PRESS RELEASE
FEB
'19
February 20, 2019

For Immediate Release: February 20, 2019
 
Contact:
Joe Turner
Communications and Web Manager
HRPDC/HRTPO
Tel: (757) 420-8300
Fax: (757) 523-4881
CHESAPEAKE – Members of the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) and Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) will gather Thursday, February 21, 2019, to discuss topics to keep the citizens of Hampton Roads moving and the Region's economy growing, as well as the expansion of Medicaid in Virginia. The HRTPO will receive briefings on the 2045 Long-Range Transportation Plan and the Regional Connectors Study. The HRPDC will receive an update on a detailed site assessment study based upon the Regional Economic Development Site List and an update on Medicaid expansion in Virginia .

The meetings will be held at the Regional Board Room at 723 Woodlake Drive in Chesapeake, Virginia. The HRTPO meeting starts at 10:30am and the HRPDC meeting begins at 12:30pm .

Media will have an opportunity to gain comments or secure follow up interviews with the HRTPO and HRPDC boards and presenters.
The HRTPO will discuss the following topics during its February 2019 meeting:

  • 2045 Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) Status Update - As the region’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), one of the core functions of the HRTPO is to develop, approve, and maintain a fiscally-constrained Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). With a planning horizon of at least 20 years, the LRTP serves as the blueprint for enhancing the region’s multimodal transportation system. HRTPO staff is working on the 2045 LRTP and will provide an update on tasks completed to date along with tasks currently underway, and modifications being considered to the HRTPO Prioritization Tool.

  • Regional Connectors Study (RCS) Status Update - On October 20, 2016, the HRTPO unanimously approved Alternative A–modified from the Hampton Roads Crossing Study (HRCS) Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) as the region’s Preferred Alternative. Alternative A-modified consists of widening I-64 from Settlers Landing Road in Hampton to I-564 in Norfolk, including expansion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT), plus improving the Bowers Hill Interchange. In conjunction with the selection of Alternative A-modified, the HRTPO and HRTAC agreed that a study should be conducted to evaluate the feasibility of HRCS SEIS components that were not included in the Preferred Alternative. The HRTAC has allocated $3 million from the Hampton Roads Transportation Fund (HRTF), with up to an additional $4 million contingency, for this study – now titled the Regional Connectors Study (RCS). Consultant Michael Baker International will provide a briefing on Phase 1 of the study, as well as the work to be accomplished during Phase 2.

  • Expanding the Role of the HRTPO's Community Transportation Advisory Committee – The HRTPO established its Community Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC) in 2010 to encourage grassroots, community level involvement in the transportation planning process. The Executive Director has met with the CTAC over the past few months to discuss the possibility of broadening the scope of the CTAC to provide similar involvement on the activities of the HRPDC, and the CTAC has expressed a willingness and desire to do so. The Executive Director will brief the Board on the advantages of this change as well as the path forward.
The HRPDC will discuss the following topics during its February 2019 meeting:

  • Medicaid Expansion in Virginia – Four-hundred thousand Virginia adults are eligible for the first time for affordable, comprehensive health care coverage as of January 1, 2019. State agencies, local departments, and non-governmental partners have successfully enrolled more than 235,000 Virginians already, including tens of thousands in the Hampton Roads region. Virginia Department of Social Services staff will provide an update on this newly expanded health care program for Virginia's adults and what it means for the Hampton Roads community.

  • Regional Economic Development Site Inventory Update – In February 2018, staff provided the Commission a regional inventory of sites available for economic development. At that time, HRPDC Commissioners provided direction to support future phases of the Regional Economic Development Site Inventory. HRPDC staff and Reinvent Hampton Roads convened a group of regional stakeholders to gauge support for commissioning a more detailed site assessment study. Prepared with funding from Reinvent Hampton Roads, the Virginia Port Authority, Virginia Natural Gas, and Dominion Energy, this detailed site assessment study is nearing completion, and it includes a number of recommendations for improving the inventory of shovel ready development sites in the region. The study consultant and HRPDC staff will present the findings and recommendations of this draft report for review and discussion by the Commission.

  • Expanding the Role of the HRTPO's Community Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC) – The Executive Director will provide the HRPDC background information on the CTAC and request approval from the Commission on expanding the function of CTAC to include both HRPDC and HRTPO activities.
About the HRTPO and HRPDC: The HRTPO and HRPDC are regional organizations established to encourage and facilitate cooperation among local, state and federal governments and agencies to address, on a regional basis, problems or issues that transcend jurisdictional boundaries. Comprised of local elected officials and administration officials, and in the case of the HRTPO, state and federal government representatives, these two organizations serve the 1.7 million residents and the 17 jurisdictions of the Hampton Roads region regarding topics such as, Transportation, Economics, Emergency Management, Housing, Planning, and Water Resources.
KENDALL L. MILLER
Principal, Office of Community
Affairs and Civil Rights

JOE TURNER
Communications and Web Manager

ROBERT COFIELD
Graphic and Web Designer
Phone: 757.420.8300
Fax: 757.523.4881
TTY: 757.390.2578
We strive to provide reasonable accommodations and services for persons who require special assistance to participate in public involvement opportunities.For further information or questions about information contained in this update, please contact Kendall Miller, Principal, Office of Community Affairs and Civil Rights, at (757) 420-8300