Planning

PGA’s Planning Group strives to achieve greater outcomes for our clients and the communities in which we work. We do this by providing plans and documents that lead to implementation. We use reliable planning processes to develop incremental project phasing and to identify financial options that help fund future project phases.

Our number one goal as planners is to enhance the quality of life within our communities. We work alongside the people who live, work, and play in the communities of each of our projects to gain a deep understanding of the uniqueness of the area and the needs and desires of the people who use the facilities and amenities we plan for. Integrating transportation and land use planning strategies and policies is the key to ensuring we create great places and spaces for everyone to enjoy. We believe in bringing people together to make lasting decisions about the built environment.  We use highly collaborative methods with stakeholders to achieve consensus for path forward by engaging everyone in the process: residents, business owners, community leaders, elected officials, and government agency staff.

Our team members are recognized throughout the state and around the nation as subject matter experts on many planning topics including context-based design, multimodal safety, and MPO processes. We have conducted municipal transportation master plans, conceptual designs, traffic impact analyses, areawide trail network plans, Roadway Safety Audits, and corridor safety studies.

MASTER PLANNING GROUP

Our Master Planning Group specializes in systemwide analysis to determine needs and prioritize solutions. The system can be any community-focused infrastructure, from greenways to the entire transportation system or even a county-wide library system. Despite the variety in topics, Master Plans typically are large-scale and longer-term. Our planners excel at keeping the big picture in mind – the community’s vision and goals – as they drill down to specific projects and funding sources that can be implemented immediately. A Master Plan’s transparent and thoughtful prioritization process leads to stronger community support when it reflects their vision and values, and it helps decision-makers respond to fluctuating funding realities by aligning priorities with various goals.

Our Master Planning Group is also active in working across PGA’s disciplines to incorporate Green Infrastructure in our plans—increasing the urban tree canopy, reclaiming wetlands for stormwater management, and other ways to provide easy connections to nature and turn typical projects into beloved community assets with long-term impacts.

CONTEXT-BASED DESIGN GROUP

Streets are meant to serve broad community objectives such as vibrant neighborhoods and business districts, and our goal is to identify cost-effective solutions that don’t just meet minimum standards but rather create comfortable and appealing travel experiences for all users.

Our Context-Based Design Group specializes in developing transportation plans and design concepts that translate a community’s vision into actionable projects. Inherent in our work is the context-based design philosophy that a successful street fits the land use context and safely meets the needs of all people. We leverage data, active listening, recognized expertise in the latest state and national design criteria, and intuitive observations of a corridor’s needs to develop implementable design concepts  

Planning Group Specialties include:

• MPO/TPO and policy planning
• Integrated transportation and land use studies
• Multimodal planning
• Safety action plans
• Roadway safety audits
• Traffic analysis
• Corridor studies
• Trail network planning
• GIS analysis 
• Dashboard development 
• Public Engagement 
• Conceptual design