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Bringing the TAP to the TIP – Public Input Requested from MAPA

21 Feb

MAPA is putting together their 2019-2023 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and is asking for public input on two projects that will be proposed for the final year of the program that qualify for the federal Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP). Transportation Alternatives (TAP) are federally funded, community-based projects that expand travel choices and enhance the transportation experience by integrating modes and improving the cultural, historic, and environmental aspects of our transportation infrastructure.  Any questions or comments that people have should be sent to mapa@mapacog.org.

First Project is one we have raised awareness about in the past, and that is the addition of a multi-use bridge to the US Hwy 34/75 over the Platte River on the border between Sarpy and Cass Counties. Currently, pedestrians and cyclists can share the current bridge with automobiles. After a planned expansion of the road, the highway will be designated a freeway, and people walking or riding bikes will not legally be allowed to share the space with people driving motor vehicles.

Details of the multi-use bridge project over the Platte River at US Hwy 34/75 – click for larger view

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What do you do when there is nowhere to go? The need to plan for everyone.

19 Oct

Mode Shift member, Scott Ussery, brought a troubling circumstance to our attention at the intersection of 38th Avenue and Leavenworth. He wrote to us, “there is building demolition/construction on the Southwest corner of 38th Ave that closed the sidewalk along the south side of Leavenworth and construction on the Northeast corner of 38th Ave that has closed the sidewalk along the north side of Leavenworth.”

In other words, there was no safe path east or westbound on Leavenworth between 38th Street and 39th Street.

View to the west, you can see the sidewalks blocked on the north and south side of Leavenworth with no safe crossing or detour. Note pedestrian walking in the street on south side. Photo: Scott Ussery

This is not the norm in other cities. Most municipalities require a plan for how traffic will be managed around work zones. In order to get a project approved, you must submit a Traffic Management Plan (TMP) that details what work will be done, what affects it will have on traffic — all traffic, from vehicle lanes to bike lanes to pedestrian infrastructure — and what you will do to minimize the disruption. Continue reading →

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ConAgra and the Riverfront — a turning point

13 Dec

After the announced contraction of the Omaha workforce in 2016, ConAgra began plans to expand its Old Market campus with acres of new parking. Back when the ConAgra campus was built, it tried to conceal parking lots into brick-faced structures and then built more than enough parking for all of its buildings.

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The  photo above shows the ground between ConAgra and the Harriman Dispatch Center of Union Pacific. This area used to have 21 trees and acres of green grass in a swale. Now there spreads an area prepared for pavement for 99 parking spaces, dedicating the land to only one purpose. Once this dedicated parking area is complete, ConAgra has three more construction permits filed with the City of Omaha to build three more parking expanses after this one on its Old Market campus.

The questions we have to ask: what are we doing; what do we want? Continue reading →

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