Western Sarpy Transportation Enhancement Plan wins award

The Western Sarpy Transportation Enhancement Plan (WE-STEP), an innovative, pro-active approach to planning future transportation networks and development by setting uniform design standards across local communities, receives statewide recognition.

The American Planning Association (APA) Nebraska Chapter awarded WE-STEP its Planning Excellence Award at the annual APA Nebraska conference on March 6 in Kearney, Nebraska.

WE-STEP is a strategic transportation plan for western Sarpy County, developed in collaboration with the City of Gretna, City of Papillion, City of Springfield, Sarpy County, and the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA).

WE-STEP provides a framework for changing communities to develop for future generations with proactive standards that are flexible and can fit with what develops around it.

”The Western Sarpy Transportation Enhancement Plan (WE-STEP) is an exciting tool for this fast growing and ever changing area of Sarpy County. Through the visionary efforts of Gretna joined by Papillion, Springfield, and Sarpy County, design criteria of the arterial transportation network are set for decades to come,” said Paula Dennison, Gretna City Administrator.

“The plan goes further by providing guidance to the development community of these criteria. The ability to have local jurisdictions come together to adopt common criteria that cross jurisdictional boundaries is RARE yet noteworthy!,” said Dennison.

The city councils of the Sarpy County cities involved in the Western Sarpy Transportation Enhancement Plan and the Sarpy County Board of Commissioners approved the plan in recent months.

“Partnerships are key to Sarpy County’s growth and success, especially as the fastest-growing county in Nebraska,” said Sarpy County Board Chairman David Klug. “Sarpy County is proud to collaborate on WE-STEP with the Sarpy cities and MAPA to ensure thorough and consistent planning.”

The Western Sarpy Transportation Enhancement Plan is available at mapacog.org/projects/we-step/.

MAPA awarded the City of Gretna a Heartland 2050 Mini-Grant for WE-STEP. The Heartland 2050 Mini-Grant program is a set aside of a portion of federal transportation funding MAPA is apportioned each year for the implementation of projects which advance the Heartland 2050 Regional Vision.

The cities of Gretna, Papillion and Springfield and Sarpy County contributed funding also.