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Planning Fundamentals |
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FHWA Resource Center
PLANNING TEAM
The United States depends on a safe and efficient transportation system to strengthen communities, to provide access to jobs, services, and centers of trade; and to retain and enhance our economic competitiveness in the global marketplace. FHWA supports transportation decision makers as they manage the comprehensive transportation planning process. This process considers many factors including: economic development, safety and security, environment, land use and system preservation, and maintenance and integration.
The Planning Technical Service Team at the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Resource Center helps support the planning process through the provision of training, technical assistance, technology deployment, and partnerships. The Planning Technical Service Team works in partnership with FHWA Division Offices and many FHWA Headquarters Offices including the FHWA Office of Planning, the Office of Freight Management and Operations and the Office of Operations and Transportation Management.
Our vision is that transportation projects and decisions will be based on state of the practice and state of the art planning practices, thereby improving the quality of life for all Americans.
Our mission is to promote effective transportation planning practices nationwide through training and technical assistance.
Currently, the team has placed priority emphasis in deploying innovations, guidance and notable practices, in the following areas:
- Congestion Management Process (CMP). A CMP is a systematic process for defining what levels of congestion are acceptable to the community; developing performance measures to monitor levels; identifying alternative solutions to manage congestion; prioritizing funding for those strategies and assessing the effectiveness of those actions. CMPs are required for Transportation Management Areas (areas with populations in excess of 200,000)
- Visualization / Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Transportation Planning. GIS is a system of computer hardware and software that collects, stores, and analyzes and disseminates information about areas of the earth. While GIS often helps create maps, GIS can also maximize the quality and use of spatial data and analysis to help answer questions of where, how, far, how many, what size, and within what area. By using GIS to bring together information more efficiently, transportation planners are in a better position to review, analyze, and understand the problems they are addressing. This efficiency can save time and money, and a better understanding of information can lead to improved decisionmaking. Visualization involves a range of tools and techniques that can be used for a variety of transportation planning and project purposes. Under SAFETEA-LU, MPOs are required to use visualization techniques in the development of their public participation plans
- Land Use and Transportation Planning. Transportation planners and decision-makers need to be aware of the land use implications of transportation decisions. The FHWA Resource Center Planning Team provides an overview of the issues, practices and technologies that relate to coordination of land use and transportation planning. Information on these topics is available through a land use and transportation seminar.
- Freight Planning. Significant increases in freight movements are projected. These will place greater demands on the Nation's transportation system. The FHWA is undertaking a number of strategies and approaches to help the transportation community effectively respond to the growth in freight traffic. One of these is focused on freight professional development. This strategy is designed to better inform, to increase professional capacity and to expand utilization of freight tools and services among transportation planners at State DOTs and MPOs. Included as a part of this effort is a range of new freight training and technical assistance offerings.
- Transportation Safety Planning (TSP). TSP is a comprehensive, system wide, multimodal, proactive process that better integrates safety into surface transportation decision-making. The ultimate objective of effective Transportation Safety Planning is a reduction in crashes, injuries and fatalities. Achieving this goal requires a multi-pronged effort and relies upon a wide range of safety initiatives.
- Modeling and Traffic Analysis Tools. Under Federal Law MPOs and State DOTs are charged with developing plans and programs to accommodate mobility needs for persons and goods in their areas. An important component of this process involves estimating future travel demand and analyzing alternative transportation investment scenarios using travel demand forecasting scenarios.
Training and Technical Assistance
The team can provide training and technical assistance in the metropolitan and statewide planning process, programs and products, as well as a number of planning specialty areas. All team members have experience and knowledge in metropolitan and statewide planning. In addition, our team members have functional, in-depth specialties.
Functional Areas |
Team Member |
Contact Information |
Border Planning |
Lisa Randall |
Lisa: (720) 963-3209 |
Certification Reviews |
All Team Members—assist Division Offices and HQ as needed |
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Climate Change and Transportation Planning |
Jim Thorne Ralph Rizzo |
Jim: (708) 283-3538
Ralph: (401) 528-4548 |
Congestion Management Process |
Brian Betlyon Ben Williams (primary) Eric Pihl |
Brian: (410) 962-0086 Ben: (404) 562-3671 Eric: (720) 963-3219
|
Data |
Ed Christopher– Census, Traffic, Travel Surveys and Team Liaison with Office of Highway Information
