For Immediate Release:  Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Contact:  Kristi Sandal, Public Information Officer, 605-773-3265

Department of Transportation & Pennington County

Seeks Public Input into

Pennington County Transportation Plan Study

Rapid City, S.D. - The South Dakota Department of Transportation, in collaboration with Pennington County, will hold public open houses as part of the Connecting Hills and Plains Study (CHAPS) to gather public input for help in developing the Pennington County Master Transportation Plan. 

These open house public meetings will be held at 5:30 p.m. MDT on the following dates and locations:

CHAPS will address a full range of transportation options and issues, including pedestrian, bicycle, transit, freight, and automobile.  The purpose of these public meetings is to gather information on community needs and desires to develop a long-range, multi-modal plan that will provide a blueprint to address the future transportation needs of Pennington County.

As part of CHAPS, an Internet survey on transportation needs and travel patterns within Pennington County is also being conducted.  To participate in the survey, please visit the Web page https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/STDHBNP.

For those who cannot attend the meeting or desire additional information on the study, information will be made available online after the meeting at http://www.sddot.com/pe/projdev/planning_ss_pennco.asp.

The meetings will be held from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the locations indicated.  A brief, summarizing presentation will be made at approximately 5:45 p.m. followed by an open house discussion with SDDOT, county, and consultant staff.  The opportunity to present written comments will be provided.  Written comments will be accepted until Nov. 3, 2011.

Notice is further given to individuals with disabilities that this public meeting is being held in a physically accessible place. Please notify the SDDOT ADA Coordinator within 48 hours of the public meeting if you have special needs for which this agency will need to make arrangements.  The telephone number for making special arrangements is 605-773-3540 or 1-800-877-1113 (Telecommunication Relay Services for the Deaf).

For more information, contact Steve Gramm, Data Analysis Engineer, at (605) 773-6641 or by email at steve.gramm@state.sd.us.

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