The Southeastern Regional Transportation Planning Organization (SERTPO) held a regional transportation meeting last week at the Southern Oklahoma Development Association (SODA) Conference Center.
SERTPO was established under SODA to oversee regional transportation planning across 10 counties in southern and central Oklahoma. One of the primary functions of SERTPO is to develop a regional Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) that addresses transportation goals and strategies for the next 20 years.
Kyle Henry, regional regional transportation coordinator for SERTPO, and regional planner Oliver Skimbo spoke after the meeting.
“We’re doing a series of public participation meetings to garner public comment and feedback on a long-range transportation plan that we are in the process of writing,” Henry said. “It’s a 20-year long-range transportation plan and it’s going to help us. It’s going to be the guiding document for basically all modes of travel in southeastern Oklahoma. It’s going to help us provide a clear framework for the future of multimodal transportation in the region. That means trains, planes, boats and automobiles and when I say boats, I mean the canal. We have a canal in southeastern Oklahoma which most people don’t know about.”
Henry said the plan will be a resource for public officials, local communities and state and federal agencies to consult and see what is wanted for transportation improvements in the region.
According to Skimbo, this is the first plan of its kind.
“Southeast Oklahoma’s never had one before,” Skimbo said. “The rest of the state has and it’s very important to get public input to make it a reality and not just with ODOT. It’s to help our local communities and counties and other organizations co-collaborate, partnership and projects because the dollar doesn’t go as far as it used to and the more we’re aware of development, and what’s going to happen across multiple entities, the farther our development can go.”
Henry said there was great feedback during last week’s meeting, which was mostly attended by city officials.
“Of course, we’re going to have some more meetings, not just here in Durant,” Henry said. “We’re going to try the Rotary Club. I want to go by the nutritional centers and really try to hit everybody. I don’t just want feedback from mostly city officials like we got today. I want to talk to the elderly because they have a different set of concerns and needs than the young people do.”
Henry said he also wants to talk to the schools and the Boys & Girls Club to receive feedback from them on transportation needs.
“So, we’re going to have a series of meetings, not just in Bryan County but across the entire region,” Henry said. “We’ll probably have close to 30 meetings when we’re done.”
There is an online survey at www.sertpo.org where citizens can express their concerns on transportation needs in the future.
According to Henry, SERTPO is collaborating with other organizations such as Durant Sustainability Coalition and Durant Trails & Open Space.
“That’s really the strength of our organization is just getting people together and talking,” Henry said. “It’s bringing different organizations, like a city with a community action group that’s talking to them because there’s really a breakdown in communication. We’ve collaborated with several biking groups in southeast Oklahoma that didn’t know each other existed.
“It (communication) helps elevate our regional problems up to ODOT and we have great local ODOT guys. Sometimes, you need to elevate it up to Oklahoma City in a different level because ODOT’s a giant, enormous organization.”
Skimbo spoke of planning for the future and he noted how things have changed in the region during the past 20 years.
“Where can we smartly invest the funds that we have in anticipation for neighborhood developments for residential areas, for industrial commercial and crossroads of commerce to happen and stay ahead of the game,” Skimbo said. “That way, we’re not building something and now we have a very dangerous intersection for the next five years. Why don’t we start building that intersection now in conjunction with or prior to that development hitting the ground but that’s where the communication part comes through.”
According to Henry, SERTPO advocates planning when new things are constructed such as schools, so the transportation needs are met.
“I think rural Oklahoma, probably in general, or Oklahoma across the board historically has done a very poor job on long-range planning,” Henry said. “It’s hard. I understand that as a city manager, it’s hard to think beyond five years because that’s about how long someone can really think of something is five years and plan for. Then, we’re asking them to plan for 20 years. We’re going to have to because Durant, we’re going to be part of the DFW Metroplex. We’re actually kind of are already. You can see it in the traffic count from people moving here and we’ve got to start planning for it.”