RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
ATRC holds election of officers Implementation meetings for the new Alabama-Tombigbee Regional Transportation Planning Organization have been completed with the election of officers and adoption of bylaws. Representatives from the Alabama-Tombigbee 10 county area, including Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Dallas, Marengo, Monroe, Perry, Sumter, Washington and Wilcox Counties were present for the RPO meetings in Camden. The new program is being implemented by regional councils statewide under contract with the Alabama Department of Transportation and marks the first time such an effort has been made for rural Alabama counties. Similar planning called MPO's has been underway in urban areas for a number of years. The RPO organizational structure is driven by three committees: The Citizens Advisory Committee, The Technical Advisory Committee and The Policy Committee. The Citizens Advisory Committee is composed of four citizens from each county. During their initial meeting Brian Leathers from Grove Hill in Clarke County was elected Chairman. Each county will now elect its chairperson who in turn will be a vice-chair of the regional committee. The Technical Committee includes county engineers from the 10 counties as well as representatives from other transportation interests such as the U. S. Corp of Engineers, trucking interests as well as transportation providers. ALDOT district engineers are also on this committee. Elected Chairman for this committee was Wilcox County Engineer Garry Grantham. Lou Wallace of ALDOT 8th Division in Grove Hill is Vice-Chair. The Policy Committee, composed of a mayor and commissioner from each county, elected Selma Mayor James Perkins as its Chairman and Chatom Mayor Harold Crouch as Vice- Chair. The next step will be a quarterly meeting in each county with the Citizens Committee members from that individual county. These will be followed up by a quarterly meeting of the Technical and Policy Committees to act on recommendations from the Citizens Committee. RPO actions deal with state and federally funded roads and not city-county roads. The committees also consider safety issues on these roadways. ATRC Executive Director John Clyde Riggs said: "I am very impressed with the enthusiastic response from each of our counties to this opportunity. We believe this process will be instrumental in helping to secure additional highway development funding for Southwest Alabama." Riggs expressed appreciation to ALDOT and its division and district engineers for their participation and endorsement. "We look forward to working with them", he said.
For additional information contact Brandy Wilkerson or Jamie Wallace at 334-682- 4234.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
