Road Commission Begins Study of Arterial Routes Feeding Into the Central Corridor

The Regional Road Commission announced last week that it had retained an engineering firm to conduct a comprehensive study of the arterial routes feeding into the region's central corridor — the primary road network that carries the majority of both commercial and commuter traffic across the area. The study, which is expected to take approximately eighteen months, will examine pavement conditions, bridge and culvert status, traffic volumes, and long-range planning considerations including anticipated changes in land use and development along the affected routes.

The commission's decision to initiate the study follows several years in which individual segments of the network have been assessed in connection with specific maintenance and improvement projects, but in which no systematic overview of the network as a whole has been conducted. Commission chair Howard Briggs said the gap in comprehensive assessment had made it difficult to prioritize investment effectively. "We've been doing piecemeal work on a system that needs to be understood as a whole," he said. "This study is meant to give us that picture."

The engineering firm engaged for the study is expected to deliver a preliminary findings report within six months and a final report with recommendations within the full eighteen-month study period. The commission said the final report would be made available in full as a public document and would form the basis for the commission's long-range capital investment planning.