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Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element There are two other counties adjacent to Indian River. These are Okeechobee and Osceola. Both of those counties are located contiguous to environmental or low density agricultural areas of Indian River County and therefore pose no significant impact to maintaining levels of service in the county. Long Range Transportation Plan Development and Future Needs According to the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991, each MPO must develop a long range transportation plan to address the transportation needs of its area. In addition, ISTEA requires that long range plans consider a horizon of at least 20 years. In 20052015, the Indian River County MPO completed its most recent Long Range Plan update. The horizon year for that plan is 20302040. It should be noted that the MPO is in the process of updating its LRTP to the year 20352045. After the 2035 2045 update is completed, Indian River County will amend its Comprehensive Plan to ensure consistency with the adopted LRTP. As indicated in the MPO's long-range plan, the analysis of projected traffic needs involves three primary steps: Model Validation,Needs Analysis, and Cost Feasible Analysis. • Model Validation Prior to its use as a tool for projecting needs,the Indian River County traffic model was validated using 2000-2010 base year data. The traffic model is the Florida Standard Urban Transportation Model Structure (FSUTMS) traffic model that, when run with the Indian River County highway network and socioeconomic data as inputs, predicts future traffic on area roads for desired projection years. In validating the traffic model, Census records, state labor department employment statistics, and other sources to estimate Indian River County's population and employment data for 2000-2010 were used. The 2000-2010 data were then projected through 20302040. These data are summarized in Table 4.6. The socioeconomic data were then used in the model validation process and in the prediction of future traffic levels for the long range plan needs analysis. The 2030 2040 socioeconomic data projections used in the travel demand forecasting model were based on the County's future land use map. Using the map as a control, the MPO projected single and multi family dwelling units, hotel/motel units, school enrollment, and employment for 2030 2040 by traffic analysis zones. While this methodology is standard, the results do not reflect the impact of some of the land use initiatives incorporated within this plan. To the extent that traditional neighborhood development (TND) projects are built, other mixed use projects are developed, land uses are connected, bike/ped facilities are built, and transit service is enhanced, the model results may overestimate the number of vehicle trips that the socioeconomic data projections suggest. Community Development Department Indian River County 77 APPENDIX A—Transportation Amendments