Residents share transportation concerns

Monroe County residents voiced their concerns about current transportation conditions and shared ideas for improvement at a public workshop for the Bloomington and Monroe County Metropolitan Transit Plan.

The workshop, presented at Bloomington City Hall on Monday evening, was put on by the Bloomington and Monroe County Metropolitan Planning Organization to formulate ideas for the 2035 MTP.

Members of the community collaborated into groups where they shared concerns, talked about ideas to improve transit in the future and drew lines representing possible bus routes.

Josh Desmond, director of the Bloomington and Monroe County MPO, said urban areas with a population of more than 50,000 are required to have an MPO.

“What that plans does, it lays out sort of a menu of roadway bicycle and  transit programs that would have ideally been implemented throughout of the course of time leading up to 2030,” Desmond said. “Now we’re taking that and shifting it over. We’re sort of reevaluating everything at  this point and taking a look.”

Desmond said the MPO is allocated approximately $2.5 million to $3 million a year.

“Any federal money we get from government for those transportation needs has to be consistent with those transportation plans,” Desmond said. “It helps us prioritize our transportation improvements.”

Desmond said the transportation works better when the citizens plan for it together.

“You’re either making small improvements here and there or saving it up over time to make one huge investment,” he said.

Desmond said the MPO is required by law to have a plan 20 years ahead of time.

“Even though we are looking at everything, the money ... is looking to be spent in the urbanized area,” Desmond said.

Kyle Chapman, Dedaimia Whitney and Richard Martin discussed transportation for aging populations and ways for transportation to be environmentally efficient in their group discussion.

“We need to stop using our cars as much as we can,” Whitney said. “For me, that means using public transportation.”

Martin, a member of the plan commission for the MPO, said the area needs a frequent, reliable transportation system to serve the needs of the county.

“I think if they can bring it from Hamilton County down into Indianapolis, there’s no reason we can’t go north,” Martin said. “We can take the Indiana railroad right up to
Indianapolis.”

All three participants said the absence of an east and thoroughfare throughout Bloomington is a problem. They also drew on a map possible areas for residents to park and ride public transportation into the city.

Chapman said the current roads which go east and west throughout the city are
congested.

“You cannot make the east-west corridors go through campus,” Chapman said. “You can’t make it a major corridor. A major corridor has got to be four full functioning lanes with a center turn lane. It just doesn’t exist.”

Whitney said parts of downtown Bloomington should be closed for automobile traffic.  

“Our group focused on public transportation in the form of buses,” Whitney said. “We identified five or six places where we thought transportation parking could be established. We spent some time mapping out rural transit routes.”

Desmond said the next step is for the MPO to continue working on the  model and having some discussions with the stakeholders and task force.

“It’s important that we plan with the community and not plan for the community,” he said. “People need to feel that they have a stake and a say in the projects we invest in.”