Thursday, December 7, 2023–1:13 p.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Members of the Rome-Floyd County Transportation Policy Committee held a brief called meeting Thursday where they approved the 2024 Unified Planning Work Program.
The UPWP is an annual or biennial statement of work identifying the planning priorities and activities to be carried out within a metropolitan planning area, according to Transportation and Trails Planner Julie Smith.
“Next year, we have to do Metropolitan Transportation Plan,” she said. “We have to do that every two years. So, there is money for that. Bicycle-trails funding also comes from this.”
The update of the Transportation Improvement Plan, which is essentially Georgia Department of Transportation projects in Rome and Floyd County, is also covered in the UPWP. Planners are also working on a freight plan for the region and $200,000 is included, making the total funding for 2024 $406,000.
“Federal government is 80 percent,” Smith said. The Georgia Department of Transportation is 10 percent, and then it’s also a 10 percent local match. That’s how the funding breaks down.”
At a minimum, a UPWP includes a description of the planning work and resulting products, who will perform the work, time frames for completing the work, the cost of the work, and funding sources. It is needed to obtain Federal Highway Administration grant funding for planning, transit planning, geographic information systems (GIS), and Complete Streets. Complete Streets encompasses many approaches to planning, designing, and operating roadways and rights of way with bicyclists, pedestrians, transit riders, and motorists in mind to make the transportation network safer and more efficient.
