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The federally-mandated metropolitan transportation planning and project development process in the United States was established in 1964. The process was significantly expanded by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) to include statewide planning, and was strengthened and reinforced by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) in 1998 and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) in 2005. The planning process is ongoing, as discussed below.
METROPOLITAN PLANNING
Contact: FTA Metropolitan or Regional Office
Regional or metropolitan transportation planning (49 USC § 5303) in urbanized areas – those over 50,000 in population – is performed by the metropolitan planning organization (MPO). MPOs are responsible for developing a long-range (minimum 20 years) transportation plan and a four-year transportation improvement program (TIP) for the area, in cooperation with the state and affected transit operators. The TIP must be consistent with the long-range plan and must include all projects in the metropolitan area that are proposed for funding with federal funds.
The major elements of transportation planning in metropolitan areas are as follows:
- A proactive and inclusive public involvement process;
- Consideration of eight broad areas: support for the economic vitality of the metropolitan area; increase safety of the transportation system; increase security of the transportation system; increase the accessibility and mobility for people and freight; protect and enhance the environment, promote energy conservation, improve the quality of life and promote consistency between transportation improvements and state and local planned growth and economic development patterns; enhance the integration and connectivity of the transportation system; promote efficient system management and operation; and emphasize the preservation of the existing transportation system;
- Area studies conducted to address significant transportation problems in a corridor or subarea that might involve the use of federal funds;
- Development of financial plans for implementing the transportation plan and TIP; and
- Assurance that the transportation plan and TIP in air quality nonattainment areas conform to the State Implementation Plan as required by the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990.
STATEWIDE PLANNING
Contact: FTA Metropolitan or Regional Office
Each state is responsible for the state-wide transportation planning process within its jurisdiction (49 USC § 5304). This planning process produces both the 20-year statewide transportation plan and the four-year statewide transportation improvement program (STIP). Statewide transportation plans include the future state vision for mobility that considers the same eight factors of the metropolitan planning process.
 STIPs are short-term documents that list the projects to be advanced by the state over four years with federal funding. Only projects listed in the STIP can receive federal funding and must be consistent with the long-range plan. STIPs include all capital projects in rural areas as well as all capital projects contained in the metropolitan TIPs. STIPs are approved by the state, FTA, and the Federal Highway Administration at least every four years or when the STIPs are updated.
NEW STARTS PLANNING AND PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Contact: FTA Metropolitan or Regional Office
FTA’s discretionary New Starts program is the federal government’s primary financial resource for supporting locally planned, implemented, and operated transit “guideway” capital investments. SAFETEA-LU authorize $8 billion in Section 5309 (49 USC § 5309) New Starts funding for fiscal years 2005 through 2009 for the construction of new transit projects. Projects seeking New Starts funding, like all federally-funded transportation investments in metropolitan areas, must emerge from a locally-driven, multimodal transportation planning process and follow FTA’s New Starts Planning and Project Development Process. Steps in the process include
- alternatives analysis, where local agencies evaluate several modal and alignment options for addressing mobility needs in a given corridor and select a locally preferred alternative to implement;
- preliminary engineering, where project costs, benefits, and impacts are refined; federal environmental studies are completed; and local funding commitments are secured; and
- final design, which includes right-of-way acquisition, utility relocation, and the preparation of final construction plans.
SAFETEA-LU directs FTA to evaluate and rate New Starts projects as they proceed through the project development process and as input into federal funding recommendations published in the Department of Transportation’s Annual Report on New Starts to Congress. The ratings and evaluations of proposed New Starts are used to help identify those projects that are most worthy of federal investment.
Separate funding is provided for projects requesting less than $75 million in New Starts funds beginning in fiscal year 2007. These projects will be subjected to a simplified project development and rating process in which preliminary engineering and final design are combined into a single step called “project development.”
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW PROCESS
Contact: FTA Metropolitan or Regional Office
Projects which are proposed for federal funding by FTA must meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA requires federal agencies to carefully consider the environmental effects of the projects they propose to fund before making a decision to proceed. Like other federal agencies, FTA relies on past experience with a wide variety of mass transit projects to select the appropriate level of environmental impact assessment and review.
 Many types of projects can be processed with minimal or no environmental documentation. Major projects involving substantial new construction and greater off-site impacts are handled with specially prepared environmental documents and a formal review-and-comment process.
There are many single-purpose environmental protection statutes in addition to NEPA, such as Section 404 of the Clean Water Act; Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act; and Section 4(f) of the DOT Act. FTA’s general policy is to satisfy the requirements of related environmental statutes within the framework of NEPA compliance.
Another important goal of the environmental review process is to provide a forum for the general public to learn about a project proposal and react to it. Over three decades, many citizens have become aware of FTA’s responsibility to comply with NEPA. FTA uses this process as the primary means of soliciting comments about a project from the affected community. After public review and comment, FTA works with the local project sponsor, usually a public transit agency, to try to mitigate adverse environmental effects caused by the project.
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