The Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) has produced the Draft Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) for fiscal year 2026, which begins on July 1, 2025. The UPWP describes transportation planning work to be performed for the Hampton Roads metropolitan planning area by the HRTPO, the local public transportation operators (Hampton Roads Transit, Williamsburg Area Transit Authority, and Suffolk Transit), and the Virginia Department of Transportation. This public notice is to request public review and comment on the draft UPWP.
In addition to detailing the work associated with HRTPO core functions – the Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), the Congestion Management Process (CMP), and Public Participation – federal regulations state that the UPWP for Metropolitan Planning Organizations designated as Transportation Management Areas (TMA) shall include a discussion of the planning priorities of the metropolitan planning area. It is in the determination of these planning priorities that the HRTPO Board ensures its vision and goals are carried forward in the UPWP.
Establishing clear direction from the HRTPO Board regarding its priorities allows HRTPO staff to ensure that limited resources (staff, funding) are properly allocated in the UPWP. There are a number of emerging issues that will have a significant impact on metropolitan transportation planning, and the planning priorities for the Hampton Roads TMA will strive to address these issues. For FY 2026, the planning priorities for the HRTPO include better integrating the following issues into HRTPO planning and programming:
- Scenario planning provides a framework for stakeholders to make decisions that help achieve a shared vision for the future by analyzing various factors that can impact the way in which a region develops. Much like the region’s current 2045 Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP), the 2050 LRTP, currently being developed, will employ exploratory scenario planning to consider plausible alternate futures and their potential impacts on the transportation system. Each alternative scenario, developed through a collaborative regional stakeholder process, is comprised of various regional trends and drivers of change (transportation technology, economic, community, environmental, land use, etc.) that have the potential to affect growth, connectivity, mobility, resiliency, and other factors. Comparing alternatives and their trade-offs helps decision-makers identify projects that provide the most benefit to the region regardless of which future assumption is analyzed thereby highlighting smart investments for Hampton Roads.
- Resilience refers to the capacity of a system to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of significant changes or events. Such changes may be foreseen, such as the expected impacts of sea-level rise, or unforeseen, such as a catastrophic event. It is important that regional transportation planning take resilience into account to help ensure that the transportation system has the capacity to overcome disruptions and keep people and goods moving. The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act added “take into consideration resilience needs” to the scope of the metropolitan planning process and the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) continues to promote sustainable and resilient transportation infrastructure.
- Planning to ensure that all transportation options are integrated in a seamless and efficient manner to provide true multimodal transportation connectivity and access for users to reach their destinations is at the forefront of the region’s planning efforts.
- Transportation planners incorporate increasing safe and accessible transportation options by identifying high-incident locations and the most effective strategies for reducing crashes at these locations. These strategies typically fall into the areas of engineering, enforcement, education, and emergency medical services. Crash data helps identify which focus areas should receive funding priority for improving safety in the region. A key role of State DOTs, transit operators, and MPO planners is to coordinate any planned safety-related transportation efforts with their safety partners.
- The IIJA includes a number of provisions that provide incentives for emerging technologies with the potential to transform the future of transportation. Planning for Emerging Transportation Technologies is supported in the IIJA through the expansion of existing grant programs and the creation of new grant programs such as the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grant Program. The SMART Grant program has been designed to build upon the success of the Smart City Challenge "to conduct demonstration projects focused on advanced smart city or community technologies and systems in a variety of communities to improve transportation efficiency and safety." Eligible efforts under the SMART Program include coordinated automation, connected vehicles, intelligent sensor-based infrastructure, systems integration, commerce delivery and logistics, leveraging the use of innovative aviation technology, smart grid, and smart technology traffic signals.
Williamsburg Area Transit Authority (WATA) and Suffolk Transit rely on the HRTPO’s public participation process to assist in satisfying their Program of Projects (POP) requirements identified in 49 U.S.C. §5307. The notice of public involvement activities for the HRTPO FY 2024-2027 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and time established (14 days) for public review and comment on the TIP will satisfy the POP requirements of the Section 5307 Program.
You may access the Draft FY 2026 UPWP by clicking on the following link:
Draft FY 2026 UPWP
You may also obtain a copy of the draft UPWP by contacting John Mihaly, Principal Transportation Planner, at the email address below or by phone at (757) 423-8300. All interested parties are encouraged to review the Draft FY 2026 UPWP and send comments to Mr. Mihaly at jmihaly@hrtpo.org or by mail to 723 Woodlake Drive, Chesapeake, Virginia 23320. The deadline for comments on this draft is May 5, 2025.