2023 List of Project Priorities Adopted by the MPO Board!

The MPO annually submits to the Florida Department of Transportation a prioritized list of projects for implementation in Manatee and Sarasota Counties. These priorities are used by FDOT to program State and Federal transportation funds. Programming commitments made by FDOT are included in its Five-Year Work Program and the MPO’s Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Projects on the Priority List come from the local jurisdictions. The development of a Priority List is the first step in the process of implementing transportation improvement projects.

The MPO Board adopted the 2023 List of Project Priorities on Monday, March 27, 2023.

Click here to view the 2023 Project Priorities!

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USDOT FY23 Safe Streets and Roads for All | Notice of Funding Opportunity

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) established the new Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) discretionary program with $5 billion in appropriated funds over 5 years. The SS4A program funds regional, local, and Tribal initiatives through grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.

The SS4A program supports Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s National Roadway Safety Strategy and the Department’s goal of zero deaths and serious injuries on our nation’s roadways. 

The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity is to solicit applications for Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants. Funds for the fiscal year 2023 SS4A grant program are to be awarded on a competitive basis to support planning, infrastructure, behavioral, and operational initiatives to prevent death and serious injury on roads and streets involving all roadway users, including pedestrians; bicyclists; public transportation, personal conveyance, and micromobility users; motorists; and commercial vehicle operators.

The deadline for applications is 5:00 p.m. (EDT) Monday, July 10, 2023. Late applications will not be accepted.

For more details, click here!

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Safe Route Partnership Webinar | Bike-Ped Meets Higher Ed

From research and evaluation to curriculum design and GIS mapping, academic institutions can offer a number of valuable resources to Safe Routes to School programs. And the best part is, they want to get involved! Join Safe Routes Partnership in this webinar as they explore how college and university partnerships can increase your program capacity and turn innovative ideas into action.

Webinar: Bike-Ped Meets Higher Ed: Partnering with Colleges and Universities on Safe Routes to School Projects

Date: Thursday, April 25, 2023

Time: 11 am - 12 pm (EST)

Click here to register!

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Sarasota County (Breeze) Transit | Breeze Rider App & OnDemand by Sarasota County!

The Breeze Rider app is designed to help new and current SCAT riders navigate Sarasota County Area Transit's bus system. Users can view routes, plan trips, track buses and learn more information on SCAT programs within the app!

OnDemand by Sarasota County is a public, on-demand transit service. Use OnDemand for immediate response transit rides in Lido/Longboat Key, Siesta Key, Venice/Englewood, and North Port! You can book a ride through the app on your phone, get picked up at your location, share your ride with others, and save money while reducing carbon emissions!

To learn more about SCAT programs, click here.

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April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month!

Distracted driving is one of the fastest growing safety issues on the roads today. Distracted drivers aren’t just a threat to themselves: they’re a danger to everyone else on the road. The national distracted driving effort focuses on ways to change the behavior of drivers through legislation, enforcement, public awareness, and education.

What is Distracted Driving?

• Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking or texting on your phone, eating and drinking, talking to people in your vehicle, fiddling with the stereo, entertainment or navigation system — anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving.
   
• Texting is the most alarming distraction. Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that's like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed.
   
• You cannot drive safely unless the task of driving has your full attention. Any non-driving activity you engage in is a potential distraction and increases your risk of crashing.

NHTSA leads the national effort to save lives by preventing this dangerous behavior. Get the facts, get involved, and help us keep America’s roads safe.

#JustDrive

For more information click here.

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America Walks Webinar | Safer Fleets Challenge

Speeding is a major cause of deaths and serious injuries on American roadways. Governments have a unique opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to safety by retrofitting their vehicle fleets to follow the speed limits that they themselves set! Intelligent speed assistance (ISA), is a commercially available technology to retrofit vehicles to helps drivers maintain posted speed limits. It is a proven technology already in use in some government and commercial fleets. It is also required on all new cars in Europe. It is a tool that goes beyond the familiar, and often insufficient, tactics to reduce speeding - and is worth considering given the dramatic rise in pedestrian deaths.

