WAPAKONETA — The Auglaize County Commissioners approved the resolution presented by the Auglaize County Engineer, Andrew Baumer, to improve transportation needs in rural counties. The program, known as the Western Ohio Rural Planning Organization, is a joint effort by the surrounding counties to partner with the Lima-Allen County Regional Planning Commission and create a memorandum of understanding to establish a long-range transportation plan.
The proposed budget to seven different counties requests each county provide $1,5343.44 per year for the two-year planning process, totaling $21,608.20. The Ohio Department of Transportation is set to provide $194, 473.81. This amount will change if some counties choose not to participate.
According to the proposal, the WORPO will attempt to establish, expand upon and maintain the following throughout the planning period: system condition data collection and analysis, capital improvement report collection and analysis, freight facilities survey, traffic counts collection and analysis, annual high-crash location data collection and analysis, bikeway/sidewalk monitoring and transit system capital inventory.
“At this time we are still establishing the organization. Once we have everything finalized in the counties who want to join and get everything in line, we will sit down as a group and put all of our projects on the table and prioritize those,” said Baumer. “In the past, other organizations have completed traffic studies, intersection redesigns, and any number of things. Allen County is not considered rural but the LACRPC will assist in the project. The counties that have agreed so far include Auglaize, Van Wert, Hancock, and Putnam. We are awaiting approval from Mercer, Hardin and Wyandot.”
For additional information or updates contact the Lima-Allen County Regional Planning Commission at 419-228-1836.
