Peer Program Application

The Transportation Planning Capacity Building (TPCB) Peer Program is a free resource for agencies in need of transportation planning assistance. The program pays for travel, accommodations, meals, and incidental expenses associated with on-site peer exchanges and offers workshops, roundtables, and webinars to participants free of charge. Interested agencies are encouraged to apply for assistance if they have a clearly identified transportation planning problem to solve and are interested in working with TPCB Program staff to plan and organize an event. Please keep in mind that peer events may require several months to plan.

Funding

Funding preference is given to applicants who:

• Demonstrate the importance of their planning challenges to meeting Federal planning requirements, as well as regional and state-level goals.
• Demonstrate how specifically they will use the information learned during the peer program event.
• Seek support on their topic/event from FHWA Division or FTA Regional office staff.

Who Can Apply?

Sharing strengthens transportation planning practices, builds relationships, and reinforces cooperation among transportation agencies. The TPCB Peer Program encourages many different types of agencies to engage in dialogue and share noteworthy practices, including:

• Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs)
• Transit Operators
• State Departments of Transportation (DOTs)
• Tribal Governments
• Other transportation decisionmakers

If your agency does not appear in the list above, call 617-494-2023 or email the TPCB Peer Program Manager to determine if your agency is eligible to apply.

Apply to the Peer Program

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What's the Value?

The reach of TPCB peer events is broad, with participation by professionals in all corners of the U.S., from rural and tribal areas to the nation’s largest metropolitan corridors. Evaluation forms are collected at the end of each event. Participants have told us that the most valuable elements of a peer event are:

• "High level conversation that can be had when everyone is at roughly the same level. I learned so much."
• "Interaction with a cross-section of people and functions."
• "I will be taking all of the ideas back to build a stronger implementation program for our planning program."
• "Building relationships with peers that I can take advantage of in the future."
• "Diversity of MPOs and Federal staff all at the same table for open discussion."