The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is traveling around the state seeking input from Ohioans on what kind of transportation system they would like to see by 2045.

ODOT is working on the state’s long-range plan as required by federal law, to help guide the state’s transportation policies and investment strategies for the next 20 years. The agency updates the plan every five years, and ODOT is currently seeking input on the Access Ohio 2045 plan by holding meetings around the state. It held the fifth of 10 meetings in Columbus on Tuesday in conjunction with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission.

In an environment where the transportation world is rapidly changing, long-range planning can be challenging for transportation officials. Scott Phinney, the administrator of ODOT’s Office of Planning and Research, told the audience at Tuesday’s meeting that the long-range plan has a big impact, and influences the agency’s other plans for areas such as transit, rail, highways and other modes. He said Access Ohio sets the direction for the other plans.

He told the audience that ODOT is trying to get as much input from the public it can.

“This plan is going to impact all of us, not just ODOT,” he said.

For the first time, the plan isn’t just making one prediction for the future based on the advances of Ohio’s transportation system in the last 20 years. Phinney said that is because technology is changing so quickly.

“If we each took a pen and paper and were asked what the transportation system would look like in 20 years, we would all be wrong,” he said.

Instead, ODOT researchers are developing four different plausible scenarios, with each one imagining an extreme. One assumes the transportation system will continue on the current trends. Another imagines an innovation scenario where every possible invention ever heard of has arrived, from autonomous vehicles to flying cars. A third assumes globalization and supply chains have ramped up and that Ohio continues to be at a crossroads of global markets, increasing the amount of freight traffic moving through the state. The fourth, called the “Ohio Renaissance,” wraps up the other scenarios into one and imagines Ohio sees a large influx of population, which he called the most challenging scenario because it would tax the state’s transportation system the most.

Phinney said ODOT isn’t picking one plan, but is working to develop each one equally. He also said they are looking at the whole system, not just highways.

At each of the stops, public members attending were given stickers to use to endorse different ideas they would like to see in a transportation system in five categories: one that is safe, smart, connected, community-oriented, and collaborative. Attendees were also encouraged to write their own ideas on post-it notes, and other attendees could endorse those ideas with their stickers as well.

ODOT is also asking the public to weigh in on the plan through an online survey located at https://tinyurl.com/yxsxmx9q. The survey will be open until the end of November. ODOT will then make adjustments to its strategies and actions in the plan based on that feedback and then seek public input on it again.

Asked whether ODOT has considered less optimistic scenarios, Phinney said they tried to narrow down to those four that they believe will encompass most any potential scenario. “We thought it was a nice balance.” If there is a huge increase in energy prices, for example, then one of the scenarios that imagines advancing accommodations for people to walk and bike more would be used. He said they are also looking at strategies to put together more funding for transit.

He said he believes ODOT is trying to become more multimodal in its planning and the way it funds transportation. Lawmakers have assisted with that, including passing a capital infrastructure bill for ports. But the state will also continue to be limited by restrictions on the state and federal gas tax, requiring the state to look at new streams of revenue for other forms of transportation.

After Tuesday’s public hearing, Phinney told Hannah News that because transportation is changing so rapidly, looking back is no longer a good predictor of what the future’s going to hold.

“We’ve given up on trying to predict what the future’s going to be like, and that’s why we’ve developed this scenario strategy approach,” he said. “This is a planning approach that’s really become the state of practice across the country. When you are trying to plan for a really unknown future, you do these different scenarios, each kind of going to a different extreme, and you hope whatever the future holds, it will be somewhere in the middle, and if you are ready for all four scenarios, you are ready for whatever the future holds.”