2018-165 Transportation Plan - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

S TRANSPORTATION VISION Kittitas County envisions a future transportation system that serves all users and modes of travel by offering a safe and robust network of walkways, bicycle facilities, roadways, and complementary transit options . This transportation system is well linked with the built environment, since the way people travel is greatly influenced by the key destinations where people live, work, shop, and recreate. This chapter describes Kittitas County's vision for its future transportation network and establishes how to identify infrastructure improvements that will get the County there (described in Chapter 6). As identified in this plan, most of the improvements are focused on the development of a 'layered' transportation network, which focuses on providing complete accommodation for all modes of travel. While some of the projects identified in this Transportation Element are needed to meet the County's vehicular level of service (LOS) standard, many of the future improvements focus on bringing roadways up to modern County standards, providing safer and more complete facilities for walking and cycling, and preserving existing roads and bridges 'E It can be a challenge for a single roadway to meet the demands and expectations of all modes at any given time. This is also generally not desirable from a user or a planning perspective. In response to this challenge, Kittitas County has adopted a layered network approach that focuses on how the County's transportation network can function as a system to meet the needs of all users. In such a system, different facilities are identified for different travel needs to ensure that everyone has complete accommodation throughout the overall network. Figure 18 illustrates the concept of a layered network. The County will implement this layered network through a system of modal networks that define each street's user priorities and associated infrastructure needs . Figure 18 Layered Network MQD~L NETWORKS Roads in Kittitas County serve different travel purposes, and the modal networks therefore prioritize a different balance of users on each corridor. Determining how the entire transportation network fits together in Kittitas County requires identifying desirable routes for each mode, combining them to locate overlaps, and then identifying infrastructure enhancements to ensure safe and complete facilities for all modes. The following sections review the priority networks for each mode and establish their level of service standards. 48 IP a g e