Lowcountry MPO staff outline 20-year LATS update, safety plan and prioritization for Beaufort County

Lowcountry Council of Governments planning staff told the Beaufort County Transportation Advisory Committee on March 11 that the Lowcountry Area Transportation Study (LATS) update will guide which regional projects get federal and local funding and how quickly they can move from study to construction.

“I’m planning director at the Lowcountry Council of Governments, and we staff LATS,” said Stephanie, the LCOG planner who presented the update. She said the long-range transportation plan (LRTP) is a 20-year blueprint updated every five years and that projects identified there can be programmed into a shorter-term transportation improvement program (TIP) and then into the state STIP for funding. The current travel-demand model and plan are based on 2019 data; staff are preparing an update and outreach that will include surveys and public meetings.

Why it matters: the LRTP sets priorities for scarce federal and regional dollars, and the prioritization method affects which intersections, corridors and multimodal projects rise to the top when counties and towns seek construction funding.

Stephanie said the MPO must use a scoring and weighting system required by the state to prioritize projects into categories such as spot/intersection work, roadway widening or entirely new roads. The criteria include congestion, safety, connectivity, environmental impacts and financial viability, and local MPO staff can adjust weights—meaning the same project can score differently from one update to the next depending on policy choices.

On safety, Stephanie summarized a regionwide safety action plan created with discretionary Safe Streets for All funds that identified a high-injury network and produced about 150 recommended projects with cut sheets, locations and cost estimates. “Seventy-five of those projects are within the MPO region and 42 are in Beaufort County,” she said, adding that implementation grants for those projects are competitively awarded and that the initial five-year funding window for the federal program has ended; reauthorization or new discretionary opportunities could return implementation funding to the region.

Committee members pressed for tangible deliverables: several asked for the congestion maps and for updated model outputs before the committee finalizes its project list. “These maps are in the plan that’s posted on our website,” Stephanie said; she agreed to share slides and the map files with county staff for committee use and noted cost estimates will be refined as projects move to 30% and 60% design.

Staff timeline and next steps: Stephanie said the LRTP update process typically takes about 18 months; the TIP is updated more frequently and can reflect funding changes. The MPO’s next meeting is March 27, and LCOG staff will continue outreach as the county assembles its ranked project list ahead of a May 11 council deadline.

Bottom line: the LATS update gives Beaufort County a structured way to translate studies into prioritized, fundable projects, but committee members said they need access to maps, cost assumptions and scoring details to judge which projects to recommend for the proposed sales-tax referendum.