Statewide Transportation Planning

The United States depends on a safe and efficient transportation system to strengthen communities, provide access to jobs, services, and centers of trade, and, retain and enhance our economic competitiveness in the global marketplace. Transportation effects almost every aspect of our lives. The statewide transportation planning process is a forum through which transportation decisions are made to address these issues. States are required to conduct continuing, comprehensive and collaborative intermodal statewide transportation planning that facilitates the efficient, economic movement of people and goods in all areas of the state, including metropolitan areas.

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Resources & Publications

• Legislation & Regulations
• Planning Practices
• Financing Planning
• Planning Forecasting
• Related Topics

Legislation & Regulations

Planning Policy & Guidance
Statewide and metropolitan transportation planning processes are governed by Federal law (23 USC 134 and 135). Applicable state and local laws are required if Federal highway or transit funds are used for transportation investments. Federal planning regulations are codified in 23 CFR 450. The local consultation rule and the correction are available at the Office of Environment, Planning, and Realty's Legislation, Regulations, & Policy Web page.

• 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 processes. The Final Rule, published in the Federal Register on January 23, 2003, took effect on February 24, 2004.

  The Final Rule clarifies the role of non-metropolitan local officials in the statewide transportation planning process. The Final Rule requires the States to document their non-metropolitan local officials consultation process. These processes provide for the participation of non-metropolitan local officials in a statewide transportation planning and programming process 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.

  The States and Puerto Rico have documented and implemented their consultation processes.
  
  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 processes.

• Highway Systems - FHWA regulations relating to the identification of federal-aid highways, functional classification of roads and streets, the designation of urban area boundaries, and the designation of routes on the Federal-aid highway system.

Planning Practices

• Integrating Asset Management into the Metropolitan Planning Process (PDF, 425KB) - A peer exchange organized by the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Asset Management and Office of Planning was held in Traverse City, Michigan in July 2006 which included representatives from state departments of transportation together with representatives of metropolitan planning organizations to discuss the use of Asset Management techniques in the metropolitan planning process.

• The Transportation Planning Capacity Building website has more in depth information about and resources for Statewide Transportation Planning.

• Analysis of Statewide Transportation Plans (2005) - This report is the result of a review of 15 of the most recently updated statewide long-range transportation plans to identify trends and examples of planning practice in three topic areas: (1) Type of Plan (Needs-Based, Vision-Based, Policy, Project, Corridor, or Fiscally Realistic); (2) Incorporation of the Planning Factors Identified in TEA-21 and SAFETEA-LU, the federal laws that define an approach to statewide and metropolitan area planning; and (3) Multi-Modal Planning.

• Evaluation of Statewide Long Range Transportation Plans (2002) - This report is the result of a comprehensive review of current statewide plans nationwide available at the time of the review. The goals of the research were to assess how individual states approach a series of important transportation planning themes in their plans; to identify national planning trends from this analysis; and to highlight "noteworthy practices." The noteworthy practice sections of the report provide short case studies of innovative approaches to the themes by individual states. The report and forthcoming data base are intended to provide insights and references for state planning stakeholders as they develop future plans that are increasingly informative and useful for decisionmaking.

• Land Use and Economic Development in Statewide Transportation Planning (1999) (PDF, 1.65 MB) - This report provides an overview of land use activities of state departments of transportation.

• Examples of Statewide Transportation Planning Practices (1995) (PDF, 246 KB) This report presents examples of practices that were state of the art at the time of its publication.

• Reissued: Planning for Transportation in Rural Areas (January 2004) - This document provides resource information needed by rural planners, city and county engineers, stakeholders, local officials, and other decisionmakers involved with developing rural transportation plans. Readers will gain a better understanding of "rural", the variety of jurisdictions involved in rural transportation planning, including transit, and samples of successful transportation planning.

• Rural Transportation Toolbox - A project of the 1998 partnership between the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Transportation, this toolbox was designed to assist public and private stakeholders in planning, developing, and improving rural areas and small communities, especially through transportation and related projects.

• Statewideplanning.org - This website of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Standing Committee on Planning identifies and share resources and best practices on statewide transportation planning practice.

