TRANSPORTATION

Planning | Roads & Highway | Active Transportation | Transit

Transportation
Improvement Program

Michiana on the Move:
2050 Transportation Plan

The Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is a four year, short-range plan that provides information regarding the transportation projects that are federally funded in the MACOG region.

The TIP includes projects for all modes of surface transportation including highways and streets, active transportation, and public transportation. Projects listed are developed in cooperation with state and local agencies.


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Michiana on the Move is a long range plan that identifies regionally significant transportation needs and issues in the region. It is a fiscally constrained document that includes a demographic analysis of the community as well as an examination of travel patterns and trends. The planning process includes an analysis of alternatives to meet projected future demands and for providing a safe and efficient transportation system that meets mobility while not creating adverse impacts to the environment.


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Transportation Asset Management Plan

The Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) is an essential management tool which brings together planning, construction, maintenance,and operation to improve performance of the transportation network. A TAMP provides local and state governments the opportunity to allocate investments where they are needed most by analyzing conditions, evaluating alternatives, and project future needs.

Communities with an INDOT approved asset management plan are eligible to seek funding from the Community Crossings Match Grant Program. This allows local governments to get additional funds to complete needed road maintenance projects.


Traffic Signage

In 2011, MACOG initiated a region-wide Traffic Sign Inventory and Management System. The inventory includes the location, condition, and type of sign in Elkhart, Kosciusko, Marshall, and St. Joseph Counties. The information is stored in an online management program, and local communities maintain the inventory. The program provides users tools to plan and manage sign replacements and repairs.

Pavement Condition

Pavement deteriorates at a faster rate as it ages. It is important to have an up-to-date inventory and assess the condition of the roads. MACOG assists communities in collecting pavement condition data using the PASER system. The PASER (Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating) system is a visual assessment that rates the condition of the road from 1 (failing) to 10 (excellent). With this information, local governments are able to project future conditions of the pavement and plan for the most effective treatment.

ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION

Active transportation is human-powered transportation that engages people in healthy physical activity while they travel from place to place. People walking, bicycling, pushing strollers, using wheelchairs and other mobility devices, skateboarding, and rollerblading are all forms of active transportation. Everyone is a pedestrian in each trip they take, whether that means walking from the transit stop to work or walking across the parking lot.

The MACOG region boosts of more than 800 miles of trails, bike lanes, and bicycle routes. MACOG continues to foster a region-wide commitment to accessible and efficient active transportation. In 2016, the Active Transportation Plan was adopted into Michiana on the Move: 2040 Transportation Plan. This plan identified needs and resources to improve and increase walking and bicycling in the region, and serves as a comprehensive strategy to ensure that all users of the transportation network are able to move around in a safe, connected, and accessible environment.

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Congestion Management

Congestion management is the application of strategies to improve transportation system performance and reliability by reducing the adverse impacts of congestion on the movement of people and goods. A congestion management process (CMP) is a systematic and regionally-accepted approach for managing congestion that provides accurate, up-to-date information on transportation system performance and assesses alternative strategies for congestion management that meet state and local needs.

The CMP, as defined in federal regulation, is intended to serve as a systematic process that provides for safe and effective integrated management and operation of the multimodal transportation system.

2011 Congestion Management System

The process includes:

  • Development of congestion management objectives

  • Establishment of measures of multimodal transportation system performance

  • Collection of data and system performance monitoring to define the extent and duration of congestion and determine the causes of congestion

  • Identification of congestion management strategies

  • Implementation activities, including identification of an implementation schedule and possible funding sources for each strategy

  • Evaluation of the effectiveness of implemented strategies

SAFETY

Improving highway safety is vital to the health and well-being of every Hoosier. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), motor vehicle-related injuries are the leading cause of unintentional death for people in the United States. Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) developed a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) that focuses attention on emphasis areas that represent the state’s greatest roadway crash prevention or mitigation needs. Working with INDOT and the Indiana State Police, MACOG reviews and uses collected crash data to identify high-crash locations and locate potential safety project locations.

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TRAFFIC

Annually, MACOG collects and analyzes information on traffic traveling in north central Indiana. The data is used to assess transportation needs, system performance and to develop planning and programming recommendations. Traffic data also plays an important role in planning and design of transportation projects.

MACOG collects traffic data at nearly 4,500 locations, on local and state roads, every three-years in nine northern Indiana counties. Counts are conducted on a 48-hour cycle and over 99% of the counts include vehicles classification, meaning we can differentiate between cars, motorcycles, semi-trucks, and buses.

Traffic count data for the region is also made publicly available via the Regional Traffic Count website. The data is seasonally adjusted to represent the annual average daily traffic (AADT).

Regional Traffic Counts

Freight

Indiana is the Crossroads of America leading to a high volume of freight in the region. North Central Indiana is served by an interstate highway, many state routes, rail lines, and connections between these networks. Being able to provide a network that accommodates these movements efficiently is critical to the region’s economic well-being.

