TRANSPORTATION

The Danville (Pittsylvania County) Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), the area's transportation agency for planning in the Urbanized Area of the Danville Metropolitan Statistical Area, was designated by the Governor and approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration in 1983.  At that time, the West Piedmont Planning District Commission became the Administrative Agent for the MPO with the acquiescence of the Virginia Department of Transportation, the City of Danville, the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, and the Federal Highway Administration.  The Danville MPO establishes a budget and work plan for its annual planning related activities through approval of its Unified Transportation Planning Work Program (UWP) for a fiscal year beginning July 1 and ending June 30.  The Unified Work Program addresses the activities of the MPO's Policy Board (governing body), its staff (WPPDC), its committees, and for most years, the consultants contracted to undertake special planning study efforts.  In addition, the Danville MPO annually approves its Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) that addresses capital expenditure efforts undertaken on behalf of the MPO's local governments by the Virginia Department of Transportation and Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, operating under the auspices of the Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB).  The Danville MPO's TIP project programming period parallels that of the Six Year Improvement Program adopted each year by the CTB.  It addresses planned expenditures in the Danville area for: primary, urban, and secondary system roads; safety improvements; enhancement grant program projects; capital equipment and operating money for bus transit; capital equipment for transit of the elderly and handicapped; and funding for special programs such as the U.S. Route 58 Corridor Improvements Program.  The Danville MPO is also responsible for maintaining a Long-Range Transportation Plan that normally maintains a twenty-year planning horizon into the future. 

The Commission is also concerned with transportation issues in non-MPO areas of the District, which for planning purposes are designated as the Rural Planning Area.  In effect, all areas of the District outside of the Danville Urbanized Area, designated by the U.S. Bureau of the Census and Federal Highway Administration, are considered rural areas.  The Commission has taken an active role in promoting improvements in these areas via official actions represented by resolutions and/or letters.  In 1991 the Virginia Department of Transportation's Transportation Planning Division began to proactively work with the District and other PDCs to advance the cause of enhanced transportation planning in the rural areas of the Commonwealth so that the entire area of the State might be better served, not only the MPO areas.  The Commission annually undertakes work in aid to transportation in the rural sections of its service area. 

The Commission has sought to integrate its GIS equipment, services, and personnel hours with the project needs and activities of the transportation planning effort, so that both might be efficient and effective.  As an example, the Commission produces its own street maps for distribution through member localities and their chambers of commerce; other projects have included tour maps for public distribution.

West Piedmont Planning District Commission would like to inform users of web sites for other important transportation related information.  For example, VDOT has developed a new site that displays the projects that it is currently working on and their status.  To track the status of active transportation construction projects from advertisement to completion check the Dashboard, a real-time web based project management tool.  In addition, VDOT has recently completed numerous Small Urban Area Transportation Plans.  Within our district, there are three areas for which plans have been created.  They are Martinsville-Henry County, Rocky Mount, and Stuart.  Other information available online that may be of value to planners is the Census Transportation Planning Package known as CTPP.  This site provides tabulations of households, persons and workers, worker-flow data, and other special Census related information.

The Virginia Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration offices in Richmond are principal and indispensable partners in the operation and funding of the Commission's transportation planning effort.  The VDOT District Offices in Lynchburg and Salem and the VDOT Residency Offices in Rocky Mount, Bassett, and Chatham are local partners in the cooperative efforts.