SOUTH POINT — Members of the KYOVA Interstate Commission spent Friday looking forward to the future transportation needs of the area.

Monday, March 05, 2001

SOUTH POINT — Members of the KYOVA Interstate Commission spent Friday looking forward to the future transportation needs of the area.

The group met at the Grandview Inn in South Point to review the transportation plans for 2002 through 2005. KYOVA members also reviewed the newly drafted long-range plan targeted for 2025.

Ironton city engineer and KYOVA Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) chair Joseph McCallister explained the purpose of the commission. He said KYOVA was the "Metropolitan-Planning Organization" for the urbanized areas in Lawrence County and Cabell County, W.Va.

McCallister said KYOVA is responsible for writing the Transportation Improvement Program, or TIP. The TIP includes all of the transportation projects that receive federal money.

He said that in order for the Ohio and West Virginia transportation departments to receive federal highway dollars for projects, construction plans must be included in the KYOVA TIP and should have been a project outlined in previous long-range plans.

"The 2002-2005 TIP and 2025 long-range plans are planning documents," McCallister said. "The plans help appropriate money to fund highway construction."

The Chesapeake bypass and Ironton-Russell bridge were a few of the projects listed in the 2002-2005 TIP.