The third public meeting on the Statesboro-Bulloch County Long Range Transportation Plan was held on Tuesday March 12, 202, at the Statesboro First United Methodist Church in downtown Statesboro. Community members were invited to ask questions and provide feedback about potential goals and strategies of the 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan.
James Pope, Bulloch County Director of Planning and Development, opened the meeting and introduced GMC Senior Planner Kalanos Johnson, who described some of the different stations around the meeting room and their purposes.
Last year, the process of data collection was started at the kick-off meeting in August, allowing the City and County to identify transportation deficiencies communicated by the public. The March meeting aimed to discuss goals and objectives of improvement towards these issues.
The next meeting, proposed for April, will seek to discuss and develop solutions for the deficiencies that can meet the goals, in order to create plans and recommended projects and programs.
Johnson says there are a lot of pressures with the economic growth of the ports and Hyundai plant, and we need to continue to assess the current needs and future of the long range plan.
GMC meets with the city and county on a bi-weekly basis to discuss the improvements and changes to the transportation plan, utilizing models like the Travel Demand Model, which shows the results of alternative scenarios as the community population and traffic congestion increases.
The scenarios of changes in traffic patterns under different conditions include: making no changes to current transportation systems, applying the current projected infrastructure to assess its relief of traffic issues, and applying “wishlist” future projects to determine their possible benefit.
Additionally, these meetings help the folks behind the future improvement projects get the perspective of actual residents that will be impacted by changes made to transportation systems.
Johnson says we can get a better look at the pros and cons of different proposed projects with the input of residents, who can tell them exactly how it will impact individuals.
Statesboro Planning and Housing Administrator Justin Williams added that while Georgia Southern Students often feel like they fall outside of the "resident" category, they are just as important to consider in the future of the city and county. As a Double Eagle himself, he says it was never his plan to become a permanent resident of Statesboro. Students are an integral part of the community, and their opinion and feedback is beneficial to creating plans of improvement.
Station 1 displayed the summaries of previous online surveys and open house responses. Johnson says the data is compiled from more than 1,000 surveys they received.
Station 2 showed data assessments of the existing conditions of transportation and mobility in the community.
Glenn Coyne, GMC senior planner, said that major corridors such as SR 67, 42, and 80 have been identified as top priority for improvement.
Station 5 is where more general public comments could be made about residents' thoughts on Bulloch County and Statesboro’s transportation.
Another public meeting will be held in April after the comprehensive list of proposed projects is put together with drafts of plans, with the opportunity for more public opinion to be heard.