City view: CATSO transportation long-range plan: A real road map to the future?

by Tim Teddy

May 2,2008

As part of the Imagine Columbia's Future visioning process, the transportation citizen topic group set goals for our community to have a major roadway plan based on increased citizen involvement and strong backing by the city and county.

In the spirit of that vision, the Columbia Area Transportation Study Organization (CATSO) Coordinating Committee will soon complete its "2030 Long-range Transportation Plan," a 20-year vision of transportation needs and projects in the 180-square-mile Columbia Metro Area. The CATSO Coordinating Committee invites public input at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 22, in the City Council Chambers, the Daniel Boone Building, at 701 E. Broadway.

Since 1968, Columbia, Boone County and the Missouri Department of Transportation have collaborated on programs designed to move people and goods within and through the community in an efficient, cost-effective manner and to minimize disruption to neighborhoods and other sensitive areas. (Former City Manager Ray Beck provided a more detailed history and purpose of CATSO in CBT's, March 24, 2007 issue.)

The 2030 plan provides short- to long-range plans for transportation investments, including those that use federal funding. Since transportation plans directly affect the form and character of communities by influencing development decisions, land use issues and transportation plans are interconnected.

For many, the major roadway plan is the highlight of the long-range plan. Roadways make up approximately 90 percent of projected transportation investments for the next 20 years. The plan identifies 70 projects and $275 million in expenditures (2007 dollars) that the City of Columbia, Boone County and MoDOT District 5 deem priorities.

What of the other 10 percent?                                                                                                                                                      The Imagine Columbia's Future vision plan contributed other transportation goals and strategies, including greater emphasis on pedestrian, bicycle and transit modes and renewed commitment to the Regional Airport, all of which are part of CATSO's long-range transportation vision.

From the recent Boone County Coordinated Transportation Study, the plan borrows recommendations for greater coordination of transportation services in the county. Columbia Transit contributes a three-phase Transit Master Plan to expand service—including paratransit service, the addition of three commuter routes, and the enhancement of campus service, vehicles and facilities.

Transportation planning also embraces the nationwide, active-living movement, which emphasizes accessible, well-connected sidewalks, bike paths and pedestrian-scale design to offer healthy and economical alternatives to motor vehicle travel. There are presently more than 50 miles of trails and bicycle routes in our jurisdiction. The $22 million GetAbout Columbia infrastructure proposes to add at least 15 new segments to an already-ambitious CATSO network of planned bicycle and pedestrian ways.

As a businessperson, you know the importance of having a plan. The CATSO study considers numerous community issues, including: economic conditions; population and employments forecasts; managing and maintaining current transportation facilities and services; land use and growth issues; planning and implementing future transportation projects; and, of course, financing it all.

You also know that for all the inventories and projections, charts and maps, plans are seldom executed precisely. The real value of the plan is the act of planning itself – taking stock, seeking counsel, sharing ideas, prioritizing goals and focusing on what it takes to accomplish them—and, perhaps most importantly, occasionally revisiting and reassessing the plan.

As stewards of our future transportation investment decisions, each of us has a stake in managing our immediate transportation needs, while planning a solid future for the community we will share in 2030. On behalf of the CATSO Coordinating Committee, I invite you to join CATSO on May 22.

If you have questions, please contact me at 874-7318, or email me at TTTeddy@

You can visit the draft plan online at  www.gocolumbiamo.com/Planning/Documents/LRTPcompletedraft0208.pdf.

CATSO Major Roadway Plan Project List
Listed within the "Draft CATSO 2030 Long-Range Transportation Plan" are more than 70 future major roadway projects in the Columbia area. The list includes the construction of new roads as well as improvements to existing roadways. A few projects, such as the $30-$59 million extension of Stadium Boulevard or the $279-$300 million Improve I-70 project, are denoted "illustrative" because they cannot be covered by projected transportation revenues and require new sources of revenue. The majority of the projects, however, are "fiscally constrained," which means projected revenues should be sufficient to deliver the projects during the 20-year term of the plan.

A sampling of some of the higher-capacity planned roadways and their associated tentative costs (2007 dollars) includes:

• Ballenger Lane: I-70 Drive SE to Route PP—$4,000,000
• Brown School Road: Providence Road to State Highway 763–$5,200,000
• Brown School Road: Creasy Springs Road to city limit—$7,500,000
• Clark Lane: Ballenger Lane/Route PP to St. Charles Road—$3,900,000
• Creasy Springs Road: Bear Creek to Obermiller Road—$9,300,000
• Gans Road:  U.S. Highway 63 to Bearfield Boulevard—$7,128,000
• Grace Lane: Richland Road southward 2,700 feet—$2,400,000
• Lake of the Woods Road: St. Charles Road to Route PP $7,200,000
• New Haven Road: Rolling Hills Road to Big Timber—$9,500,000
• Northwest Loop: Creasy Springs Road to Brown School Road—$22,109,000
• Northwest Loop Project: Creasy Springs Road to Providence Road—$23,000,000
• Prathersville Road: Tower Drive to U.S. Highway 63—$3,168,000
• Providence Road: Vandiver Drive to Blue Ridge Road—$4,100,000
• Providence Road: Smiley Lane to Brown School Road—$5,900,000
• Providence Road: terminus to Hackberry Boulevard—$1,056,000
• Richland Road: St. Charles Road to Olivet Road—$12,000,000
• Route K: Old Plank Road to Scott Boulevard—$4,900,000
• Route WW: U.S. Highway 63 to East urban limit—$1,151,400
• Scott Boulevard: Rollins Road to Brookview Terrace—$11,025,000
• Scott Boulevard: Vawter School Road to Route KK—$9,500,000
• Scott Boulevard: West Broadway to Sorrel's Overpass—$8,000,000
• St. Charles Road: Clark Lane to Route Z—$19,800,000
• Route TT: Route UU to Scott Boulevard—$5,111,040

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