NVTA staff reports 702 project‑level public comments for six‑year program; one project received mixed support

NVTA staff briefed the authority on June 11 on public engagement for the draft six‑year program and summarized what the public submitted during the April 2–May 17 comment period.

Sheree, the staff presenter, said the authority received comments through an online feedback form, mail and public hearings. "That number 702 — that's a total number of individual project level comments we received," she said, noting those comments came from 267 people who often commented on multiple projects. Staff reported the number of comments per project ranged from as few as four to as many as 72.

Staff mapped commenter ZIP codes to project locations and said, in general, comments came from areas near the projects. Sheree highlighted three projects that drew the most supporting comments, and said one project — listed in the packet as PWC 046 (Van Brain Road) — received approximately equal numbers of supporting and opposing comments. Staff said many opposing comments for some projects reflected general opposition to road projects rather than concerns unique to a single application.

Staff told the authority that all raw comments and a detailed report are published on NVTA’s website and that jurisdiction partners will receive the comment files for their projects. The authority was told staff will incorporate public comment into the staff recommendation, which will go to statutory committees on June 17–18 and then to the Planning and Programming Committee before the full authority considers adoption on July 9.

What was not decided: the authority received the briefing and discussed next steps; no funding decisions were made at this meeting based on public comment. Staff emphasized committees will be the forum to consider how public comment affects individual project scores and recommendations.