FAQ's
What federal agencies impact transportation planning?
How is rural transportation planned for?
Does NARC maintain a program relating to AMTRAK and passenger rail?
What about airports and airline service?
How are MPOs and TMAs established or altered?
Why are formulas used to allocate federal transportation money?
How are transportation project's selected and built?
What is an MPO/Metropolitan Planning Organization?
What is SAFETEA-LU?
Why is it important for MPOs, RPOs and COGs to join the National Association of Regional Councils?
Why is freight and goods movement such and important issue?
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Q: What federal agencies impact transportation planning?
A: The most important department is, of course, the Department of Transportation. Within DOT, several agencies are involved in transportation planning. The most important are the Federal Highway Administration, and the Federal Transit Administration. Each has its own Office of Planning and a number of other offices specialising in topics important to COGs and MPOs. Other agencies affect transportation planning as well, including the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, the Federal Maritime Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In many ways, transportation planning impacts other areas of policy. Programs that fall under the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Homeland Security, Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency are all impacted by transportation infrastructure provision.
Q: How is rural transportation planned for?
A: The structures of regional rural transportation planning organizations are more varied than metropolitan planning. Transportation needs in rural areas varies more than in urban areas, as planning agencies must take into account agricultural, natural resource, and geographic circumstances often not encountered in metropolitan areas. Therefore, rural transportation planning is less standardized than metropolitan transportation planning. In part, this is because the federal government does not mandate a specific planning process required to receive funding.
Even though the federal government does not mandate a planning process for rural transportation, many states empower regional agencies to perform the task. If chartered by the state government, RTPOs are usually co-located and co-staffed with the region’s Council of Government (COG). This joint COG/RTPO performs a wide variety of tasks, including land use planning, intergovernmental coordination, aging services, and environmental planning along with their transportation planning duties.
The planning process for rural transportation planning organizations is not all that different than their metropolitan counterparts—data is collected, analyzed and related agencies are consulted. Long term plans are written, scrutinized by the public, and approved by the board. The principal difference is that RTPOs do not have to conform their plans to USDOT standards. Further, the pathway of project and administrative funding is different. RTPOs and the projects they build are funded with state discretionary funds, while MPOs operate using federal funding that merely passes through the state’s hands.
Q: Does NARC maintain a program relating to AMTRAK and passenger rail?
A: NARC has supported–will advocate for–the continued provision of passenger train service in the United States. However, NARC agrees that AMTRAK and the federal government should take steps to ensure that the corporation is as efficient as possible. NARC recognizes the important role that AMTRAK plays for rural and small communities that lack airline service or interstate access. It is important to note that passenger rail service has two separate components: commuter rail and AMTRAK. While the two are not entirely separate, NARC considers commuter rail to be a type of public transit.
Q: What about airports and airline service?
A: NARC recognizes that airports and airline service are a crucial component of inter-regional mobility. Further, our member MPOs and COGs play an active role in the construction and management of certain airports. NARC’s transportation staff monitors policy-making on aviation issues and advocates for our members when situations arise. NARC actively monitors the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) and the Essential Air Service (EAS) Program. Our members have also established a working group to formulate addition aviation policy for NARC.
Q: How are MPOs and TMAs established or altered?
A: MPOs and TMA boundaries are roughly determined using data gathered during the diennial census. The most critical piece of information is the urbanized area (UZA) designation, which indicates the presence of an urban core with 1000 people per square mile or more. This core area is included with outlying areas with more than 500 people per square mile to create the urbanized area boundary. If the urbanized area has a total population of more than 50,000, it is designated as a Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA). A Metropolitan Planning Organization is created to perform transportation planning and federal funding allocation within the MPA. The Governor of the state determines the final MPO boundary, and outlying areas with low population density can be included in the MPO.
A Transportation Management Aarea (TMA) is established when an MPA exceeds a population of 200,000. A USDOT certification is required for a TMA, which includes drafting several detailed plans including a Congestion Management Plan. After the certification is complete, the TMA is eligible for additional federal funding.
Q: Why are formulas used to allocate federal transportation money?
A: Formulas are used because the need for limited transportation money is not uniform across the entire United States. A different formula is written in authorizing legislation for each transportation program. Programs use formulas that are calculated using data on a wide variety of topics including population, air quality measures, public transportation ridership, or traffic congestion. Data inserted into formulas is scientifically obtained by governmental agencies such as the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the United States Census Bureau, or the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additional information–such as traffic crash data and transit ridership figures–are collected from state, local, and regional agencies.
The Highway Safety Program uses one of the simplest formulas in the transportation funding arena, and this discussion is provided as an example of how a formula system works. The Highway Safety Program divides its $1.26 billion annual funding based on three ratios:
State traffic fatalities over nationwide fatalities (example 1,210/42,824 = 0.028 )
State highway lane mileage over nationwide highway lane mileage (example 24,134/893,859 = 0.027)
State vehicle miles traveled over nationwide vehicle miles traveled (example 99,579,395/2,691,335,000 = 0.037)
The HSP formula applies equal weight to each of the three factors. By averaging the three ratios, the state’s share of federal dollars can be calculated. The state’s formula apportionment of federal Highway Safety Program dollars would be 0.0306 or 3.06% of the Federal total. The example state would receive about $38.5 million per year under this formula. This formula program ensures that states with high numbers of traffic fatalities, roads, and drivers receive the most safety funds. If HSP funds were simply divided equally among the 50 states, each would receive approximately $25.2 million annually.
Q: How are transportation project's selected and built?
A: The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has put together a brief tutorial for the general public on how transportation investment decisions are made:
Q: What is an MPO/Metropolitan Planning Organization?
A: An in-depth discussion on MPOs can be found here
Q: What is SAFETEA-LU?
SAFETEA-LU stands for the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act- a Legacy for Users. It is an Act of Congress passed in August of 2005 after more than two years of debate. SAFETEA-LU is 866 pages long with tens of thousands of programs and provisions worth $286 billion. The bill directs spending for surface transportation (highway, transit, bike/ped) for federal fiscal years 2005 through 2009.
Q: Why is it important for MPOs, RPOs and COGs to join the National Association of Regional Councils?
A: NARC provides the platform for regional organizations to share information, explore new fields of interest, and collectively advocate for federal policy. It is important for regional organizations to stand together and voice their opinions to Congress and the Administration. To learn more about the activities of NARC, and how to join, explore this website or contact us.
Q: Why is freight and goods movement such and important issue?
A: Over the coming years there will be no greater impact on our transportation system in the future than the massive inflow and distribution of goods. The country's economic reality is changing to meet Asian and European imported goods distribution needs. The challenge we face is daunting: we have no coherent national policy to deal with goods and freight movement. Nor do we have the available resources upfront to infuse our seaports, airports, highways and rail lines with enough capital to be efficient in the short run.
This is not an exclusively urban or rural problem – this is a global issue affecting every sector of our market and every consumer. All modes of transportation are affected by the goods movement crisis. Trucks need the road facilities to meet the demand for maritime shipping and just-in-time delivery to retail outlets. Trucks moved 7.8 billion tons of goods in 2002, worth an estimated $6.2 trillion. U.S. DOT predicts this will increase by 70% before the year 2020. Meanwhile, more freight is moving over longer distances than ever by rail and air. 29 million freight rail cars carried 16% of all goods moved in the United States. Air cargo facilities need to expand to meet the new influx of cargo planes–up to 3,000 new freighter planes are expected to be in service by 2020. Ports need the ability to expand to meet growing shipping demand–both in terms of volume and sheer size. By 2020, the volume of maritime freight will reach 25 billion tons, worth over $30 trillion.
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