The Ames Area Metropolitan Planning Organization policy committee on July 29 reviewed a draft long-range Metropolitan Transportation Plan titled “Aims to Connect 2050” and voted to open a public comment period and set a Sept. 23, 2025 public hearing on the plan.

The draft, presented by MPO staff and HDR consultants, uses the Iowa Department of Transportation statewide travel model to estimate future travel demands and growth. Jason (HDR consultant), the plan’s primary contact for the MTP, said the MPO anticipates about 27% growth in people, households and jobs across the MPO area and a roughly 35% projected increase in vehicle miles traveled between 2023 and 2050.

The plan includes 10 chapters and technical appendices documenting analysis and project selection. Committee members heard that the travel model covers the full MPO area (including Gilbert and fringe areas to the south and southeast) and was extended slightly beyond the MPO boundary to capture fringe alternatives. Damien (MPO staff) and Jason said the raw vehicle-mile data underlying the percentage projection is available and will be provided to city staff for climate and planning analyses.

Project mapping produced a list of corridor and intersection alternatives identified by the travel-model calibration, including candidate improvements on East Riverside Road (R7), Dayton Road (R9), South Duff Avenue (R29A) and potential interchange projects on Interstate 35 and U.S. 30. The plan also moves several bicycle and pedestrian projects into the short-term list, notably the Skunk River Trail connection (B145) from the Ioway Creek Trail to South 16th Street. Jason said most corridor-level projects are conceptual and have not undergone preliminary engineering.

Committee members discussed how the MTP maps are used in development reviews and capital improvement planning. Jason and Damien said the MPO and city use the model outputs to guide traffic impact studies, corridor studies and CIP decisions, and the maps are included in the plan package for developers to view. The presenters noted the plan distinguishes between committed projects (near-term, in current capital programs) and candidate projects that require further prioritization and identification of local or grant funding.

On funding, presenters described a conservative fiscal-constraint approach that focuses on formula funds that flow through the MPO (such as Surface Transportation Block Grant and related federal programs). Damien said current guidance from federal partners indicates formula funding levels are expected to remain roughly stable pending reauthorization, and the plan assumes those conservative funding levels when building the short-, mid- and long-term lists.

The committee voted to approve the draft plan for public release and to set Sept. 23, 2025 as the public hearing date. The motion carried. Presenters said the plan will be posted with maps, summary slides and an online feedback portal rather than requiring members of the public to read the full technical appendices.

Next steps include the MPO collecting public comments, finalizing responses and submitting the plan to federal and state partners for review before final adoption in late 2025.