Adopted* Upper Ohio Valley Bridge Study Advisory Committee

Goals and Objectives

Goals

• Maintain and Enhance Transportation Capacity, Safety and Reliability for Existing Businesses, their Employees and All Residents
• Provide Enhanced Access for Expansion and Retention of Businesses, and Attraction of New Businesses to the Region.
• Draw More Traffic and Commerce into the Upper Ohio Valley.
• Develop Linkages to High Capacity Intermodal Transportation by Strengthening the Connections to River Ports and Railroads.
• Enhance Emergency Management Options to Provide Alternative Routes in Case of Flood, Natural Disaster or Accident.
• Improve Travel Times Throughout the Region.
• Ensure that the Cross-river Transport Network from Wheeling north to Steubenville is Sufficiently Robust to Carry All Weights and Sizes of Commercial Vehicles.

* By Action of the Advisory Committee, January 19, 2000

Objectives

Goal: Maintain and Enhance Transportation for Existing Businesses.

• Provide Alternative and Redundant Routes for Truck Traffic
  
• Alleviate Congestion and Maintain an Acceptable Minimum Level of Service (LOS) to
• Enhance Shipment of Goods and Movement of Employees
  
• Accurately Measure Constraints of Roadways and Strive to Upgrade River Crossings and Connecting Roadways to at least Current Minimum Standards for Geometry

Goal: Provide Access for Expanding Business (Industry/Retail).

• Evaluate Transportation Improvements and Alternatives for Their Ability to Serve Existing and Potential Future Development Sites
  
• Evaluate Transportation Improvements that Can Better Tie Together the BHJ Region With Adjacent Economic Market Areas
  
• Prioritize Improvements in Transportation Facilities and Cross-River Travel That Can Serve Targeted Economic Development Objectives for the BHJ Region

Goal: Draw More Traffic and Commerce into the Upper Ohio Valley.

• Develop Transportation System Improvements that Will Provide Greater Interconnection With Surrounding Regions, States, Municipalities and Marketplaces
  
• Build an Efficient and Effective Transportation Network that Will Become a Regional Strength and Draw Additional Traffic and Customers into the Steubenville - Weirton Marketplace

Goal: Develop Linkages to High Capacity Intermodal Transportation by Strengthening the Connections to River Ports and Railroads.

• Consider Access to Rail and River Port Facilities as a Locational Criteria for Transportation Improvements and Cross-River Travel Routes

Goal: Enhance Emergency Management Options to Provide Alternative Routes in Case of Flood, Natural Disaster or Accident.

• Redundancy of the Transportation Network and Cross-River Linkages During Times of Accident, Flooding or Other Natural Disaster Should be a Planning Criteria for New Major Investments in Infrastructure
  
• Roadway Design Standards for New Travel Facilities Should Account for the Weight and Size of Vehicles Expected to Travel During Times of Emergency, and at all Other Times

Goal: Improve Travel Times Throughout the Region.

• Establish Minimum Desirable Levels of Service and Adequate Standards for Roadway and Bridge Design
  
• Establish Time of Travel as a Critical Planning Criteria for Prioritizing Capital Improvements

Goal: Ensure that the Cross-river Transport Network from Wheeling north to Steubenville is Sufficiently Robust to Carry All Weights and Sizes of Commercial Vehicles.

• Establish Planning Criteria for the Larger Tri-State Region in Concert with the States of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania to Ensure that Improvements in the Steubenville-Weirton Area Help Enhance and Optimize the Larger Transportation Network for All Modes