Healthy Rural Roads II

Healthy Rural Roads II Project Overview

Healthy Rural Roads II (HRRII) is an effort to address specific transportation challenges faced by underserved rural populations. Based on community and stakehoder participation and recommendations from the first Healthy Rural Roads: Planning for Active Health and Transportation Project, this effort will produce detailed information about underserved communities' transportation service needs; establish further cooperation bewteen transportation planning agencies and other community service groups; provide communities with the tools they  need to improve rural roadway conditions for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians; and share related process and solution ideas with other transportation planning agencies around the state.

Healthy Rural Roads II Project Components

Transportation Coordination

The Humboldt County Transportation Services Gaps Analysis
This report details the gaps in Humboldt County’s formal and informal transportation services, the challenges faced by those who rely on those services, and emerging opportunities for cross-service collaboration to fill those gaps in the Humboldt County Transportation Services Gaps Analysis.

HRRII Pilot Projects
Part of the HRRII project is to empower local organizations to address transportation service coordination needs with pilot project funding. HRRII strives to catalyze functional collaboration between groups that traditionally have not worked together at all. These planning projects coordinated transportation resources and/or services to improve access to goods, services, employment, recreation and/or education for those who are transportation-disadvantaged. Three pilot projects were completed:

Project 1
Agency: Area 1 Agency on Aging/Volunteer Center of the Redwoods
Project: Eel River Volunteer Driver Program

Project 2
Agency: McKinleyville Community Collaborative
Project: Northern Humboldt Volunteer Driver Program

Project 3
Agency: Humboldt Transit Authority/Trillium Solutions
Project: Humboldt County Transportation Services Guide

Mobility Management Coalition
Mobility Management is the use of a number of strategies that result in a more efficient and effective use of transportation resources. It emphasizes the movement of people, not just motor vehicles, and gives priority to public transit and transportation services, coordinating and/or centralizing transportation information, ridesharing, non-automobile access to goods, services, and employment and provides information about non-motorized modes of transit. A Humboldt County Mobility Management Coalition was formed to continue coordination efforts between informal and formal transportation services and resources providers. Visit the Mobility Management page for more information.

Humboldt County Rural Transportation Assistance & Partnership (RTAP) Program

The RTAP program helps rural communities overcome transportation challenges and improve access to goods, services, employment, education and/or recreation via all modes of surface transportation. RTAP is a matching program through Humboldt County Department of Public Works to help address unfunded transportation needs through community partnership. The types of projects eligible for the proposed program could include street/road improvements, pedestrian/bicycle improvements, sites for access to public or community transportation services, and so forth. A ‘match' provided by residents or community organizations could potentially encompass a range of options including materials, funding, services and labor, and would depend on the context for each project and how much funding the County has available to see the project through to completion.

The RTAP program is proposed to be administered in several phases, starting with an application submitted by a community organization or residents. If the application is accepted, steps for review and planning of the proposed project will be completed in partnership with County staff. Each year, a small number of priority projects meeting program criteria will be selected for implementation, depending on available County funding. The program will be designed to allow a flexible approach tailored to each community's needs and existing or available resources. See the RTAP Page for more information.