With this webinar America Walks and its partners are launching the Safer Fleets Challenge to encourage cities and towns to start installing ISA on their fleet. Join our panelists to learn about the safety and environmental benefits of ISA, the results of real-world examples where fleets have adopted ISA, and how you can successfully advocate for your community’s fleets to get on board with the Safer Fleets Challenge.

Webinar Topic: Safer Fleets Challenge: How Adopting Intelligent Speed Assistance Can Make Your Community a Better Place to Walk

Date: April 11, 2023

Time: 2:00 PM (EST)

Click here to register and learn more!

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Equity in Roadway Safety Leadership Panel

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is excited to announce the Equity in Roadway Safety Webinar Series taking place on Monday, April 17^th from 12:00-1:30 PM EST. The webinar will feature noteworthy actions and tools that transportation professionals and other stakeholders can implement to address disparities in traffic fatalities and serious injuries. The kickoff event, the Leadership Panel on Equity in Roadway Safety, will include the following individuals:

• Shailen Bhatt: Administrator, Federal Highway Administration
• Cheryl Walker: Associate Administrator, Federal Highway Administration Office of Safety
• Irene Marion: Director, USDOT Departmental Office of Civil Rights
• Toks Omishakin: Secretary, California State Transportation Agency
• Ruth Petersen: Director, CDC Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity
• Veronica O. Davis: Director, City of Houston Transportation and Drainage Operations
• April Rai: President and CEO, Conference of Minority Transportation Officials
• Leah Shahum: Founder and Director, Vision Zero Network

Click here to register for this webinar!

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Foot Traffic Ahead 2023

The Foot Traffic Ahead series has continued to evolve since Smart Growth America first introduced it in 2014. Foot Traffic Ahead 2023 ranks the top 35 metro areas by their walkable urbanism using an index that considers density and premiums in commercial rents, multifamily rental rates, and for-sale home prices.

The report found that 19.1% of the total U.S. real GDP and 6.8% of the U.S. population are located in walkable urban places that represent just 1.2% of total landmass of the top 35 U.S. metros.

The intent of this report is to present to the public, advocates, local policymakers, and urban researchers a systematic, data-driven glimpse into walkable urban places at the metropolitan level, and support this with observations about how markets respond.

Spotlight: Tampa, FL

"Tampa ranks near the bottom of both our Foot Traffic Ahead and SEI Indices but claims the number one spot in our Future Momentum Index. The city has a fairly interconnected walkable street network, especially along the waterfront and throughout downtown, but this network does not extend to the areas outside of the downtown core. Transit access in Tampa is limited, and routes do not extend outside downtown. Although Tampa is not currently one of the most walkable metros, it has the potential to support increased walkable development. Between 2000 and 2017 Tampa’s downtown population grew by 36%, outpacing the 17% average for other downtowns across the country. Additionally, the Tampa metro region is quite diverse, with a downtown population that is 50% white, 30% Black, and 20% Hispanic or Latino. Mixed-use development in the Tampa metro region has had renewed interest from both city officials and investors as demand pushes the real estate market toward walkability."

To continue reading about Foot Traffic Ahead 2023 and download the report, click here!

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Connecting Communities in Sarasota and Manatee Counties Questionnaire

Your input is important! Completing this brief questionnaire provides valuable feedback on community preferences. Your feedback will assist and guide the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) with the development of community-sensitive project solutions for enhancing the transportation network within Sarasota and Manatee counties. This questionnaire is anonymous, and all questions are optional.

Your input will help enhance the Sarasota/Manatee area transportation network for all roadway users (drivers, transit users, pedestrians, and bicyclists).

Click here to complete this brief, online questionnaire by April 30, 2023!

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Traffic Watch for Manatee and Sarasota Counties

FOR WEEK OF April 2, 2023

Motorists are reminded to wear safety belts and drive with caution, courtesy, common sense, and patience as they travel through work zones. Remember, speeding fines are doubled in work zones.

As a reminder, travelers can visit www.FL511.com or dial “511” from their phone to learn about traffic conditions on major roadways across the state. If you know before you go, you can plan accordingly and save time and money.

Read More

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ICYMI ::Transform 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan

On October 26, 2020, the MPO Board adopted the Transform 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan. It is with great pleasure to present a short video montage of the efforts taken over the past two years by elected officials, technical professionals, and most importantly, the public. Enjoy!