Feedback sought on transportation plan

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SIDNEY — Developers of a new five-year plan for public transit in Shelby County would like feedback from area residents before the plan is submitted to the Ohio Department of Transportation.

There will be an open forum, Monday, Nov. 6, from 11 a.m. to noon, in the offices of Shelby Public Transit, 413 S. Vandemark Road.

Copies of the proposed plan have been made available for perusal in more than a dozen locations throughout the county.

“The hope is (that interested parties) will have the 0pportunity to look at the plan and then give us feedback,” said coordinator Michelle Caserta, mobility manager of Catholic Social Services of the Miami Valley. “The goal is to have them look at it prior to (the public forum).”

Copies of the plan can be seen at the Alpha Center, Catholic Social Services, Country Side Commons, Fair Haven, Fresenius Kidney Care, S&H Products, Safe Haven, Senior Center of Sidney and Shelby County, Shelby County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Shelby County Commissioners office, Shelby County Job and Family Services office, all branches of the Shelby County Libraries, Shelby Public Transit and Sidney Daily News.

Representatives of those agencies and of the city of Sidney comprised the committee that devised the plan. They discussed issues concerning lack of after-hours transportation and the need for transportation between area counties.

“We want to make sure we’re serving all our populations before we turn the plan in,” Caserta said.

Catholic Social Services won a $160,000 Federal Transit Administration grant, administered by the Ohio Department of Transportation, to undertake the planning process. The agency had to provide an additional $40,000 to the project.

The last time a transportation plan was written for Shelby County was 2008. Some of the goals of that plan have been met, but many have not and have been incorporated into the current proposal. Once the plan has been approved by the Ohio Department of Transportation, Caserta will begin to coordinate efforts to meet the plan’s goals.

“I honestly believe everyone in Shelby County has a common goal: improving transportation options for everyone in Shelby County,” Caserta said in September.

Public forum at 11 a.m., Monday

By Patricia Ann Speelman

[email protected]

Reach the writer at 937-538-4824.

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