Download Free Improving State And Metropolitan Planning Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Improving State And Metropolitan Planning and write the review.

Planning at a metropolitan scale is important for effective management of urban growth, transportation systems, air quality, and watershed and green-spaces. It is fundamental to efforts to promote social justice and equity. Best Practices in Metropolitan Transportation Planning shows how the most innovative metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in the United States are addressing these issues using their mandates to improve transportation networks while pursuing emerging sustainability goals at the same time. As both a policy analysis and a practical how-to guide, this book presents cutting-edge original research on the role accessibility plays - and should play - in transportation planning, tracks how existing plans have sought to balance competing priorities using scenario planning and other strategies, assesses the results of various efforts to reduce automobile dependence in cities, and explains how to make planning documents more powerful and effective. In highlighting the most innovative practices implemented by MPOs, regional planning councils, city and county planning departments and state departments of transportation, this book aims to influence other planning organizations, as well as influence federal and state policy discussions and legislation.
"Historically, municipalities and regions continually competed for a share of transportation funds. The process was dominated by state Departments of Transportation where cooperation, equity and participation were limited. Eighteen years ago the federal government provided metropolitan areas with the opportunity to play a larger role in the regional transportation process. On December 18, 1991 President George H.W. Bush signed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Equity Act (ISTEA). The legislation ushered in a new era of cooperation between state and local leaders by empowering regional Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). The federal legislation's intention was to allow a region, through their MPO, to address participation, economic development, social equity and quality of life issues through their transportation policy. The significance and effectiveness of these increased functions has not been determined. The work of other scholars is insufficient to determine whether MPOs are making a difference and led to calls for further research. There was a need for an in-depth examination of MPOs through a comparative case study. This study examines whether Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) make a difference in regional transportation policy-making. It investigates whether MPOs increase public saliency, increase the consideration of social factors (e.g. employment, quality of life and equity) and improve elected official participation in the regional transportation planning process. The study examines six major regional transportation projects: Three projects at the Kansas City MPO; Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), and three projects at the St. Louis MPO; East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWGCOG). Study results were determined through comparative analysis of the case studies. The evidence suggests MPOs make a difference in four of the five areas examined. They make a difference in public saliency, quality of life, employment factors, and elected official involvement. The means by which an MPO makes a difference include: employing expert consultants, advisory groups, and numerous internal committees brokering political agreements, and managing funds. The cases illustrate that the MPOs powers to coalesce regional cooperation are informal and that MPOs make a reasonable difference in regional transportation policy. The study points toward the need to provide more resources to MPOs."--Abstract.
The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) developed a framework for more productive and safer transportation systems, friendly to both the environment and communities. This booklet offers a glimpse into the experience of the past five years and describes the progress that has been achieved since ISTEA was adopted. It is a review of transportation planning progress to date based on information collected from state and metropolitan agencies across the country. Examples of these advances range from widespread incorporation of improved financial planning in long-range plans and short-range investment programs, to strategic initiatives for engaging citizens in the planning process, and to fuller integration of air quality improvement as a goal of transportation planning. This review identifies and discusses four major categories of results: improved investment decisions; working to improve environmental quality; indispensable partnerships; and service to communities.
Planning at a metropolitan scale is important for effective management of urban growth, transportation systems, air quality, and watershed and green-spaces. It is fundamental to efforts to promote social justice and equity. Best Practices in Metropolitan Transportation Planning shows how the most innovative metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in the United States are addressing these issues using their mandates to improve transportation networks while pursuing emerging sustainability goals at the same time. As both a policy analysis and a practical how-to guide, this book presents cutting-edge original research on the role accessibility plays - and should play - in transportation planning, tracks how existing plans have sought to balance competing priorities using scenario planning and other strategies, assesses the results of various efforts to reduce automobile dependence in cities, and explains how to make planning documents more powerful and effective. In highlighting the most innovative practices implemented by MPOs, regional planning councils, city and county planning departments and state departments of transportation, this book aims to influence other planning organizations, as well as influence federal and state policy discussions and legislation.
Metropolitan Planning Organizations: Options Exist to Enhance Transportation Planning Capacity and Federal Oversight
Metropolitan planningorganizations (MPO) areresponsible for transportationplanning in metropolitan areas;however, little is known aboutwhat has been achieved by theplanning efforts. Thiscongressionally requested reportdescribes (1) the characteristicsand responsibilities of MPOs, (2)the challenges that MPOs face incarrying out their responsibilities,(3) how the U.S. Department ofTransportation (DOT) providesoversight for MPOs and the extentto which this improvestransportation planning, and (4) theoptions that have been proposed toenhance transportation planning.To address these objectives, GAOsurveyed all 381 MPOs (with an 86percent response rate) andconducted case studies of eightmetropolitan areas and conducteda survey of program managers.GAO suggests that Congressconsider making MPOtransportation planning moreperformance based by, for example,identifying specific transportationoutcomes for transportationplanning and charging DOT withassessing MPOs' progress inachieving these outcomes in thecertification review process. GAO