A new regional effort is being made to address the need for non-car-focused transportation through sidewalks, trails and bicycle lanes.
While Jefferson City has some of that infrastructure, the plan would expand the concept in neighboring communities.
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Technical Committee on Tuesday agreed to seek a consultant tol help redevelop the area's pedestrian and bike plan into more of an active transportation plan.
Katrina Williams, transportation planner, said staff planned to do the update themselves, focusing on the goals and strategies before getting public input into additional needs or opportunities.
However, after talking with other Jefferson City departments, the staff changed directions.
Along with the pedestrian and bicycle plan, the project would update Jefferson City's Sidewalk Plan and Greenway Master Plan.
Staff would expand the new Active Transportation Plan to cover all of the CAMPO area, which includes Lake Mykee, Holts Summit, St. Martins, Wardsville, Taos and Jefferson City.
Williams said the goal of updating the plan is to have a comprehensive set of strategies to improve options for transit, recommendations for prioritizing infrastructure improvements and an outline for new policies.
The goal would also be for those recommendations to come based on public and stakeholder engagement, she said.
Eric Barron, planning manager, said it's hard to put a dollar amount on this kind of consultant work, but would likely be similar to other planning projects. For instance, a recent study CAMPO funded is looking at the JeffTran facilities, which is expected to be done in October. That planning project cost around $50,000.
"This is definitely more involved, significantly more involved" and would likely cost more, Barron said.
Funding will come from the CAMPO consolidated planning grant fund.
The next step is for the committee to come up with a more detailed request for a consultant, at which point it will go back to the CAMPO board for approval.