues are affecting the region has been completed. The next step for the area’s transportation planning agency is to take the data collected and compile it in order to identify projects that should be included in future transportation plans and which of those are the most important.

Burton explained that KIPDA will use GIS information and cluster analysis to identify areas that may need more attention, where the greatest congestion concerns exist or where and what are the greatest safety issues in the region.

He said he expects that an issues report — showing and prioritizing the needs in the region — will be available in February or March.



Expectations for the future

There are already some areas that have been pinpointed as ones that will have to be addressed in future transportation plans. Burton specifically pointed to River Ridge Commerce Center as an area where transportation across all modes of travel will need to be examined.

“We are anticipating there will be a lot of growth,” he said. “That’s going to be a big attraction. What kind of connections do we need to make so people can get there to work?” he asked. “It’s a very big opportunity for our region.”

Other transportation agencies have already taken notice and adjusted to expected growth at River Ridge. Transit Authority of River City updated its routes earlier this summer, which included, for the first time, an Indiana-only route that runs from Floyd County to the River Ridge Commerce Center. The route was added, while several other Indiana routes were cut, in anticipation of the Amazon.com distribution center opening this fall. When Amazon.com announced it was locating a distribution center in Jeffersonville, it said that by 2015 there would be more than 1,000 employees at the site.

On the heels of the Amazon.com announcement, Connextions announced last week it plans to hire 300 at its River Ridge location.

In addition, Burton cited the Federal Highway Administration study that anticipates freight doubling by 2040, which would be a boon to River Ridge. The commerce center has been trying to position itself as a center for manufacturing and as a distribution hub adjacent to the UPS Worldport, the Port of Indiana- Jeffersonville and the planned east-end bridge.

“Freight is going to play a big role in how we proceed with identifying issues,” Burton said.

Along with anticipated growth in transportation and commerce in and out of Southern Indiana, based on current growth figures, Clark County’s population is expected to grow by 28 percent and Floyd County is expected to grow by 8 percent by 2040.



How to pay for it?

Burton also raised another issue on how the region will fund transportation projects in the future. Despite the passage of the Federal Surface Transportation Act — which will help fund transportation projects through September 2014 that was signed into law earlier this month — Burton said transportation costs are rising while funding levels have remained flat.

“What we’ve been hearing from other states around the country is the priority of the funding dollar has been shifting from construction to maintenance,” he said. “We will have to do more with less.”

Burton said KIPDA’s Transportation Policy Committee will be asked to adopt a long-range plan in 2014 and it will begin to be implemented in 2015.