Background

Omaha’s transportation policy sustains and creates our transportation network. This transportation network allows us to move freely about and through the city. It also provides jobs, economic development, and could be environmentally sustainable. The current transportation policy found in the form of the transportation element as a part of the city’s master plan was adopted by the city council in the mid 1990’s.

This policy directs all future transportation projects within the City of Omaha and guides the formation of the capital improvement plan and city budget and thus directs how our transportation dollars are spent. This policy also shapes how transportation projects are completed in private developments.

The City of Omaha is currently working on a year long process to update the Transportation Master Plan. This update will take the existing transportation policy and move it forward, creating a balanced and equitable transportation network focusing on all modes of transportation:

• automobile
• bicycle
• pedestrian
• transit
• freight
• air

Omaha, over time, has become a community reliant upon the automobile. Omaha will continue to rely on the automobile for most trips in the community, but through new policy developed in this update, citizens of Omaha will have choices in mobility.

Funding for this project comes from a generous grant from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) through the Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grant program. The CDC understands how the built environment effects the health of the community.