Urban growth will be focus of public forum

The Texarkana Metropolitan Planning Organization will hold a Public Open House Update from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday inside the Texarkana, Texas, City Council Chambers at City Hall, 220 Texas Blvd.

TMPO Director Rea Donna Jones said the organization hired the Austin-based Alliance Transportation Group to conduct the three-hour event.

During this information forum, Jones said all attendees will be able to look at maps and other documents showing projected future population and urban growth areas and ask questions.

"This will help us prioritize and focus for the future and connect better with Dallas, Little Rock, Shreveport and Houston," Jones said. "Texarkana is growing and we can bring everyone to the table."

The open house will focus on showing preliminary results of a recent survey aimed at assessing the current and future conditions of the Texarkana area's transportation system. The event will also give residents the chance to discuss the TMPO's 2045 Metropolitan Transportation Plan and how it affects the community's future.

The plan's aim is to identify how the metropolitan area will manage and operate a multimodal transportation system and to prioritize projects that include improvements in walking, biking, riding, bus transit and driving.

The plan's purpose is also to outline ways to meet the region's economic growth, growing transportation demands and commercial business development, as well as its population growth, employment growth, tourism growth and other sustainability goals, Jones said.

"This is also not just about ground transportation on the interstates, federal and state highways and on the county and municipal roads, it's also about airport travel service as well as business goods and service transportation on river waterways," Jones said.

"One of the most important elements in this process is understanding the needs of the public at large, as well as the needs of those who have a stake in the plan's outcome in the community, so we can incorporate their feedback into the planning process as well as in the final plan's document"

For more information, call the TMPO at 903-794-8637.

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