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NAPA VALLEY COUNTYWIDE TRANSPORTATION PLAN MAY 2021
WHAT IS A COUNTYWIDE TRANSPORTATION PLAN? Napa Valley Transportation Authority is required to develop long-range countywide transportation priorities through a comprehensive planning process. The countywide transportation plan (CTP) provides a direction for the four- to five-year plan while taking into consideration land use, environmental, population, and financial projections over a 25-year planning horizon. It recognizes that what we decide to implement now has implications for the future of Napa Valley. NVTA last updated the countywide transportation plan in 2015. This Countywide Transportation Plan, Advancing Mobility 2045, includes a list of visionary transportation investments intended to improve conditions in Napa County and serve its residents, workers, and visitors. Constrained financial resources require that we take a critical look at which projects, programs, and policies are pursued and submitted to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for inclusion in the Bay Area Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), Plan Bay Area. The RTP is a 25-year financially constrained plan that creates a framework for the regional planning process to establish consistent and sustainable planning goals throughout the nine-county Bay Area region. Plan Bay Area links transportation and land use policy, as well as addresses Senate Bill (SB) 375 requirements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. SB 375, the 2008 California Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act, requires that regional transportation planning agencies, like MTC, consider greenhouse gas emissions in the long-range planning process.
NVTA maintains consistency with the regional process by completing a new countywide transportation plan roughly every four years. This countywide plan maintains consistency with regional and statewide sustainability goals by integrating and promoting transportation linkages to new development to foster walkable communities and providing more access to schools, local jobs, and retail. In addition, this plan encourages the use of alternative transportation modes, such as transit, walking, and bicycling. The projects submitted for consideration to MTC for inclusion in Plan Bay Area must be financially constrained. In order to ensure other projects can be included for funding not yet identified within the four- to five-year timeframe of the plan, NVTA separates the proposed projects into two categories: constrained and unconstrained. This allows projects to move forward within the planning period if additional funding is identified.
PANEL DISCUSSION AT NVTA'S TRANSPORTATION SUMMIT IN SEPTEMBER 2019.
