January 15, 2008

The first meeting is set for Wednesday, February 20th in the Gantt Room of the Newton City Hall at 401 North Main Street in Newton, NC. The meeting will use a "drop-by" format, designed so that citizens may drop by at a time of their convenience between 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm, to give his or her opinion.

The second meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 5th from 4:00 until 7:00 p.m. at the Western Piedmont Council of Governments Office at 736 4th Street SW in Hickory, NC. The “drop-by” format will again be used for the March 5th meeting.

Staff from the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), Catawba County, City of Newton, Greater Hickory Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the Unifour Rural Planning Organization (RPO)will be present to provide information and answer questions on transportation issues.

NCDOT, the Greater Hickory MPO and the Unifour RPO have recently begun a process to develop a Comprehensive Transportation Plan to guide policy decisions on transportation issues for Burke, Alexander, Caldwell and Catawba Counties for the next twenty years.  The Greater Hickory MPO is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization for the urban portions of Alexander, Burke, Caldwell and Catawba Counties. The Unifour RPO is a state designated Rural Planning Organization for the remaining portions of those four counties.

For additional information, contact John Marshall at the Western Piedmont Council of Governments at 828-485-4232.