The Voice of Southwest Louisiana February 2018 Issue

SWLA news
Editor’s Note: This series of articles provided by Imperial Calcasieu Regional Planning
& Development Commission (IMCAL) will inform, educate and update our readers on
events affecting transportation and economic development in Southwest Louisiana.
Imperial Calcasieu Regional Planning
& Development Commission
The Lake Charles
Metropolitan Planning
Organization (MPO)
By Cheri L. Soileau, AICP, Executive/MPO Director
Last month, the
discussion focused
on the Metropolitan
Transportation Plan 2045
Update. The Lake Charles
Metropolitan Planning
Organization (MPO) just
kicked off the first steering
committee meeting several
weeks ago. This is the
beginning of a year of public
outreach, data gathering
and understanding traffic
movement within the region.
There is now a website: www.
transportplanswla.com which
will serve as a focal point
for information, surveys
and updates as the project
moves forward. Comments,
thoughts, suggestions, ideas
are encouraged to be shared.
It’s important that all citizens
from the region be involved in
this process in order to
make our Metropolitan
Transportation Plan realistic
and implementable.
But the MPO does other
activities as well. MPOs
were created to carry out
the planning for a specified
urbanized area, which
is determined by the US
Census. Therefore, gathering
Census information is so
very important as it helps
determine how much funding
a region can receive. MPOs
are required to represent
‘urbanized areas’ or UZAs
that have populations of over
50,000. MPOs are created
by agreement between
the government and local
governments that together
represent at least 75 percent
of the affected population.
While there are MPO staff, the
actual MPO consists of the
elected officials or designated
representative from the areas
which cover the MPO study
area. In this case, the Lake
Charles MPO includes the
City of Lake Charles, Westlake,
Sulphur and parts of Calcasieu
Parish. The MPO consists of
Mayor Nic Hunter, Mayor
Chris Duncan, Mayor Bob
Hardey, Wes Crain, Planning
Director for Calcasieu Parish
and Don Duberville, DOTD
District 7 Administrator. This
is to ensure the utilization of
federal planning funds are
distributed equitably, based
on need and that all parts
of the region have a voice in
the transportation planning
activity.
The MPO is required to
develop a Transportation
Improvement Program,
which is a list of upcoming
transportation projects over
a four-year time. This list is
developed in cooperation
with local and state entities
and includes transit projects
and must be fiscally
constrained. Meaning that
projects listed align with what
funding the region receives
from the Federal Government,
via DOTD. The project list for
the Lake Charles MPO is on
IMCAL’s website: www.imcal.
la.
Knowledge is power and it
is important as residents to
understand processes that go
into the decision-making for
transportation projects.
Cheri L. Soileau, AICP,
Executive/MPO Director
Imperial Calcasieu
Regional Planning &
Development Commission
Lake Charles Urbanized
MPO
4310 Ryan Street, Suite 330
Lake Charles LA 70605
O: 337-433-1771
C: 469-964-2015
www.imcal.la
Volume 5 • Number 7 WWW.THEVOICEOFSOUTHWESTLA.COM February 2018 5