NOACA is seeking feedback on their long range transportation plan, called eNEO2050, through June 2nd 2021. This plan will guide transportation investments and priorities across the region that aim to build an equitable future for Northeast Ohio.

Reading through the 600 page plan a group of local environmental and transportation have advocates identified the following concerns:  

• The long-range plan does not seek to reduce NE Ohio’s overreliance on driving -- the most expensive and most polluting form of transportation.
• The long-range plan is not ambitious enough about promoting walking and biking as an alternative to driving, which we must do to address climate change.
• The long-range plan’s strategy for addressing congestion -- “Arterial Street Restoration” -- presents safety and quality of life concerns.
• The eNEO2050 plan doesn’t adequately include NOACA’s active transportation planning programs such as TLCI and ACTIVATE
• The long range plan isn’t clear on Vision Zero.
• Despite the rhetorical emphasis on equity, there are no remedies proposed.
• The long-term plan does not advance a serious transit expansion plan or agenda

You can read additional details about these concerns here: https://www.bikecleveland.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/eNEO2050-Letter_Final.pdf 

The LRTP should be our vision for how transportation decisions we make build a more equitable system-- one that improves quality of life, creates equitable economic growth, and improves public health. This plan should embrace our values as a region for addressing climate change and historic and systemic inequalities.

If you share similar concerns we encourage you to provide comment through NOACA’s eNEO2050.com website (https://www.eneo2050.com/draft-plan) and to sign-on to our letter which will be shared with NOACA. You can read the full letter here: https://www.bikecleveland.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/eNEO2050-Letter_Final.pdf