2045 Long Range Transportation Plan

The Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) serves as a blueprint for making transportation decisions. The LRTP sets the policy, vision, and goals used to guide programming and project selection. This Story Map provides an executive summary of the plan. To read the plan in its entirety click the button below.

🖱️ To begin, simply scroll down through the various plan sections or jump to a specific section using the navigation bar above.

The Lackawanna/Luzerne MPO region is located in northeastern Pennsylvania and includes Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties. It is 1,325 square miles in size, and is home to a number of cities including Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Carbondale, and Pittston.

Interstates 80, 380, and 84 make commutes feasible between the eastern portion of the region and New York City’s northern and western suburbs, while Interstate 476 facilitates easy commutes to Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania. Interstate 84 also provides a connection to New England, while Interstate 81 connects the region to southern Pennsylvania and Maryland to the south and New York State to the north.

The region is a gateway for goods moving from the Atlantic Seaboard to and from destinations in New England, via Interstates 80 and 84.

To evaluate and coordinate the relationships between land use and transportation planning, the two counties prepared a regional Comprehensive Plan concurrently with the Long-Range Transportation Plan. The counties took the following actions to engage the community and inform the plans:

• A Steering Committee was formed and composed of representatives from various entities.
• Virtual regionwide public meetings—as part of plan development and as part of the 30-day public review and comment period.
• Focus group meetings were held on topics including active transportation, public transportation, land use, and goods movement. 
• An online survey was administered, garnering feedback from more than 530 participants. Common themes included a desire to reduce traffic and increase safety on I-81, US 6, and US 11.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) requires long-range transportation plans to include an estimate of the amount of revenue the MPO can reasonably expect to receive over the life of the plan –—in this case, through 2045. 

The region’s 2021 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) includes nearly $280 million in investment, while the Twelve-Year Program (TYP) includes nearly $647 million in projects. The entire 25-year LRTP is estimated at a value of $1.2 billion. These estimates by period were used as control totals for establishing fiscal constraint.  

This leaves a balance of nearly $582 million for years 2033-45 that will be programmed with a mix of highway, bridge, and safety projects. The anticipated breakdown among categories will be based in part on PennDOT Financial Guidance documentation, and yields 90 percent to Highway and Bridge, and 10 percent to Safety projects.

Additionally, to comply with asset condition requirements of the FAST Act, the Commonwealth is investing more heavily in Pennsylvania’s Interstate highways. More funding is needed to address backlog, modernization, and strategic capacity improvements. This investment currently translates into $450 million statewide, per year. This total is expected to increase by $50 million per year until the program plateaus at $1 billion in FFY 2028. The MPO currently maintains an Interstate TIP valued at $367 million.

The shift in investment to the Interstates will have immediate and far-reaching impacts on available revenue for the remainder of the system, as the chart above illustrates.

The goal of the LRTP is to improve quality of life by maintaining the quality of existing infrastructure and investing in targeted multimodal improvements for safety and accessibility.

The Lackawanna/Luzerne MPO developed planning objectives using input gathered from public, stakeholder, and municipal outreach in combination with federal and state guidelines. The resounding needs of the public were used to develop the strategic directions of the LRTP. These objectives address ways in which Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties can respond more effectively to changes in transportation demands, conditions, and technologies over the next 25 years to 2045 and better equip the region to plan, maintain, and improve its transportation system.

🖱️ Select a button on the left-hand side of the screen to explore each category's objectives.

For more information on the Long Range Transportation Plan and the MPO, visit the link below: