America’s national parks typically evoke nature: brooks, hot springs, geysers, redwood trees, and glacial valleys. Transportation may be an afterthought for most visitors, unless they happen to get stuck on a congested roadway. Indeed, a well-oiled transportation system should hardly be noticed at all within a national park.
Long-range transportation plans explain the vision, goals, objectives, and investment strategies for the transportation needs of the National Park Service (NPS). For four years, Volpe has helped NPS craft a national long-range plan that outlines the strategies that will ensure that the roads winding through the nation’s cherished places are safe and in good repair.
The Challenge
Unlike traditional metropolitan planning organizations, NPS must not only meet organizational planning standards set by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), but it must also meet the park service’s own rigorous planning standards. When creating a 20-year transportation plan, NPS must account for more than just transportation—the agency must also consider visitor experience and ensure that natural and cultural resources are protected.
These long-range plans must satisfy the following NPS planning factors:
- Visitor experience
- Resource protection
- Safety
- Facility management
- Financial stability
The plans must also satisfy the following DOT planning factors:
- Economic vitality
- Safety for all users
- Security for all users
- Accessibility and mobility for people
- Environmental enhancement and protection
- Connectivity of the transportation system
- Efficient system management
- System preservation
The Solution
Volpe’s team of seven planners brought a deep understanding of and experience in creating long-range plans—what these plans must include, and the continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive (3-C) process that is used to develop them.
Along with the Denver Service Center, a project-funded organization within NPS, Volpe’s planners co-managed an NPS-wide, multi-disciplinary effort to establish visions, objectives, strategies, performance measures, and actions. The project team conducted broad outreach efforts to NPS staff and external partners, including interviews with 80 subject matter experts. These interviews helped guide NPS toward a long-term vision that fulfills the agency’s planning goals. The project team also provided critical financial analysis and financial and asset management experience.
Furthermore, the project team facilitated communication and ideas among dozens of NPS stakeholders, leading NPS staff to define performance measures, set targets, and produce a plan that is based on performance metrics. The final NPS long-range plan is slated for a fall 2015 release.
The Impact
Volpe’s research and project management expertise assisted NPS in developing a working definition of transportation assets across the National Park Service. NPS management now has a holistic understanding of historical and future funding sources for transportation needs and an approach to most efficiently manage its finances. The NPS national long-range plan will provide a policy and analysis framework to roll out to regional offices and larger parks to create their own long-range plans.
The NPS long-range plan will also ensure that every dollar the park service invests in transportation is put to the best use, and that those investments to build, maintain, and rehabilitate transportation infrastructure tie back to NPS core goals.
Volpe’s involvement in this process has provided, and will continue to provide, NPS with the data-driven, big-picture transportation plans that are vital for Americans who thrive on exploring the nation’s vast natural and cultural resources.