The draft of the Long Range Transportation Plan: 2050, is the plan for the future of transportation projects of regional significance.

What is eligible as regionally significant projects?

The long-range planning process includes:

• Evaluating the current transportation system and existing conditions in the region;
• Developing projections of population and employment growth to the year 2050;
• Creating a travel demand model to help predict future impacts of transportation decisions;
• Developing vision, goals and objectives to guide the plan (boxes below);
• Identifying issues and needs for the region;
• Locating and describing problems with the current system;
• Developing a Universe of Projects, containing possible solutions to meet identified needs and issues;
• Understanding the ability of the region to afford the range of possible improvements; and
• Creating a budget-realistic (or constrained) plan of projects by time bands.
• Evaluating the future transportation system against the plan’s Objectives in a range of different plausible futures.

Guiding Principles

GPl. Provide a safe system for all users by using proven strategies in planning, design, operations and maintenance as well as advances in technology to eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes.

GP2. Offer choice among all travel modes regionwide.

GP3. Expand the regional bicycle and pedestrian networks to provide active travel alternatives to driving, for better individual and community health.

GP4. Develop a robust transit network which delivers comprehensive, effective, and convenient service, particularly in areas of greatest need and to key destinations.

GP5. Ensure fairness in all transportation spending and planning decisions in the region with a focus on transportation in under-resourced communities.

GP6. Provide for the efficient, reliable and resilient movement of people and goods across the transportation network.

GP7. Align transportation investments and planning with land use, conservation of natural resources and community health.

Read and download Goals section.

Goal A: Safety: A transportation system where no one is killed or seriously injured, and people feel secure and comfortable regardless of how they travel.

Goal B Sustainability: A cleaner transportation system that provides choices and meets the needs of the current generation and provides the same opportunity for future generations.

Goal C Reliability: A consistent and predictable transportation experience for all people regardless of how they travel.

Goal D Resiliency: A transportation system that prepares, withstands, and recovers quickly from disruptions caused by natural disasters, extreme weather events, and other emergencies.

See the Completed Input tab on this page for more about what the public told us.

From Fall 2024 to now, we've engaged over 2,955 people across 81 events (and still counting!). We've received 2,215 contributions of your input.

Feedback was highly consistent and directional:

• Shift funding away from highways (see: what's in highway).
• Prioritize: safety, sustainability, and equitable access.

Engagement includes:

• regular input from an Advisory Work Group of subject matter experts from our localities
• Three dedicated, in-depth, periods to reach out to, get input from, and reconnect with many of the same groups over the 2 year process.
• Regular conversations and sharing on social media, newsletters, in the press, in board meetings, and at public events.

List of projects by locality

Title VI Analysis: Identifies the region’s minority, foreign born, and populations with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) as indicators of protected classes and those historically underserved.

Analysis of the constrained plan transportation projects here indicate:

• 52% of the project mileage coverage and

• 56% of the dollars are expected to serve these areas.

The population in these areas represents less than 51% of the overall regional population.

Thus, this supports the finding that the proposed investments are proportionally distributed. This ensures that Title VI communities are not overlooked in funding decisions.

The Environmental Justice analysis builds on the demographics mentioned in the Title VI analysis with these additional factors: low-income, disability, female headed households, without a vehicle, cost burdened, and 65+.

Analysis of the constrained plan transportation projects here indicate:

• 27% of the project milage coverage and

• 34% of the dollars are expected to serve these areas.

The population in these areas represents about 28% of the region’s total.

Thus, this supports the finding that communities that have traditionally faced barriers to investment receive a share of transportation projects that is generally proportional to their presence within the regional population.

Read more: Chapter 7, Regional Demographics Evaluation and Technical Report J, Title IV and Non-Discrimination (link to draft)

See where in the region all these projects are proposed

Chapter 7: Performance Based Planning Evaluations, explains how this constrained list of projects performs across different future scenarios.

Transportation is not planned in a silo, but in conjunction with future land use, movement, and housing.

We've evaluated how the entire constrained list of projects performs across each future land use scenario. Read more about scenario planning.

5 Land Use Scenarios

• Baseline (Medium Growth)
• Meh and Safe (Medium Growth)
• RVA Sinks (Low/No Growth)
• Ecotopia (High Growth)
• Back to the Future (High Growth)

Click the image to read more about the scenarios.

Each tells a different story of how the region may grow. If we have a project list that meets our goals and vision for the region, we have to run that against each of these futures. That leads to policy considerations and needs.