The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act includes freight provisions that establish national goals for multimodal freight and designation of a national freight network. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) completed a 2014 Multimodal Freight and Mobility Plan and the Indiana State Rail Plan in 2011. The department is preparing an update to the Rail Plan in 2017.


Regional Freight Profile

There is a high volume of freight traffic in the region because of the concentration of rail infrastructure and highways. Indiana Toll Road (I-80/I-90), US 20, US 30, US 31, SR 2, US 6 are vital corridors. CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, Canadian National, South Shore Freight, Elkhart & Western, Grand Elk, and Chicago, Ft. Wayne & Eastern operate trains on the rail infrastructure in the region.

Past and Current Efforts

2004 MACOG Freight Transportation Study: An Analysis of Freight Capacity and Movement in North Central Indiana
2007 Regional Truck Route Inventory

Related Resources

Federal Highway Administration
Federal Railroad Administration
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adminstration
Indiana Department of Transportation
Conexus

ROADS &
HIGHWAYS

Functional Classification

Streets and highways are classified by the Department of Transportation according to their intended service in the road network. The classes are interstate, other freeway & expressway, other principal arterial, minor arterial, major and minor collector, and local. The characteristics of the routes differ depending on urban or rural location.

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The Indiana Department of Transportation maintains and updates classifications as traffic and development changes. A map viewer is available to the public through their website.

INDOT Functional Classification Viewer


Intelligent Transportation Systems

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is the integration of advanced communications technologies into the transportation infrastructure and in vehicles. ITS encompass a broad range of wireless and wireline communications-based information and electronics technologies.

MACOG works to incorporate various ITS related strategies and technologies into the overall transportation planning and project development process. Following is the Regional ITS Strategic Plan and Architecture. This plan describes how various projects and strategies incorporate ITS components and apply them to our region.

Regional ITS Strategic Plan and Architecture 2010-2020 Project Listing

Regional Public Transit Providers

Fixed-Route Bus Services

Transpo

In South Bend and Mishawaka, Transpo operates twenty fixed-routes on 30 minute and 60 minute headways. In addition to offering fixed-route service, Transpo also offers paratransit services, which covers a three-quarter of a mile corridor on either side of the transit routes. Transpo also provides four Mishawaka School Tripper routes during the school year, tailored towards providing students an opportunity to use public transit to get to school.

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Interurban Trolley

The Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) administers the Interurban Trolley, a five route bus service in Elkhart and Goshen. In addition to offering fixed-route service, the Interurban Trolley also offers paratransit services, which covers a one and a half mile corridor on either side of the transit routes.

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Public Demand Response Services

A demand response service is a non-fixed route system that requires riders to schedule trips ahead of time. There are three services in the MACOG region: Kosciusko Area Bus Services (KABS), Marshall County Council on Aging, and Council on Aging of Elkhart County. Each of the services operates throughout their respective counties.


Rail Transit Services

South Shore Line

The South Shore Line, operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD), is a commuter rail service providing access from South Bend to Downtown Chicago. The South Bend boarding site is located at the South Bend International Airport and links the South Shore Line with airline services and other public bus service. Five daily trains leave from South Bend bound to Chicago, with five trains offering return service.

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Amtrak

Amtrak provides rail passenger service throughout the United States. There are two passenger station within in the MACOG region, South Bend and Elkhart. Two routes run along this line: Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited. Capitol Limited runs from Chicago and Washington D.C. providing service daily. Lake Shore Limited runs daily from Chicago to Boston and New York.

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Coordinated Public Transit
-Human Services Transportation Plan

The Coordinated Public Transit - Human Services Transportation Plan (Coordinated Plan) provided a short-range plan for the implementation of public transit and social service transportation concepts in the region. It identifies the initial gaps, needs strategies and activities necessary to provide public transit in Elkhart, Kosciusko, Marshall and St. Joseph Counties. The Coordinated plan is required to include the following:

Coordinated Transportation Plan

The Coordinated plan is required to include the following:

  • an inventory of current transit providers in the four-county area, including public, private, and non-profit providers;
  • an assessment of transit needs for older adults, individuals with disabilities, and persons with low income;
  • strategies, projects and/or activities to address identified gaps between current services and opportunities to improve service efficiency; and
  • a prioritization process for selecting projects to implement specific strategies or activities for potential funding.

Section 5310

MACOG is a designated recipient of Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funding for the Section 5310 "Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities" grant program. The Section 5310 grant program offers federal funding to support capital projects (securing vehicles) and operational funding support for programs that provide transportation to older individuals and those with disabilities.

Capital Funding Application Process Application Exhibits

Application Process

Call Issued: April 15, 2024
Applications Due: May 30, 2024
Staff Review: June 2024
Award Notification: July 11, 2024

Title VI Program

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits recipients of federal financial assistance from discriminating against or otherwise excluding individuals on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any of their activities. The Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG) and the South Bend Public Transportation Corporation (Transpo) are committed to complying with the requirements of Title VI in all of its federally funded programs and activities. MACOG is required to update and submit a Title VI Civil Rights Program to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) every three years.

Title VI Program