Metropolitan Transportation Planning

The Metropolitan Planning focus area page is a one-stop shop for resources about the metropolitan transportation planning process on the TPCB website. It includes links to publications, legislation and guidance, recent peer events, upcoming calendar events, and related websites.

• A Guide to Transportation Decisionmaking   NEW!
  Have you ever wondered how decisions are made about the transportation projects that affect your life? How do government officials decide where to put a bus stop, road, or bridge? How are these and other transportation projects planned? And how can you make sure your opinions are heard and considered by residents, planners, designers, and elected officials? The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) created this guide to answer these and other transportation project-related questions. We hope this guide will help you understand how transportation decisions are made at the local, State, and national levels; and that you will take advantage of the opportunities provided to contribute your ideas. We believe that the better the public understands the transportation decisionmaking process, the more certain it is that the transportation system will be safe and efficient, and that the planning process will be responsive to public needs and concerns about their communities and the natural environment. A revised version of this guide was published in April 2015.
• The Transportation Planning Process: Key Issues A Briefing Notebook for Transportation Decision makers, Officials, and Staff   NEW!
  The Briefing Notebook is a primer for transportation decisionmakers and stakeholders. It provides government officials, planning board members, transportation service providers, and the public at large with an overview of transportation planning in metropolitan settings. Along with a basic understanding of the key concepts, the notebook provides references for additional information. Part I discusses transportation planning and its relationship to decisionmaking. Part II presents short descriptions of key products that are prepared as part of the transportation planning process. This book was updated in 2015 to reflect recent changes in Federal legislation.
• Better Plans for Better Places: How the Sustainable Communities Initiative changed the way the country plans for a prosperous future   NEW!
  The Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI) represents the most comprehensive federal support for community and regional planning in recent history. Never before has the federal government provided funding for planning that spans the environmental, social and economic challenges facing our communities. This investment enabled people and organizations in 143 places, representing nearly 40 percent of the US population, to work together--across jurisdictions, sectors, all manner of old divides--in broad and deep coalitions toward ambitious goals of vibrant, healthy, livable communities. These diverse places--urban and rural, regions and neighborhoods, thriving and more challenged--were supported by a team of experienced organizations using innovative techniques to build community capacity in myriad ways. Their results will have lasting impacts for the 145 million residents living in grantee communities and beyond.
• Best Planning Practices: Metropolitan Transportation Plans
• Federal Aid Essentials for Local Agencies - A web-based resource to help local agency professionals navigate the Federal-aid Highway Program
• Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Database - This database contains the names, locations, and key contact information for all 384 MPOs and all 155 Transportation Management Associations (TMAs) in the nation, current with the 2000 Decennial Census.
• Staffing and Administrative Capacity of Metropolitan Planning Organizations
• The Transportation Planning Process: Key Issues (the "Briefing Book") - The "Briefing Book" is a primer to help you better understand Federal transportation planning regulations and requirements at the statewide and metropolitan planning levels.

Click here to access a full list of Legislation, Regulations, and Guidance related to metropolitan planning on the TPCB website.

• To browse all events on the TPCB website or to add new ones, please visit the events calendar or the TPCB Resource Index.

The TPCB peer program is a free resource for agencies in need of transportation planning assistance. Visit the peer program page to learn more or apply for a peer event.

• Recent peer events related to metropolitan transportation planning:
  • Transit Oriented Development in Southern Nevada Peer Exchange Report
  • West Virginia Statewide and Metropolitan Transportation Planning Processes Peer Report
  • Performance-based Planning and Programming in the Context of MAP-21 (March 2014)
  Read other peer event reports.

• American Public Transportation Association (APTA)
• Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO)
• Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)
• National Association of Regional Councils (NARC)
• Planning and Environment Linkages - This website offers a wealth of information developed and compiled by the FHWA and its partners to assist in strengthening planning and environment linkages.
• Planning and Operations - This website contains numerous resources to help planners and operators gain insight into the links between the two fields. This site has a resource library of documents, presentations, and reports on current practices. It also contains a toolbox that gives examples of best practices, a calendar of upcoming relevant events, as well as a listing of courses that span the two disciplines.
• Transportation Research Board's (TRB) Metropolitan Policy, Planning, and Processes (ADA20)
• TRB's Regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations (AHB10)
• TRB's Urban Transportation Data and Information Systems (ABJ30)
• Travel Modal Improvement Program (TMIP)
• Visualization in Planning - Provides information on noteworthy practices and innovative uses of visualization for transportation planning.