Metroplan’s role is to plan common infrastructure – especially the transportation systems that connect our communities with each other and with the world. An important part of Metroplan’s work is with citizens, civic and business organizations, and local governments to develop consensus-backed solutions, which it then works to integrate into the state highway plan and local road, street and transit plans.

As a part of the green agenda, Metroplan will continue to support complete streets. Complete streets plan for all users; young, old, people of all abilities, pedestrians, bicyclist, public transit, and automobiles. We will also monitor federal and state legislation that may impact transportation planning such as high-speed rail, complete streets, public transit, restrictions on greenhouse gases, etc.

Current activities include:

• arkRide.com : Arkride.com is a state of the art ride matching system that allows commuters in central Arkansas to quickly and securely find rideshare partners.
• Multi-modal plan: The Strategic Regional Network plans for regional bikeways, road systems, and transit investments.
• Congestion relief: Metroplan tracks and evaluates roadway congestion for the Central Arkansas Regional Transportation Study (CARTS) area. Each fall Metroplan performs travel time surveys on freeways and arterials in the CARTS area. The result of these surveys is formulated into the CARTS Congestion Management System (CMS) analysis each year. In 2008, Metroplan engaged citizens in Operation Bottleneck, where citizens identified traffic bottlenecks as well as safety issues relating to driving, walking, or biking.