The Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO), the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the Hampton Roads metropolitan planning area, has completed a DRAFT Hampton Roads Military Transportation Needs Study – Highway Network Analysis Report.  The overall purpose of this study is to determine military transportation needs and to provide an efficient and safe transportation network for the military in Hampton Roads.  The first step was to engage stakeholders – including local military representatives, federal agencies, Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Virginia Port Authority (VPA) and local jurisdictions – to gather their input.  After initial discussions, HRTPO staff agreed to examine the adequacy of the Strategic Highway Network (STRAHNET) routes in Hampton Roads and to include them in local planning efforts.

Hampton Roads is also home to many military sites not identified within STRAHNET.  As a result, regional stakeholders at the initial scoping meeting for this study expressed a desire to identify a roadway network beyond STRAHNET to include roadways serving these additional military sites and intermodal facilities supporting the local military.  This regional roadway network would include STRAHNET routes as well as non-STRAHNET roadways to and from these additional locations.  Within this study, the roadway network labeled “Roadways Serving the Military in Hampton Roads” is identified and reviewed to determine deficient locations, such as congested segments, deficient bridges, and inadequate geometrics.  This study also identifies existing programmed, planned, or candidate transportation projects in Hampton Roads that are important to the military.  The HRTPO staff plans to incorporate this work into future iterations of the Congestion Management Process (CMP) and the regional Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) Project Prioritization Tool to assist decision makers as they select future transportation projects.

Click Here to view a copy of the draft document.

All interested parties are encouraged to review the draft report and send comments to Mr. Sam Belfield at sbelfield@hrpdcva.gov or by mail to 723 Woodlake Drive, Chesapeake, Virginia 23320.  The deadline for comments on this draft is August 1, 2011.