Rural transportation planning is the process of examining travel and transportation issues and needs in non-metropolitan areas. It includes a demographic analysis of the community in question, as well as an examination of travel patterns and trends. The planning process includes an analysis of alternatives to meet projected future demands, and for providing a safe and efficient transportation system that meets mobility while not creating adverse impacts to the environment. In metropolitan areas over 50,000 population, the responsibility for transportation planning lies with designated Metropolitan Planning Organizations; in small communities and rural areas there is no federally designated body to do transportation planning. In some states, planning for these areas is undertaken by the State Department of Transportation. In other states these functions are performed by Rural Planning Organizations or local governments.

Related Topics

• Legislation, Regulations, and Guidance
• Local Officials Consultation
• Rural Data Needs
• Briefing Notebook for Transportation Decisionmakers, Officials, and Staff

Training and Education

Technical Resources

• Publications
• Case Studies
• Links

Peer Programs

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 Related Topics

• Legislation, Regulations, and Guidance
• Rural Data Needs
• Briefing Notebook for Transportation Decisionmakers, Officials, and Staff

Legislation, Regulations, and Guidance

Detailed information on the federal laws, regulations, and guidance pertaining to transportation planning may be found at the FHWA Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty site for Legislation, Regulations, and Guidance and at the FTA Office of Planning site for Planning Statutes and Regulations.

Non-Metropolitan Local Officials Consultation- TEA-21 legislation provides for States to consult with and consider the concerns of non-metropolitan officials, when making transportation decisions in their Statewide Transportation Planning and Programming duties. The final rule on local official consultation was published in the Federal Register on January 23, 2003 with a correction to the final rule published on February 14, 2003. The Final Rule clarifies the role of non-metropolitan local officials in the statewide transportation planning process. The final rule requires States to document their consultation process with non-metropolitan local officials that provides for their participation in statewide transportation planning and programming and that is separate and discrete from the public involvement process. The States are required to review and solicit comments regarding this process in order to ensure that the process is continually effective. All required States have documented and implemented their processes.

St Louis Non-Metropolitan Local Official Consultation Workshop — AASHTO, with support from the FHWA, sponsored a workshop to discuss experiences and suggestions on implementing a Final Rule on Non-Metropolitan Local Consultation. Specifically, the workshop provided a forum for representatives from states, the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), the National Association of Counties (NACO) and other key stakeholders to foster mutual learning by sharing their experiences in implementing consultation processes with non-metropolitan local officials and to offer suggestions of how to enhance effective collaboration. This report provides a preliminary overview of the workshop proceedings.

Understanding the Communications and Information Needs of Elected Officials for Transportation Planning and Operations (Word) — The objective of this document is to enhance FHWA's communications capabilities and approaches with local elected officials (as well as senior appointed officials), with an emphasis on the linkages between transportation planning and transportation systems management and operations.

Rural Data Needs

The need for consistent data on rural America to help shape policy and understand needs and issues of rural citizens is critical. To address this need a Geographic Information System will allow for the production of map products and/or reports to give a snapshot of transportation characteristics of rural America.

National Rural ITS Conference Duluth, Minnesota (August 22-25, 2004) — The conference equipped professionals from all modes of rural transportation with the tools and information to aid in the common goal of saving time, lives, money, and improving the quality of life. Conference attendees heard presentations covering a multitude of areas and exchange information on planning, development, and implementation of ITS in rural America.

Briefing Notebook

The Transportation Planning Process: Key Issues
A Briefing Notebook for Transportation Decisionmakers, Officials, and Staff   (PDF)

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 Training and Education

Formal training courses provide a rigorous background in the substance and methods of the planning process. The TPCB Program includes formal training in a broad range of transportation planning subjects. These sessions are geared to the needs of decisionmakers, transportation officials, professional staff, and FHWA and FTA field staff. New courses are being developed based on feedback from transportation professionals.

Transportation planning training courses are offered by the National Highway Institute (NHI) , the National Transit Institute (NTI), The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Travel Model Improvement Program (TMIP) , and other organizations offering NHI, NTI, and FHWA recognized courses.

A number of planning courses are available from the FHWA, FTA, and other resources that relate directly and indirectly to Metropolitan planning issues. For more information go to the TPCB Training and Education page.

