Open house allows the public to add input for rural future transportation projects

LIMA, OH (WLIO) - A public open house was held today about upcoming road projects in surrounding rural counties.

The West Central Ohio Rural Planning Organization held an open house for the public to come to voice their opinion and provide input on future transportation projects. The projects on display are in surrounding rural counties such as Putnam, Auglaize, Mercer, Hancock, Van Wert, and Wyandot counties. 

This is the first year for the regional planning organization, and they felt it was a long time overdue to solve the unique needs that exist in the rural counties surrounding Lima.

"So what we've created is a regional transportation planning organization, and this long-range plan is the first step in that. Once we're done with that, it'll get submitted to ODOT for approval; our committees will approve it, and then we will wait for the governor to designate the area as an official regional transportation planning organization. So starting next fiscal year we'll be up and running and be able to help these counties get some of these projects finished," explained Colleen Barry, RTPO manager and senior planner.

According to Barry, some of the unique problems in rural counties can be an easy fix, while others will take more time.

"One of our reoccurring themes was getting the roads widened. We have a lot of farm equipment that moves along these roads, and we need to be able to accommodate that along with our regular road traffic. There's a lot of bridge and culvert maintenance being done. Some of the maintenance projects, you know the chip and seal things like that. And there are some active transportation projects as well, like sidewalks, bike paths," added Barry.

To learn more about the regional transportation organization, you can visit the Lima-Allen County Regional Planning Commission's website at https://www.lacrpc.com/.