RPO Models: Kentucky

The involvement of local officials is central to the implementation of Kentucky’s statewide planning process. Fifteen regional development organizations (known locally as area development districts or ADDs) receive $80,000 – $105,000 annually from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to perform transportation and safety planning services.

Each region operates through a rural transportation committee consisting of local and county officials, representatives of various interest groups and private citizens. In addition, the planning efforts are required to cover all modes of transportation, including public and specialized transportation services in rural areas.

The rural work program focuses mainly on the analysis, identification and evaluation of needs in each region, and the subsequent evaluation and ranking of projects for possible inclusion in the state’s six-year highway plan. The rural planning groups also coordinate public input, coordinate transportation planning activities with other plans and provide technical assistance to local government officials.

Among the more uncommon RPO activities, the ADDs are also tasked with maintaining an inventory of multimodal facilities within their region, including airports, railways, intermodal facilities, river ports, transit systems, greenway projects and highways. They maintain listings of all facilities which generate significant peak or continuous traffic and congestion in each region. They provide an inventory to the state on local land use plans, the approval dates and the appropriate contact information. In the past five years, the state DOT also contracted with the regions to create a new GIS database of all of the public roadways in the state.

Since 2001, the state has partnered with the 15 ADDs to implement a rural highway safety program. The program is focused on the four “E’s”: engineering, enforcement, emergency response and education. The state provides funding for each ADD to support a full-time highway safety liaison, whose role is to promote actions aimed at reducing fatalities, injuries and economic losses due to traffic accidents, especially on two-lane rural roads.

The ADDs work through safety committees composed of state and local law enforcement, transportation agencies, private sector business leaders, school officials and local safety advocates. They collect data from emergency response personnel about crash scenes and environmental conditions. They also host and sponsor a variety of highway safety programs at schools, fairs and other community events, including mock crash simulations.

For more information, see:

Fiscal Year 2007 Annual Work Program for Regional Transportation Program (PDF)

Statewide Transportation Planning Program Rural Consultation Report, February 2006 (PDF)

Kentucky River ADD Address Rural Road Safety



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