Pathways to the Future: Transportation 2050 is Richmond region’s Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) which will be used to guide planning and decision making on multimodal transportation issues and needs through the year 2050. PlanRVA develops this long-range strategy to guide the effective investment of public funds for multi-modal transportation infrastructure throughout the Richmond Region.

The plan is federally mandated to cover at least the next 20 years. PlanRVA creates a 25-year plan and updates it every five years. The plan will consider fairness in all transportation spending and planning decisions in the region with a focus on transportation under-resourced communities.

There will be multiple stages and ways to give input over the next 2 years.

You can also provide input by participating in public meetings or events, completing future surveys, or sharing your ideas with us through the engagement site. Please follow the project on this site.

If you know of a community who should be connected to this work, please share their info with us at Ask a Question.

Richmond Connects is the City of Richmond's strategic plan for prioritizing multimodal transportation projects. Pathways to the Future: Transportation 2050 is a regional plan that covers not just the city but also the town of Ashland and the counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, and Powhatan.

PlanRVA staff will evaluate and incorporate input from the recommendations from Richmond Connects and other local transportation or comprehensive plans, incorporating those with regional importance into Pathways to the Future: Transportation 2050.

Alongside PlanRVA staff, the Long-Range Transportation Plan Advisory Workgroup (LRTP-AWG) will lead the creation of the plan, making independent decisions to direct the process and its results. The group includes representatives from localities, regional, state, and federal transportation partners, environmental, and community advocates from the region.

PlanRVA: created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1969, coordinates and plans for the Richmond region’s future. It manages regional programs in community development, emergency management, the environment, and transportation.

Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO): a federally- required organization that plans transportation in urban areas with populations over 50,000 and receives federal funding.

Richmond Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RRTPO): The RRTPO is the federally recognized MPO for the Richmond region, supported by staffing infrastructure from PlanRVA.

Central Virginia Transportation Authority (CVTA): Established in 2020, CVTA funds transportation priorities in the region with staffing infrastructure from PlanRVA.

Planning Horizon: time frame considered in a plan. For example, the long-range transportation plan Pathways to the Future: Transportation 2050 looks ahead to the year 2050.

Fiscally Constrained: projects we can reasonably fund between now and 2050.

Travel Demand Model: technical tool used to predict and anticipate the level of use a road will have in the future. Projects usually address congestion like park and ride or HOV lanes.

Majority of Need
The majority of identified transportation needs are on highways (roadways classified as arterials and above). This reflects the reality that on the whole, the majority of current trips in our region happen on roads. Arterial = bigger roads, i.e. interstate, Powhite, major roads (360, 250, 33, 60) that connect region to region. 

Freight

The vast majority of freight (movement of goods) happens on roadways. We have a responsibility to keep those users safe and the supply chain moving in the most efficient way possible.

We’re funding all/nearly all the transit/multimodal projects proposed.

In all the 4 scenarios, we would be funding every project proposed to us (meeting all or nearly all the overall needs) in transit/bike/ped.  There are fewer of those than highway overall.

BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) expansions of 4-5 corridors are in all scenarios.

What’s in Highway?

For Safety: “Highway” issues don’t just consist of capacity changes. Often, the studies identify needs for improved interchanges or technology to reduce crashes. Safety improvements are a priority in those highway projects.

For Multimodal: There is still a multimodal component to highway. Many “highway improvements” also include sidewalk, pedestrian signaling, and bike lane installations. Additionally, addressing highway congestion actually makes transit operate more efficiently. For example, fixing bottlenecks on a major corridor by changing capacity also improves the reliability of the regional bus systems that share those same roads.

Why is some multimodal in highway? They are broad, so there is no way to divide costs to that small of a level AND because it hasn’t been designed yet.

Regionally Significant

Projects in this constrained plan are large, regionally significant projects like Bus Rapid Transit, highway expansions, and major regional trails, things which significantly change the way we travel in the region. It isn’t looking at smaller projects at all (which are often sidewalk, bike/ped). We do set aside money for that, as noted on the language on the engage page overview:

approximately 13%: allocations to our member local governments and transit operators for local-level projects (e.g. sidewalks, roundabouts, bus replacements). We don't dictate what it is used for.

Restricted Funding Source

A large chunk of our regional funding comes through VDOT and Federal Highway Administration, which is only for highway improvement (and some of is flexible and can include bike and pedestrian).

Big Picture: this is only $7.9B of the $32.5B after most was set aside for Operation & Maintenance, smaller projects across all modes, and multimodal investments we have already committed to as a region.

Even More