In light of circumstances related to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) is offering a virtual open house to review progress on the development of the 2040 Statewide Transportation Plan (2040 STP), Nebraska’s long-range transportation plan.
You will have an opportunity to give feedback during this open house by providing comments at various points in the following sections. If you would like to be notified when the complete draft plan is available for review and comment, please click here to provide your contact information.
The following sections will guide you through different components of the planning process and the development of the 2040 STP. The 2040 STP focuses on policies to help NDOT provide a transportation system that meets the needs of Nebraskans over the next 20 years. The emphasis of this plan is on potential transportation policies rather than specific projects across the state.
Another feature of this transformation is growth in data related to just about every aspect of transportation. By turning data into knowledge, NDOT can maintain and improve the alignment of its investment decisions with system users’ changing priorities and needs in an anticipated era of aging infrastructure, hard-to-predict resiliency challenges, more vehicles on the road, shifting freight patterns, rising demand for transit and active transportation solutions, and emerging technologies.
NDOT uses data to drive decisions and forecast performance with bridge and pavement asset management tools through the NDOT Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP). NDOT should continue to examine historically observed data and develop strategies to use predictive, performance data-based tools and techniques in transportation decisions.
all Nebraskans can benefit from emerging and often technology-enabled multimodal transportation choices that support the evolving mobility needs of communities where they live and work.
“Complete streets” policies provide roadway design guidelines that prioritize safe, comfortable transportation by relevant users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities. A “complete street” is designed to balance safety and convenience for everyone using the road. NDOT should develop and adopt its own ‘complete streets’ policy and produce a “complete streets” manual. “Complete streets” policies help planners and engineers design roads that improve safety and mobility for all relevant users, depending on the need and the physical context of the project.
and NDOT should take actions to ensure the resiliency of the transportation network not only against natural threats like extreme weather, but also against human-caused threats like cyber-attacks.
NDOT is in the early stages of a vulnerability assessment to analyze the risk of flooding along NDOT roadways and bridges.NDOT should incorporate the findings of the ongoing flood vulnerability assessment into planning and design activities to reduce the flood risks of the assets included in the assessment.
Taking advantage of technology advances can help NDOT be the best steward for a Nebraska transportation network that keeps its users safer, improves their mobility, and better supports economic and community quality of life concerns shared by all Nebraskans, whether they live in cities or in rural areas of the state.
CAVs promise more mobility choices, improved safety, and congestion relief, but could mean more vehicles on Nebraska’s roads and require infrastructure improvements to accommodate them safely. To prepare for CAVs, NDOT should consider setting up a committee that can guide NDOT’s efforts to examine CAV-related challenges in areas such as law enforcement, wireless data connectivity, infrastructure gaps, or outreach and education needs. This may help create new partnerships around CAV adoption in Nebraska.
“Smart corridors” use a range of technologies to help overcome challenges like congestion, incident management, or severe weather. By continuously monitoring traffic and road conditions, for example, “smart corridors” can use automated tools like variable speed limit signs, electronic message signs, queue detection and warnings, dynamic junction and lane use controls, real-time truck parking information, adaptive ramp metering, or traffic signal management to improve traffic flow. NDOT should identify and prepare for the deployment of “smart corridors” across Nebraska in partnership with neighboring states as well as local and regional governments. With these partners, NDOT should leverage findings from the Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment multi-state pilot project along I-80, which offers lessons for other important transportation corridors in the state.
who help create a more seamless transportation network across Nebraska that bridges governmental divisions to better serve customers’ mobility needs.
The private telecommunication sector has experience in providing and expanding access to broadband for Nebraska’s businesses and residents. NDOT can benefit from sharing knowledge with the private sector telecommunication industry through coordination with the private telecommunication providers and other governmental entities to increase access to broadband across Nebraska. NDOT should participate in statewide plans and initiatives to increase access to broadband or other forms of digital connectivity like 5G.
While improvements in vehicle equipment like seat belts, air bags, or brake assist technology have helped reduce the danger of crashes, driver distraction caused by digital devices in vehicles is a fast-growing problem on Nebraska’s roads that poses a rising threat to vehicle occupants, as well as to pedestrians and bicyclists who share the roads. NDOT should continue to partner with stakeholders through the Drive Smart NebraskaCoalition to continue to provide, update and expand upon education to the public about the dangers of distracted driving.
NDOT’s project designs are increasingly shaped by ‘practical design’ approaches that evaluate whether strictly uniform standards can sometimes be replaced by design elements tailored to better achieve project-level goals and objectives. NDOT should seek to further expand the use of practical design approaches where applicable via updates to its road design manual.
Click the link below for assistance navigating this Virtual Open House
User Guide
Paper copies of the information presented in this Virtual Open House can be found here
Contact information:
Email: NDOT.LRTP@nebraska.gov
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