Thurston Regional Planning Council seeks public comment through May 9, 2025 on the draft What Moves You: 2050 Thurston Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).

CONTACT: Katrina Van Every, Transportation Manager, VanEveryK@trpc.org

Draft Regional Transportation Plan is Open for Public Comment

The Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) functions as a blueprint for the future of the Thurston region’s transportation system. Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) updates the Plan every 5 years and is now seeking public comment on the updated draft.

Community members are invited to learn more about the Plan through TRPC’s online open house. A comment form is available for those interested in submitting their feedback. TRPC also welcomes comments sent by email to info@trpc.org. 

The public comment period begins today, April 11, 2025, and ends May 9, 2025. 

TRPC is responsible for updating the RTP as part of its duties as a state-designated Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO) and federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). State and federal requirements for the RTP differ, with some overlap that includes requirements to address all modes of travel, preserve the existing transportation system, model future travel demand, and address environmental impacts.

Over the next 25 years, the Thurston region’s population will increase to approximately 407,400 people, according to the Washington State Office of Financial Management. TRPC estimates this growth will spur 52,000 more jobs and 58,000 more housing units as compared to 2022. 

The Thurston region is not on track to meet its regionally adopted goals and targets, which include reducing traffic fatalities and serious injuries to zero, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 45% below 2015 levels by 2030, and reducing the average number of miles that a person travels by car annually to 30% below 1990 levels by 2035. However, our region can still make meaningful progress towards these goals.

To work towards regional goals and address the needs of our growing communities, the RTP makes the following recommendations:

• Safe System: Our region should prioritize projects that reduce conflicts between different transportation modes, and projects that eliminate fatal and serious injury crashes.
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction and Climate Change Resilience: Our region should target future investments in ways that help people make low-emission transportation choices (such as bicycling, walking, and riding public transit) and increase the resilience of our transportation system to climate-related impacts.
• Maintenance and Preservation: Our region should invest in preservation and maintenance activities that ensure transportation infrastructure can dependably perform and reduce the need for costly rebuilds.
• Regional Projects: Our region should complete 80 regional projects that emphasize transportation system efficiency, strategically expand the system, and plan for local and state roads as a cohesive system. 

By 2050, it is anticipated that those regional projects will produce 18 miles of new roadways, more than 36 miles of new traffic lanes, more than 65 miles of new or rebuilt bicycle and pedestrian paths, and more than 29 miles of new multi-use trails. 

For More Information

• Visit the RTP online open house
• View the RTP webpage
• Provide feedback on the RTP through May 9, 2025