HELP PLAN THE REGION’S TRANSPORTATION FUTURE
New Interactive Website Makes it Easier to Get Involved
New York (8/23/2012) – Billions of federal dollars will flow into the metropolitan area over the next 25 years to maintain and improve the region’s transportation system, and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) is seeking input into how that money should be spent. An innovative interactive website – http://ideas.nymtc-rtp.org – will make it easier for people who live, work and play in the region to share their concerns and ideas, provide feedback and participate in the development of the 2040 Regional Transportation Plan. Input on topics ranging from traffic congestion to transit to biking to moving goods can be offered for local communities, New York City, the lower Hudson Valley, Long Island, and for the region as a whole.
When developed, NYMTC’s 2040 Plan will lay out a long-range framework for maintaining and improving the region’s transportation system: its roads, bridges, freight and mass transit facilities, and its bicycle and pedestrian networks. It will ultimately identify the transportation improvement concepts, projects and policy recommendations that can address the region’s long-term growth challenges and needs – an initial step to bringing federal transportation dollars into the area.
Updated every four years, NYMTC’s Plan will be the product of a metropolitan planning process that seeks to bring together as many of the region’s governmental entities, its business community and its residents as possible to focus on future transportation needs. NYMTC is a regional council of governments that is the metropolitan planning organization for New York City, Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley, enabling federal transportation funds to flow into the region.
“This is a real chance to get involved in planning for transportation improvements in the region for the next 25 years,” noted NYMTC Executive Director Joel Ettinger. “ With billions of dollars at stake, we are launching this interactive website and holding open houses throughout the area to encourage as many people as possible to tell us what transportation issues are on their mind. Please join the discussion – your concerns and issues matter.”
In addition to the new interactive website, NYMTC will hold a series of open house meetings over the coming months to gather ideas from the people who live and work here about what transportation projects and programs they’d like to see put in place through 2040, and beyond. Each Open House will be held from 4 p.m. – 8 p.m., with presentations offered at 4:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Open house dates and locations are as follows:
RTP Open Houses
Westchester County
Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Location: Westchester County Center, 198 Central Avenue, White Plains, NY 10606
Rockland County
Date: Thursday, September 13, 2012
Location: Palisades Center (Mall), 4th Floor Community Room, West Nyack, NY 10994
Putnam County
Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Location: Cornerstone Park, 1 Fair Street, Carmel, NY 10512
Manhattan
Date: Monday, September 24, 2012
Location: NYMTC Office, 199 Water Street, 22nd Floor, Lower Manhattan, NY 10038
Brooklyn
Date: Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Location: National Grid Conference Center, One Metro Tech Center, Brooklyn, NY 112014
Queens
Date: Thursday, October 4, 2012
Location: Queens Borough President’s Office, 120-55 Queens Boulevard,
Kew Gardens, NY 11424
Staten Island
Date: Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Location: Staten Island Borough President’s Office, 10 Richmond Terrace,
Staten Island, NY 10301
Suffolk County
Date: Thursday, October 11, 2012
Location: H. Lee Dennison Building, Media Room, 100 Veterans Hwy, Hauppauge,
NY 11788
Bronx
Date: Tuesday, October 16, 201
Location: The Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse, Bronx, NY 10456
Nassau County
Date: Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Location: Legislative Chamber, 1550 Franklin Avenue, 1st Floor, Mineola, NY 11501