Access and Mobility

The Central Lane MPO develops regional plans and policies to enhance access and mobility for all travelers so that they can get to where they need to go.

Accessibility is a general term that refers to the ease of obtaining goods and services. There are a number of factors that affect accessibility including mobility (the physical travel that provides access) and land use patterns that influence where goods and services are geographically located.
 

Fundamentals of Basic Access

• Emergency services
• Public services and utilities
• Health care
• Food and clothing
• Employment
• Education

Planning for Access and Mobility

Planning for a regional transportation system will often involve tradeoffs between different forms of accessibility and mobility, largely influenced by geographic, demographic and social factors. For example, a road network convenient for car travel is made accessible by expanding roadways and parking facilities; however, these conditions can reduce accessibility and safety for pedestrians. On the other hand, improving the environment for walking, bicycling and public transit often involves implementation of traffic calming measures, reducing traffic volumes, and limiting parking supply; therefore potentially impacting vehicle access. 

Our region strives to balance access and mobility needs through the implementation of transportation options. Transportation Options (TO), or as it is commonly known elsewhere as Transportation Demand Management (TDM), is a steadily growing component of transportation and mobility planning.

Transportation options and mobility planning implements strategies, programs, and investments to enhance traveler opportunities and people’s choices to bike, walk, take transit, share rides, and telecommute. Such strategies can be used as solutions to problems of system capacity and as a way of creating an efficient transportation system for a multitude of users and uses.

Transportation options provides the individual with flexible options, regarding how, when, where and which way they travel. Transportation options does not encourage one mode of travel over another, rather these programs and services offer greater travel choices to enhance mobility and accessibility and maximize transportation investments.

Find out more about transportation options and traveler information.

Equity in the Transportation System

Basic access and mobility are important components of transportation equity, and enable the community to satisfy fundamental needs. Transportation equity can be evaluated based on a transportation system’s ability to provide access to everybody, no matter age, race, income or physical capability.
 

Central Lane MPO Commitment

The Central Lane MPO assures that no person shall on the grounds of race, color, national origin, disability, age, gender, or income status be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity. The MPO further assures every effort will be made to ensure nondiscrimination in all of its programs activities, whether those programs and activities are federally funded or not.

Lean more about transportation equity.