Public Meeting

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Greenville-Pickens Long-Range Transportation Plan
Public Meeting August 21, 2007
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Vision
Greenville area citizens envision a community
that encourages economic vitality through a
well-balanced, safe, efficient, and
environmentally compatible transportation system
providing convenient choices for accessing
destinations throughout the Region.
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Todays Agenda

• Share What We Heard
• Goals and Guiding Principles
• Key Elements
• Next Steps
• Action Plan
• Funding
• Schedule

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What We Heard
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What we heard

• 85 fair to good transportation system
• Bicycle paths and transit majority Poor
  rating
• 47 support Commuter Rail service
• Majority respondents support higher gas tax or
  developer fees
• 28 of every dollar should be spent on bike,
  pedestrian and streetscape
• Re-connect community
• Woodruff highest congested roadway

Before
After
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Guiding Principles

• Improve safety for ALL
• Improve Collector Street Connectivity
• Design more Complete Streets
• Develop large and small type projects
• Do more with less access management

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Opportunity is missed by most people because it
is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
-- Thomas A. Edison
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Highways and Streets

• Avoid more Woodruff Roads
• Network of collector streets
• Connectivity among developments
• Protect road corridors before development occurs
• Funding is insufficient
• Land use and transportation plans must be
  coordinated

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With no new road improvements
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Complete Streets
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Transit Improvements

• Current service is rated poor
• Desired improvements
• Commuter/express service
• More frequent service
• Hubs at employment centers
• Greenville urbanized area has about 1/3 as much
  service as similar areas
• Plan calls for 50 buses and Bus Rapid Transit
  service by 2030

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Regional Transit Options

• 3 regional systems evaluated
• Regional Rail
• Bus Rapid Transit
• Regional Bus

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Bicycles and Pedestrians

• Current system is rated poor
• Desired improvements
• Connected networks of greenway trails, sidewalks
  and bicycle lanes
• Accommodate bicycles and pedestrians on all new
  streets
• Plans identify continuous networks, and set
  priorities based on land uses
• Proposed road projects include sidewalks and bike
  lanes based on the regional network plans
• Retrofit bike lanes through restriping

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Funding vs. Needs

• 230 million available for street and highway
  improvements through 2030
• Estimated needs are 600 million
• Additional 300 million /- needed for Interstate
  widening
• Proposed transit improvements would require
  roughly 12 million per year in state and local
  operating funds

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Financial Options

• No additional funding, accept more congestion
• State and Federal gas taxes or general fund
  revenue
• Local alternative financing
• Sales tax
• Vehicle registration fees
• Impact fees
• General fund revenues

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Alternative Financing

• Sales Tax Example
• Sales tax generates 55 million per penny per
  year in Greenville County, about 12 million in
  Pickens
• Greenville ¼ cent sales tax generates 13.75
  million per year
• 1.03 million for sidewalks and paths (7.5)
• 1.03 million for bike lanes on streets (7.5)
• 3.44 million for transit (25)
• 8.25 million per year for road improvements
  (60)
• Would fund all of the high- and medium-ranked
  unfunded needs highway projects and highest
  priority transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects

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Where do we go from here?

• Implementation Action Plan
• Funding short- / long-term
• Schedule
• Final Draft Document September

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Contact Information
Greenville-Pickens Urban Area MPO JoGardner_at_greenv
illecounty.org [phone]
Kimley-Horn and Associates michael.rutkowski_at_kimle
y-horn.com
Website www.greenvilleplanning.com