MTPO - I was on the MPO in 2023 - HMc

Destination 2050 is the Metropolitan Topeka Planning Organization’s update of the regional long-range transportation plan. The project site is live, and the first community survey is open.

MTPO is the federally required metropolitan planning organization for the Topeka urbanized area. It was formed in 2004 as a partnership of the City of Topeka, Shawnee County, Jefferson County, Topeka Metro (TMTA), and KDOT. Its job is the continuing, cooperative, comprehensive transportation plan that decides which roadway, transit, bike, pedestrian, and freight projects can compete for federal and state money. The current plan is Futures 2045, approved June 23, 2022, and it expires June 23, 2027. Destination 2050 is the required five-year update, looking out about 25 years.

The site frames the plan as the guide for streets, sidewalks, bike routes, public transit, freight, and safety. It will identify needs, set priorities, and recommend projects.

Schedule on the site:

1. Plan review and data collection — summer–fall 2026 (review existing plans, analyze data, demographics).
2. Public and stakeholder engagement — fall 2026–winter 2027 (outreach, goals and objectives).
3. Plan development — winter–spring 2027 (strategies, draft recommendations, public review).
4. Adoption — spring 2027.

Two listed events have already passed: Avenue Market at Evergy Plaza on September 26, and an open house at TCALC on September 29. Further open houses are promised; the site asks people to sign up for email updates.

How to weigh in now:

• Survey: surveymonkey.com/r/destination2050
• Project site: destination-2050.com
• Contact: Carlton Scroggins, Transportation Planning Manager, cscroggins@topeka.org, 785-368-3728, 620 SE Madison Street
• Standing MTPO site: topekampo.org

For development work, this plan is the upstream document. Projects have to be consistent with the MTP before they land in the Transportation Improvement Program (current TIP is FFY 2026–2029, approved by MTPO on October 23, 2025). Capacity, access, freight, and safety priorities written into Destination 2050 will shape what KDOT and the city can fund through 2050. The engagement window for goals is open now; draft recommendations come in winter–spring 2027.