The Lebanon County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has opened a month-long period of public comment on updates to the 2021 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and the 2045 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP).

The public comment period began last week and will stay open for 30 days, until 4 p.m. on June 17. Feedback and comments can be sent through mail or email. Mail should be addressed to:

Lebanon County Planning Department
Room 206, Municipal Building
400 South 8th Street
Lebanon, PA 17042

Emails concerning the plans can be sent to MPO Assistant Director Jonathan Fitzkee at jfitzkee@lebcnty.org.

An LRTP is a type of document assembled by organizations across the country that outlines an area’s planned transportation projects, typically between 20-25 years from the present day, according to the Federal Highway Administration. In the words of Lebanon’s LRTP, it is “the blueprint that guides current and future transportation investments.”

The TIP is a “fiscally constrained” list identifying shorter-term projects that are likely to receive funding, and is itself complementary to the outline provided in the LRTP. Both are critically important for the county’s transportation network and regular updates to the LRTP are prerequisites for receiving federal funding.

On June 18, the day following the end of the public comment period, the MPO will adopt the 2021 TIP draft and the updates to the 2045 LRTP, along with “other key documents,” including the draft of the Air Quality Conformity Analysis Report, which is also available for public comment.

Until then, the documents will be available for public perusal and comment at the Lebanon City Municipal Building at 400 S. 8th Street (rooms 206 and 220) and the Lebanon Transit Offices at 200 Willow Street. The TIP and LRTP documents can also be found on the MPO’s webpage in the “LEBCO MPO 2021-2024 Transportation Improvement Program and 2045 LRTP Update Materials” column.

Additionally, the MPO is hosting an online Open House session on June 8 from 2-4 p.m. and 6-7:30 p.m. for members of the public to offer virtual feedback via Zoom. The Zoom meeting for the open house is linked here.

The MPO previously solicited public comment on areas of concern in the county last fall.

Read More: Why Cumberland Street is one-way, and why it’s unlikely to change

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Josh Groh is a Cornwall native and writer who began reporting for LebTown in 2019. He continued to regularly contribute to LebTown while earning a degree in environmental science at Lebanon Valley College, graduating in 2021. Since then, he has lead conservation crews in Colorado and taken on additional...

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