Eric Pihl– Freight |
Ed: (708) 283-3534 Eric: (720) 963-3219 |
EJ / Title 6 |
Brian Betlyon Jocelyn Jones |
Brian: (410) 962-0086 Jocelyn: (410) 962-2486 |
Fiscal Constraint/Financial Planning |
Ralph Rizzo Lisa Randall Brian Betlyon |
Ralph: (401) 528-4548 Lisa: (720) 963-3209 Brian: (410) 962-0086 |
Freight |
Jocelyn Jones Ralph Rizzo (funding, financing, environment linkages) Eric Pihl (data and analysis) Lisa Randall Fawn Thompson |
Jocelyn: (410) 962-2486 Ralph: (401) 528-4548 Eric: (720) 963-3219 Lisa: (720) 963-3209 Fawn: (404) 562-3917 |
GIS and Transportation Planning |
Ben Williams |
Ben: (404) 562-3671 |
Land Use and Transportation Planning |
Jim Thorne (primary) Brian Betlyon Eric Pihl (land use modeling) |
Jim: (708) 283-3538 Brian: (410) 962-0086 Eric: (720) 963-3219 |
Planning and Environment Linkages (PEL) |
Ben Williams (primary) Jim Thorne Brian Betlyon Ralph Rizzo |
Ben: (404) 562-3671 Jim: (708) 283-3538 Brian: (410) 962-0086 Ralph: (401) 528-4548 |
Metropolitan Planning |
Brian Betlyon Ed Christopher Jim Thorne Ben Williams Jocelyn Jones Eric Pihl Ralph Rizzo |
Brian: (410) 962-0086 Ed: (708) 283-3534 Ben: (404) 562-3671 Jim: (708) 283-3538 Jocelyn: (410) 962-2486 Eric: (720) 963-3219 Ralph: (401) 528-4548 |
Native American and Tribal Planning |
Fawn Thompson (primary) Ralph Rizzo |
Fawn: (404) 562-3917 Ralph (401) 528-4548 |
Operations / ITS and Planning |
Ben Williams (CMP primary) Eric Pihl (Traffic Analysis Tools primary) Brian Betlyon |
Ben: (404) 562-3671 Eric: (720) 963-3219 Brian: (410) 962-0086 |
Public Involvement / Public Participation |
Jocelyn Jones Fawn Thompson Brian Betlyon |
Jocelyn: (410) 962-2486 Fawn: (404) 562-3917 Brian: (410) 962-0086 |
Transportation Safety Planning/Strategic Highway Safety Plan |
Jim Thorne |
Jim: (708) 283-3538 |
Scenario Planning |
Brian Betlyon Jim Thorne |
Brian: (410) 962-0086 Jim: (708) 283-3538 |
Security Planning and Emergency Response/Disaster Preparedness |
Fawn Thompson (primary) Lisa Randall |
Fawn: (404) 562-3917 Lisa: (720) 963-3209 |
Statewide and Rural Planning |
Fawn Thompson Ralph Rizzo |
Fawn: (404) 562-3917 Ralph: (401) 528-4548 |
Travel Demand Forecasting |
Eric Pihl (primary) Vacant Jim Thorne Brian Betlyon |
Eric: (720) 963-3219 Vacant Jim: (708) 283-3538 Brian: (410) 962-0086 |
Visualization |
Ben Williams (primary) Brian Betlyon Jim Thorne |
Ben: (404) 562-3671 Brian: (410) 962-0086 Jim: (708) 283-3538 |
Your Resource for Transportation Planning Solutions!
Listed below are the Resource Center Planning Specialists. Additional information about specialty planning areas, and our offerings in these areas is available. If you would like further information, please e-mail or call the Team Leader or the team Specialist assigned in a particular area.
Lisa Randall
(biography)
Planning Technical Service Team Leader
12300 West Dakota Avenue Suite 340
Lakewood, CO 80228
Ph: (720) 963-3209
Fax: (720) 963-3232
lisa.randall@dot.gov
Haydee Rodrigues
(biography)
Program Assistant
201 Mission Street Suite 1700
San Francisco, CA 94105
Ph: (415) 744-3112
Fax: (415) 744-2620
haydee.rodrigues@dot.gov
Team Members | Specialty Area(s) |
Brian Betlyon
(biography)
Metropolitan Planning Specialist
10 South Howard Street Suite 4000
Baltimore, MD 21201
Ph: (410) 962-0086
Fax: (410) 962-3419
brian.betlyon@dot.gov |
Metropolitan Planning
Congestion Management Process
Land Use/Scenario Planning
Fiscal Constraint
Financial Planning
|
Ed Christopher
(biography)
Metropolitan Planning Specialist
19900 Governors Drive Suite 301
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
Ph: (708) 283-3534
Fax: (708) 283-3501
ed.christopher@dot.gov |
Planning Data
Metropolitan Planning
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Jocelyn Jones
(biography)
Freight/Intermodal Planning Specialist
10 South Howard Street Suite 4000
Baltimore, MD 21201
Ph: (410) 962-2486
Fax: (410) 962-3419
jocelyn.jones@dot.gov |
Freight Planning
Metropolitan Planning
Environmental Justice and Title VI
Public Involvement/Public Participation Plans
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Eric Pihl
(biography)
Modeling Technical Specialist
12300 West Dakota Avenue Suite 340
Lakewood, CO 80228
Ph: (720) 963-3219
Fax: (720) 963-3232
eric.pihl@dot.gov |
Travel Demand Forecasting
Metropolitan Planning
Planning and Operations
Traffic Analysis Tools
Freight Planning
Freight Analysis and Data
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Ralph Rizzo
(biography)
Community Planner
380 Westminster Mall Room 547
Providence, RI 02903
Ph: (401) 528-4565
Fax: (401) 528-4542
ralph.rizzo@dot.gov |
Fiscal Constraint and Financial Planning
Metropolitan Planning
Statewide Planning
Tribal Planning
Freight Planning
Climate Change
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Fawn Thompson
(biography)
Intermodal/Statewide Planning Specialist
61 Forsyth Street, SW Suite 17T26
Atlanta, GA 30303
Ph: (404) 562-3917
Fax: (404) 562-3700
fawn.thompson@dot.gov |
Statewide and Rural Planning
Tribal Planning
Public Involvement and Public Participation Plans
Freight Planning
|
Jim Thorne
(biography)
Metropolitan Planning Specialist
19900 Governors Drive Suite 301
Olympia Fields, IL 60461
Ph: (708) 283-3538
Fax: (708) 283-3501
jim.thorne@dot.gov |
Metropolitan Planning
Travel demand forecasting
Land Use and Scenario Planning
Transportation Safety Planning
Climate Change
|
Ben Williams
(biography)
Metropolitan Planning Specialist
61 Forsyth Street, SW Suite 17T26
Atlanta, GA 30303
Ph: (404) 562-3671
Fax: (404) 562-3700
ben.williams@dot.gov |
GIS and Transportation Planning
Metropolitan Planning
Visualization and Transportation Planning
Congestion Management Process
Planning and Operations
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Technical Service Teams
Corporate Management
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