Financing Planning

• Peer Workshop on Integrating Innovative Finance with the Transportation Planning Process (PDF, 230KB) - The FHWA, in collaboration with the AASHTO SCOP and SCOFA, convened a peer workshop on “Integrating Innovative Finance with the Transportation Planning Process” in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Five participants shared their stories regarding how their agencies had addressed innovative finance in the planning process.

• Financing the Statewide Plan: A Guidebook (1999) - State requirements for a financial component of the long-range planning process have been much less stringent than those for metropolitan planning organizations. The guidebook is designed to help answer the questions: why should state departments of transportation develop a thorough financial planning process as part of their long-range plans? What should they contain? What strategies are there to bridge the ubiquitous gap between projected revenues and perceived needs? What are the pitfalls and success factors planners developing statewide, multimodal, long-range transportation plans should consider?

• Financial Planning and Fiscal Constraint: Domestic Scan Tour (PDF, 931 KB) - FHWA conducted a domestic scan in 2002 and 2003 to gather information on financial planning and fiscal constraint in the statewide transportation planning process. In the scan report, planning officials from the three states describe planning and programming processes and how financial planning is integrated into these processes. The State representatives also discussed challenges they face in balancing financial planning with long-range visions and strategies, high priority needs, and development of projects.

Planning Forecasting

• Guidebook on Statewide Travel Forecasting (1999) (PDF, 842 KB) - This guidebook reviews the state-of-the-practice of statewide travel forecasting. It focuses on those techniques that have been considered essential to good statewide travel forecasting. In addition, this guidebook presents specialized and advanced techniques of potential interest to persons involved in statewide travel forecasting.

Related Topics

• Designing for All Users - A session at the ITE 2006 Technical Conference and Exhibit explored a central issue facing transportation engineers and managers in the post-Interstate construction era: "Who are our customers (users) and what outcomes do they seek from our transportation systems - including all modes?" The session also addressed how design principles are evolving and how the terms "context sensitive design" and "context sensitive solutions" affect or change traditional transportation design principles when the goal is to design for all users.

• Feasibility Study Procedural Guidelines - A guide to the development of work statements for highway feasibility studies in which funds administered by the FHWA participate and to the management of such studies.

• FHWA Functional Classification - This reference manual includes sections on (1) concepts of functional highway classification and functional system characteristics and (2) suggested procedures for functional highway classification in rural, small urban and urbanized areas.

• Influence of Transportation Infrastructure on Land Use - (PDF, 146 KB) This document describes the development decision-making process from the private sector perspective, as well as the role that local and regional government entities play in the process. It provides a framework for understanding the relative importance of transportation accessibility, describes the role of local and regional government actions and policies, and outlines the private developer's decision-making process.

• 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 processes.

• Multimodal Tradeoffs Workshop (PDF, 995KB) - On October 31, 2005, the Multimodal Tradeoffs Workshop was held in Kansas City, Missouri, and was attended by Federal, state department of transportation, transit agency, and metropolitan planning organization representatives. The goal of the peer exchange was to identify how various agencies address the challenges of managing investment tradeoffs among multimodal systems to achieve policy objectives and balance the needs of a diverse customer base.

• Non-Traditional Performance Measures - The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Standing Committee on Planning has released a report that explores how state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations, and public transportation agencies use non-traditional performance measures in their transportation planning and decision-making processes.

• Performance Measures and Targets for Transportation Asset Management - TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 551: Performance Measures and Targets for Transportation Asset Management describes the research effort associated with production of the report and provides the current state of practice on the use of performance measures, principally in the context of transportation asset management. In addition, the report introduces a framework for identifying performance measures and setting target values. The report appendixes contain examples of performance measures and targets. The report is designed to help transportation agencies apply the concepts of performance management to their asset management efforts.

• Transportation Planning and Asset Management - As transportation planners and metropolitan planning organizations evaluate current system conditions and alternate future scenarios to make informed decisions on allocating resources, they must balance funding realities with mobility needs; public expectations; and community, legislative, and environmental considerations. Transportation asset management provides a valuable tool to maximize system performance, improve customer satisfaction, and minimize life-cycle costs.

Contact

• Lorrie Lau (lorrie.lau@dot.gov)