Corridor management plans pave the way

Careful planning helps to identify future goals and needs of a byway

Opinion by Lynn Scharenbroich

July 01, 2023 at 12:57 PM

A lot has been said about the value of good planning.

For scenic byways, that’s the role of a corridor management plan. From its start in the early 1990s, the Federal Highway Administration’s National Scenic Byways Program required corridor management plans for scenic byway designation.

CMPs are community-based and flexible "living documents" that typically address issues such as tourism development, historic and natural preservation, roadway safety and economic development. The CMP is a guide that addresses a byway’s major goals and issues, but does not necessarily offer solutions for every problem.

If you want the time spent planning to be the most productive it can be, start with compelling stories and keep returning to them as the planning moves along. This raises the likelihood that the plan that results from this effort will be more inspirational, more credible and more effective.

A Harvard Business Review article in October 2020 called this, “a new goal-setting framework."

The Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway Association is now at the start of a planning process to update our CMP, one of the group’s guiding documents. The plan was most recently updated about eight years ago with the help of Region 5 Development Commission.

The current update is being done in partnership with Crow Wing County Highway Department, a committee composed of members of the Paul Bunyan Scenic Byway Association board of directors and an open invitation to the area public to join in at any of the meetings.

So, if the value of stories is important in informing the direction and quality of the final CMP, what kind of stories will do that job best? The PBSB is a nationally designated byway with designation based on its recreational resources, but also celebrating its historical, cultural, scenic, natural and archeological characteristics.

That wide array encompasses a lot of story possibilities. The stories we tell and retell about this valuable route will impact the complexion of the final, updated version of the CMP.

Most of us enjoy sharing our favorite stories about where we live, work and play. We enjoy supporting the things we love about our home area. So, support what you enjoy.

Visit www.paulbunyanscenicbyway.org for more information.

Scan to for brief survey!