January 12, 2006

Iowa Roadway Program Receives Award

WASHINGTON, DC — Over the past decade, more than 100 small towns have worked to improve the appearance of local roads with the help of Iowa's Living Roadways Community Visioning Program. For its role in promoting alternative solutions for local transportation development, this program is the recipient of a 2006 Outstanding Planning Award for a Project, Program or Tool from the American Planning Association (APA).

"By providing both knowledge and resources, this program encourages residents to tackle local transportation design issues and to consider a variety of approaches to enhance roadway landscaping," said Carol Rhea, AICP, chair of the APA Awards Committee. "Through a collaborative planning process, communities are able to make meaningful design decisions that, ultimately, result in much-needed improvements to the local transportation system," she said.

Iowa's Living Roadways Community Visioning Program will be recognized at APA's National Planning Conference during a luncheon ceremony April 25 in San Antonio, Texas. In addition, a 30-minute video about all of APA's 2006 National Planning Awards recipients will be shown at the luncheon. Accomplishments of the awardees will be highlighted in the March issue of Planning magazine and on the APA website.

Sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation, the Living Roadways planning framework integrates technical expertise and local vision in an open, collaborative process. Under the leadership of Iowa State University, a partnership of students, private sector consultants, and field coordinators from the nonprofit organization Trees Forever work with local leaders to create transportation enhancement plans. Through the use of community surveys, visitor-employed photography, and resource mapping, Trees Forever field coordinators and professional planning students help residents define the major influences that shape the community and its transportation needs. Building on this locally derived view, planning consultants collaborate with the community to visualize alternative solutions to local transportation needs and projects.

Proposed concepts are illustrated with maps, drawings, photos, and computer-generated images that remain with the community. Supported with proposed implementation strategies and cost estimates, these technically sound, persuasive, achievable concept plans free local leaders to focus community action on the task of building better transportation landscapes.

Since 1996, 113 communities have taken part in the visioning program and 90 percent of them have completed one project. Roughly 70 percent have ongoing, phased projects. Of the 192 projects proposed in these communities, 163 — or 85 percent — have been completed.

Although most of the communities participating in the program do not have sufficient resources for on-going planning, follow-up surveys show that the visioning program often creates interest in other planning efforts. Some communities have managed to attract support for recreation and tourism projects as a result of the knowledge and experience from participating in Iowa's Living Roadways Community Visioning Program.

The APA National Awards for Planning are part of a proud tradition established more than 50 years ago, recognizing outstanding community plans, planning programs and initiatives, public education efforts, and individuals for their leadership on planning issues.

Contact

Roberta Rewers, APA Public Affairs, 312-786-6395; rrewers@planning.org