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 Technical Resources

• Publications
• Case Studies
• Links

Publications

• A Citizen’s Guide to Transportation Decisionmaking
• How to Engage Low-Literacy and Limited-English-Proficiency Populations in Transportation Decisionmaking (PDF)
• Planning for Transportation in Rural Areas — Provides information and references for rural transportation planners to develop a planning process that best suits local circumstances.
• Rural Transportation Consultation Processes — May 2000 (pdf) and the Supplemental Report, State-by-State Summaries of the Processes Used and Local Views on Them — April 2001 (pdf), developed for the FHWA, are located at the National Academy of Public Administration.
• Rural Transportation Planning Workshops — A series of reports (pdf) that document the results of a workshop series sponsored by the FHWA in an effort to study and report to the Congress on the effectiveness of the participation of local elected officials in transportation planning and programming.
• Serving Rural America — This guide provides the latest information on the Department’s grants, programs, and initiatives designed to meet the USDOT’s transportation goals for rural America.
• A Study of the Impact of Nine Transportation Management Projects on Hurricane Evacuation Preparedness — This evaluation report draws lessons-learned from nine states’ experiences with hurricane evacuations as well as Louisiana’s deployment of "Hydrowatch" information stations.
• Transit at the Table: A Guide to Participation in Metropolitan Decisionmaking (PDF) and Executive Summary (PDF) — This report presents the observations, perspectives, and recommendations of a cross-section of transit agencies from large metropolitan areas on how to secure strategic positions in the metropolitan planning process. More importantly, the report can be a guide on how to use those positions to win policy and program support for priority transit services. The challenges to achieving full decisionmaking partnerships in regional settings, the most effective strategies for addressing these challenges, and the rewards of partnerships are presented by transit industry leaders using their own experiences. (January 2005)
• Transportation/Air Quality Issues in Rural Areas, (MS Word) — Although air quality has been mainly an urban concern, it is beginning to become an issue that rural areas will also have to manage. Several rural counties have exceeded the national standard for one or more air pollutants. The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of how many rural areas are facing this problem and to identify the main causes for their exceeding air quality standards. The study focuses on transportation’s contribution to the air quality problems in rural areas and how these areas are meeting certain Clean Air Act requirements related to motor vehicle emission sources.
• Other Publications of Interest

Case Studies

Kansas Crossroads: The Future of Rail Freight Movement in Rural Kansas — Kansas ranks in the top ten states for miles of highway and miles of rail. While much of the track that has been lost in the past was due to the growth of the highway system and the increased competition from truck traffic, the rail abandonments of recent years can not be easily remedied by increased truck usage and the result directly impacts rural Kansans.

The Rapidly Urbanizing/Overview report identifies examples of innovative transportation planning practices by states and metropolitan planning organizations to include rural communities near rapidly growing urbanized areas or small towns that are expected to become urbanized by the next U. S. Census.

Under FHWA’s Transportation and Community and Preservation Assistance Pilot Program (TCSP), a number of case studies were prepared that address issues of interest to planners in rural areas and small communities. Go to the TCSP Project Evaluations page to see them.

Links

National Rural Development Partnership — The National Rural Development Partnership (NRDP) is a multi-faceted organization bringing together partners from all levels of government as well as private for profit and non-profit organizations to address the needs of rural America. Below you will find information explaining the history, structure, and future of the NRDP.

The Rural Information Center provides information services for rural communities, officials, organizations, and citizens. The RIC Website contains over 3,000 links to current and reliable information on a wide variety of rural resources and funding sources, including RIC’s Database, Federal Funding Sources for Rural Areas Database.

RuralTransportation.org – Developed under partnership between the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) is a web-based resource tool for rural transportation stakeholders, including local elected officials and regional development professionals.

Rural Transportation Tool Box — Part of a partnership between the US Department of Agriculture and the USDOT concerning long-term agricultural transportation, rural passenger and freight mobility challenges. This document and site were designed to assist public and private stakeholders in planning, developing, and improving rural areas and small communities, especially through transportation and related projects.

USDA Economic Research Service Briefing Rooms — Each Briefing Room offers an in-depth discussion synthesizing ERS research and the economic issues that frame the analysis. Also included are recent ERS research developments, readings and data, questions and answers, and a collection of other ERS products and services addressing the issue. There is a wealth of valuable information for anyone working in rural and small communities.

World Bank: Rural Transport Group — Rural Transport encompasses all the transport activities taking place at local government and community levels. It is composed of two elements, the rural transport services for passengers and freight by non-motorized and motorized means of transport, and rural transport infrastructure, mainly rural roads, tracks, trails, paths and footbridges, and in some cases rural waterways. The mission of the Rural Transport group is to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of rural transport investments by harnessing the knowledge of transport professionals and exploiting synergies through strategic networking with related groups’ professionals.

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 Peer Programs

The Transportation Planning Capacity Building Peer Program is one of the most important pieces of the overall Transportation Planning Capacity Building vision. By providing opportunities for sharing solution-based experiences throughout the professional planning community, the Peer Exchange Program seeks to recognize, support, and promote good metropolitan, statewide, rural, and tribal transportation planning practices nationwide. Sharing ideas, noteworthy and solution-based experiences between Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), regional planning organizations, transit operators, state departments of transportation (SDOTs), and tribal governments not only strengthens transportation planning practices, but also builds relationships and reinforces cooperation between these agencies. The people who depend on the transportation system ultimately benefit from this peer exchange in the form of a more efficient multi-modal system that provides mobility and access for passengers and freight.

For more information go to the Peer Programs page.

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