The Region 1 Planning Council (R1) Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) addresses the transportation system in the Rockford Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA), consisting of the urbanized portions of Boone, Ogle, and Winnebago Counties. It provides an innovative and sustainable framework for the region's transportation network over the next 20 years.
Planning for current and future transportation needs is essential in ensuring that the Rockford Region has a balanced multimodal transportation system that safely and efficiently moves people and goods.
This webpage acts as a condensed, accessible online version of the plan. The full plan can be found here.
As the Rockford Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), R1 is responsible for planning and coordinating decisions regarding the Rockford Metropolitan Planning Area’s (MPA) surface transportation system. The Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) is developed on a five-year cycle and covers a 20-year planning horizon using a continual, comprehensive, and cooperative (3-C) planning process.
The MTP addresses all modes of transportation and stresses the integration and connectivity of current and future transportation facilities, including:
This plan goes beyond addressing the current and forecasted transportation system by incorporating additional elements that are vital to understanding the overall system and how it works, such as land use, the environment, the economy, and emerging trends.
By federal law, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) are required to develop and maintain a long-range transportation plan, known as a Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP).
The development of the MTP must follow federal guidance as outlined in 23 U.S.C and 49 U.S.C. Chapter 53.
The plan addresses the transportation system in the Rockford Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA), consisting of the urbanized portions of Boone, Ogle, and Winnebago counties, and provides an innovative and sustainable framework for the region’s transportation network over the next twenty (20) years.
The MTP guides the decision-making processes of agencies and jurisdictions throughout the region. Transportation is interwoven into all of our daily lives, and this plan helps to ensure the region's transportation system meets our current and future needs. The region's transportation system needs to be both efficient and sustainable for the region to experience maximum social and economic prosperity.
While R1 is responsible for the creation of the 2050+ MTP, they are not the only involved party.
The MPO Technical Committee, composed of representatives from several local agencies and governing bodies, serves as the steering committee for the plan. The steering committee provides feedback during each phase of the project timeline to guide its development. The MPO Technical Committee and MPO Policy Committee must also approve and adopt the plan upon its completion.
Extensive public engagement efforts, including public open houses, workshops, and this website, also allow the public to play a role in the development of the plan. Other stakeholders who are not members of the steering committee were also interviewed during the initial phase of the plan's development.
Seven cross-cutting themes have been identified to guide the development of the MTP. Cross-cutting themes are concepts and issues that should be considered within the regional planning process to be appropriately addressed, and they provide a framework for transportation planning activities conducted in the Rockford Region over the next 20 years.
The Metropolitan Transportation Plan incorporated public and stakeholder engagement throughout the entire planning process.
Stakeholder Involvement: The plan was informed by the MPO Technical Committee, which acted as the steering committee for the plan and consisted of regional, municipal, environmental, and community organizations and experts.
Public Engagement: The plan was presented to and requested input from the public in the form of open houses at three separate locations in each of the three counties across the Rockford MPA: Winnebago County, Ogle County, and Boone County.
2025 Metropolitan Transportation Plan Open House
A regional assessment was completed to identify the most pressing needs and opportunities related to the Rockford Region's transportation network. It was developed in collaboration with stakeholders and the public through a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, which is often used as a planning tool to ensure a comprehensive understanding of capabilities and capacity.
Through these collaboration efforts, five themes emerged from the regional assessment and are detailed below.
Connectivity is a commonly used concept to describe the ease of which people can travel across the transportation system.
Connectivity has important implications for travel distances, mode of choice, and quality of life. The presence and quality of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, bus routes, and the design of the street grid influence connectivity and accessibility to everyday destinations, such as grocery stores, schools, parks, and doctors' offices.
Preservation and Maintenance enhance the overall performance or condition of the transportation facility or capital purchase.
These activities go beyond construction by also encompassing strategic planning, the establishment of performance metrics, regular monitoring of asset conditions, data collection and documentation, and data storage and management.
The regional economy depends on the efficient movement of freight over its extensive well-established network of highways, bridges, railroads, airports, and pipelines.
The region is also home to a host of industries that directly rely on an efficient freight and goods movement network. These industries are known freight-dependent sectors and include agriculture and farming, wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, construction, transportation and warehousing, mining, and utilities.
The Rockford Region's history has followed the national trends of urban sprawl. The urban footprint of the Rockford Region has quintupled since 1940, while the population of the urban area has only doubled.
It is necessary to recognize the consequences of urban sprawl in the region, while also acknowledging that the region is on the cusp of an economic upturn, which requires industrial development near the region's major transportation facilities as well as residential development throughout the region.
By focusing on a balanced development approach and incorporating Smart Growth principles, R1 will continue to support economic development in the region.
Quality of life is the degree to which a person or group is healthy, comfortable, and able to enjoy the activities of daily living, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Quality of life and health are products of social, environmental, and economic conditions. Due to the interdependency between quality of life and transportation, quality of life is a major consideration in transportation decision-making.
The transportation network in the Rockford Region consists of roadway, pedestrian, facilities, and public transit facilities. Each of these sectors contributes to the overall goal of safely and efficiently moving people and goods throughout the region.
Click on the icons on the image below to learn about each transportation network sector!
Goals are broad aspirations the region would like to achieve over the next 20 years. These goals build upon the overall transportation vision for the Rockford Region and are based upon the needs and opportunities identified in the comprehensive, cooperative, and continuing (3-C) transportation planning process. The regional goals guide the development of the MTP and give direction to investments in the regional transportation system.
The established goals for the MTP are detailed below.
Goal #1. Enhance the quality of life through improved access to opportunities.
Goal #2. Ensure strategic transportation investments effectively serve regional needs.
Goal #3. Provide a transportation system that supports economic growth.
Goal #4. Improve climate and health outcomes through transportation investments.
Achieving the goals of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan takes all of us working together. From local governments and businesses to community groups and residents, everyone has a role to play. When these groups collaborate, we can make smarter decisions, reflect diverse needs, and ensure no one is left out.
Ongoing conversations and partnerships help identify new ideas, potential projects, and funding opportunities. Collaboration helps distribute responsibilities across partners possessing unique resources and capabilities, thereby increasing the overall capacity to implement the plan. By combining our strengths and resources, we can work together to build a more resilient and sustainable region for all.
We would be happy to talk about how you or your organization can help implement or promote the Metropolitan Transportation Plan! Feel free to contact the project lead, Tim Verbeke, at tverbeke@r1planning.org to ask any questions or schedule a meeting.
Have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:
| Phone | 815-319-4180 |
|---|---|
| info@r1planning.org | |
| Website | r1planning.org |
