For those who have specific ideas of what they would like to see in state highways in the future, the Ohio Department is having a public meeting next week in South Point to address.

The state is updating its long-range transportation plan, which is called Access Ohio 2045.

ODOT spokesperson Kathleen Fuller said that the agency is gathering public feedback in what they would like to see up to 25 years from now. She said it is similar to the agency’s STIP program but looking further down the road when it comes to infrastructure projects.

“STIP is more a short-term, short-range four year plan,” she said. “Access Ohio 2045 is looking ahead at the next 25 years. We’re rolling this out now to get feedback.”

Information will be gathered from all the meetings and then presented as a “statewide document as to what the public believes are the needs we should address. And it is a good way for us to present what we are looking at,” Fuller said.

The meeting will be held on Thursday, from 4–7 p.m., with presentations at 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at the Lawrence County Area Chamber of Commerce in South Point.

“It is a living document for us to look at as we move forward to the road network across the whole state,” Fuller said. “It gives local people a chance to come to a meeting and address regional and local needs.”

They will be taking questions and ODOT will do what they can to address the question.

“Things we can’t address at that time, we can certainly give them feedback later. We can take down information from them. And there is a survey online,” Fuller said. The survey is at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Ohio-Future-Transportation-Strategies

“People can post questions or comments on that,” she said.

Fuller said that since Access Ohio 2045 is a statewide initiative, there would be people from ODOT’s central office to answer questions. “Again, this is a long-term look ahead, for people to discuss their wants and needs in their area, not just local, but regionally.”