Transportation 2035 - State of Rhode Island: Division of Planning

December 2012PART ONE – INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUNDINTRODUCTIONThe Rhode Island Statewide Planning Program, in cooperation with other agencies, prepares a long-range (twenty plus years) transportation plan that is part ofthe State Guide Plan. The State Guide Plan is a collection of plans and policy documents adopted by the State Planning Council that addresses the social,economic, and physical development of the state. The last transportation plan Transportation 2030 was adopted in August 2008 and remained valid untilAugust 2012. Federal regulations for ozone non-attainment areas, such as Rhode Island, require an update to the long range plan every four years therebynecessitating the need to complete an update to the transportation plan in 2012. In addition, the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT)requires a valid long range transportation plan in order to adopt a new Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and to process TIP amendments.Amendments to the TIP can be common given the frequent changes in engineering practices, environmental issues, contracting issues, project readiness, andother factors that can require adjustments to project schedules and budgets. Therefore in order to maintain compliance with federal air quality regulationsand to have the ability to fully amend the TIP, a limited Plan update entitled Transportation 2035, was completed in 2012, and the planning horizon wasextended to the year 2035.VISION STATEMENTA vision is a future framework, a model that we can agree on and strive towards. It is at once a context for planning, the basis for program design, andreflective of the wishes of the state’s citizens.Our common vision recognizes transportation as a core function that threads through other elements of society. Transportationconnects the state with the global and regional economies, the home with the workplace, the individual with the community, and all ofus with one another. It must equitably benefit all communities, and must be reconciled with quality of life issues as vital as the air webreathe, the water we drink, and the preservation of our natural and historic heritage and beauty of the natural and built environments.It cannot exist independently of these concerns.THE REGIONAL CONTEXTRhode Island’s location in the heavily populated region between Washington, DC, New York, and Boston has contributed to development of its marine, road,and rail transportation. Today, Rhode Island’s transportation system exists as part of a larger system serving New England and the northeastern United Statesregion. Rhode Island is part of the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and the I-95 highway corridor. This transportation infrastructure and other routes serve as aTransportation 2035 (2012 Update)State Guide Plan Element 611Rhode Island Statewide Planning ProgramPage 1-1