Lee MPO Bike Ped Program highlighted at Florida APA conference

Last week the Lee MPO's Bike Ped Program received statewide attention at the Florida APA conference, thanks to a workshop presentation by the MPO staff and consultant team.

This year's annual American Planning Association Florida conference was held Sept. 3-6, 2014 in Jacksonville, with a theme of "Plan in Motion!"  The annual APA Florida conferences are an opportunity for collaboration, sharing best practices, learning strategies to promote local economic and financial health, improving the built and natural environment, and ensuring quality of life for Florida's communities.

One of the workshops featured the Lee MPO's Bike Ped program, called "Grow Your Money--Leveraging Federal Dollars for Better Walking and Biking Projects", presented by Don Scott, Lee MPO Director, Brade Davis of Alta Planning + Design; and Ned Baier, Jacobs.

Workshop description:
Federal funding for transportation projects is increasingly flexible but with similar funding levels and fewer funding programs.  The Lee County MPO has taken a strategic and proactive approach to funding local projects with federal funds, including garnering a TIGER grant award to build a network of trails and develop a project selection and funding strategy for bicycle and pedestrian projects. Learn how to align your walking and biking goals and projects with federal and state funding requirements.

This presentation highlighted the work done by the MPO's Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinating Committee (BPCC) and its consultant team to revamp the process for prioritizing bike/ped projects, which was an action item in the 2011 adopted MPO Countywide Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan.  This excellent new process was approved by the BPCC in 2013 and used beginning in 2014 for the prioritization of bike/ped projects for funding.

Thanks to Don, Brad, and Ned for bringing statewide attention to the Lee MPO bike/ped program!

Click here for the Lee MPO 2013 "Funding Toolkit for Federally-Funded Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects" guide.