MAPA wins three APA awards

We’re excited to announce MAPA won three awards for its work!  The Nebraska Chapter of the American Planning Association recognized the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area Planning Agency for two of its projects and MAPA captured the organization’s Planning Agency Award for its work overall.

The Omaha Metropolitan Area Online Bicycle Map, which MAPA developed along with Live Well Omaha and RDG, won the organization’s Transportation Plan Award. In addition, MAPA won the Urban Design Award for the Gretna Downtown Revitalization Plan and Design Guidelines developed with JEO Consulting Group.

In its decision in awarding the Transportation Plan Award, the American Planning Association judges said the Omaha Metropolitan Area Online Bicycle Map demonstrates efforts to increase transportation choices for all populations, reducing dependence on private automobiles and helping to ease congestion.

In selecting the Gretna Downtown Revitalization Plan and Design Guidelines as the winner of the Urban Design Award, judges highlighted the efforts to create a sense of place, whether a street, public space, neighborhood or campus.

The American Planning Association Nebraska Chapter noted it chose MAPA for the Planning Agency Award because the organization is “a public sector planning agency that has continually produced a program of exceptional work that has elevated awareness about planning.”

“It is a great honor to have our projects and agency recognized by the American Planning Association,” said Greg Youell, MAPA Executive Director.  “These awards reinforce that as an agency we are on the right track in our efforts to connect with our communities in the Omaha metropolitan region to help them grow and thrive.”

MAPA received the awards at a banquet for the Nebraska Annual Planning Conference in Kearney, Nebraska.

The American Planning Association is a professional organization representing the field of urban planning in the United States. The organization keeps track of improvement efforts underway around the country, which may include the improvement or construction of new parks, highways and roads, or residential developments.