BINGHAMTON, NY
Transportation Tomorrow 2030 ~ Placemaking for Prosperity is the long-range transportation plan of the Binghamton Metropolitan Transportation Study, the MPO for Greater Binghamton New York. It was adopted in September 2005. The plan was one of the first in the nation to implement new Federal Highway Administration recommendations that call for the use of visioning and scenario evaluation strategies to guide transportation plans. Guided by a Community Vision Team, the planning process included a series of public workshops and technical analyses that culminated in a preferred scenario for transportation, land use, and economic development. The result was a plan that makes both programmatic and project recommendations
"We plan best," says BMTS Executive Director Steve Gayle,"when we plan WITH the community, not FOR the community. As a long-range transportation plan, the true success of PLACEMAKlNG FOR PROSPERITY will only be measured in the next decade or more, as recommended projects and strategies are implemented. The greatest success in the short term is a commitment by the local elected officials who serve on the BMTS Policy Committee to the recommended scenario of revitalizing the urban core communities. This plan makes a clear statement that BMTS will focus its investments in the core, and will not spend Federal transportation funds on projects that facilitate suburban sprawl."
The study earned a 2006 National Award for Outstanding Technical Merit in Metropolitan Transportation Planning from the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (www.ampo.org) and an Honorable Mention from the 2006 Federal Highway Administration/Federal Transit Administration Transportation Planning Excellence Awards Program (TPEA), which is co-sponsored by the American Planning Association ( www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/tpea).