The Danville Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which is staffed by the West Piedmont Planning District Commission (WPPDC), recently began the process of updating its Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) to update and include transportation priorities to the year 2050. The LRTP, in general, is a document containing transportation priorities within the MPO’s jurisdiction, or its study area. The MPO has hired one of its on-call consultants, EPR, PC, to perform the majority of the tasks related to the plan updates. The MPO was fortunate to be able to hire this firm, as EPR updated the current version of the plan five years ago, and staff have always been happy with its products and processes.
For context, an MPO is a jurisdictional entity containing an urbanized area that, at the time of development, comprised a population of at least 50,000. The Danville MPO consists of the City of Danville as well as the adjacent “urbanized” portion of Pittsylvania County. The genesis of metropolitan (MPO) planning was the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962, which set the stage for the “3C” (Continuing, Cooperative, and Comprehensive) planning process requiring public engagement and transparency. Developing and updating a long-range transportation plan every five years is a federal requirement and a prerequisite for an MPO to receive federal funding to administer the metropolitan planning process.
The MPO Long-Range Transportation Plan generally consists of two elements – the Constrained Plan and the Vision Plan. Incorporated in the Constrained Plan are transportation projects that are anticipated to be funded, given expected funding streams over the life of the plan. The Vision Plan, however, could be considered more of a “wish list” of transportation projects that could be funded in the event additional funding becomes available. The current (2045) MPO Long-Range Plan can be viewed here.
Some significant activities undertaken by both MPO and EPR staff have included a kick-off meeting that comprised the MPO Technical Committee as well as important stakeholders, followed by public input received at the Danville Community Market on a Saturday morning. A project website, https://www.godanville2050.com/, has been developed to provide additional information about the LRTP update, as well as to solicit input and ideas for the plan. An electronic survey is also in the process of being developed to help incorporate public input into the plan. Furthermore, a public open house will take place in early December to solicit additional public input into this plan as well. You may keep up to date on these and other developments by frequently visiting the project website or the Danville MPO webpage. The LRTP update is anticipated to be complete in late 2026.