John Thomas, planning director for the Utah Department of Transportation, and representatives from a Utah consulting firm will give a presentation next month on a creative web-based tool his department uses to interact with the public in project planning.
ITD and the Federal Highway Administration are considering whether the model program UPlan is appropriate to adapt for Idaho, explains Erika Bowen, planning/program management supervisor in the Division of Highways.
Four years in the development process, UPlan integrates information in layers to allow planners and the public to view the relationship between infrastructure, the environment, system assets, projects and other influences.
Thomas and consultants from Bio-West will demonstrate the Utah planning tool Aug. 8 from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Headquarters Auditorium. It also will be available through video conference links to all six districts.
“UPlan is a great publishing system that allows users to see a great wealth of information at their fingertips and in one location,” Bowen says.
“Attending this demonstration will enable you to see the potential in this product, consider how it could be utilized to improve the efficiency of your job and start the discussion of all the difference sources of information that could be included.”
Bowen will be available after the demonstration to gather suggestions or responses to the UPlan.
“As we move forward to creating something similar, I want to make sure that the application not only publishes information that ITD and other agencies can provide, but becomes our automatic ‘go-to’ tool that can help each of us in our jobs.”
Video links available:
District 1: Video Room
D-2: Conference Room
D-3: Region Large Conference Room
D-4: Video Room
D-5: Conference Room 2
D-6: Large Conference Room
Published 7-22-2011