Our Jasper Multimodal Transportation Plan for the City of Jasper has been recognized by planners and engineers alike, with the win of a Hoosier Planning Award from the Indiana Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA-IN) and a Transportation Achievement Award from the Great Lakes District Institute of Transportation Engineers (GLITE)!
Following the adoption of the Impact Jasper Comprehensive Plan in 2019, the City immediately began work to implement one of the plan's primary recommendations – the completion of a comprehensive long-term Multimodal Transportation Plan. Lochmueller Group’s team included both transportation planners and traffic engineers, who worked together to create a mobility vision for the Jasper community with implementation in mind. The Plan provided long-term guidance for the City based on impacts of a future major regional corridor, prioritized improvements for congested areas, a bicycle and pedestrian plan, and a fiscal and implementation plan.
The Plan goals reflect community and stakeholder input in combination with overarching Federal and State transportation goals and priorities, as well as the community’s vision for the future that were articulated in the Impact Jasper Comprehensive Plan. These topics include safety, mobility, reliability, livability, and connectivity. The public was involved during the planning process through a virtual community open house and an online community survey.
The Jasper Bicycle Plan follows the Five E’s of Engineering: Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, and Evaluation. A Bicycle Level of Traffic Stress (BLTS) analysis informed engineering solutions in the way of off- and on-street bicycle and pedestrian solutions, but Lochmueller also provided programmatic and policy changes to help create bicycle culture. Lochmueller used a Travel Demand Model (TDM) and microsimulation to address both regional systemic and intersection-level issues. The crash analysis generally revealed that Access Management is a significant issue along US 231, and implementing a plan to reduce the number of access points will be a long and arduous process.
Since the plan’s adoption in March 2021, the City of Jasper has already used the plan to implement no less than ten infrastructure projects (including roadway improvements, new traffic signals, and new trails and sidewalks), apply for federal funding utilizing the Plan’s data-driven explanation for project needs, and collaborate with Dubois County officials and INDOT for better regional connectivity and multi-modal mobility.
