ISTEA Planner's Workbook

The ISTEA Planner's Workbook is the result of many hours of hard work on the part of the exceptional authors who are contributing to these pages. Their years of experience in addressing issues of transportation planning and policy- in many different arenas and from many different perspectives - make this book an invaluable source for both transportation professionals and citizen activists alike. Each paper adds immeasurably to the knowledge base and advances transportation planning to a new level. The Surface Transportation Policy Project is proud to present their contributions in this paper series, as summarized below.

Kristina Younger of the Capital District Transportation Committee in Albany, New York, identifies in her paper on public involvement the key decision points in which the public must be involved in order to have a meaningful impact on program and plan outcomes. In addition, she offers and evaluates a wide range of techniques for providing public participation opportunities.

Phil Braum of Barton Aschman Associates, frames the consideration of the state and metropolitan planning factors under ISTEA within policy, technical, decisionmaking, and intergovernmental frameworks. The paper further provides potential considerations for addressing each factor in both the long range plan and the project selection process. Sample projects are intended to spark thinking about innovative solutions to address the planning factors.

In his paper on financial constraint, David Murray of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in Oakland, California articulates the reasoning behind the financial constraint requirements. He also provides a discussion about technical projection methods that will be as useful to the local advocate who is trying to participate in the planning process as it will be for the transportation professional.

The conformity of transportation plans to air quality plans is elaborated by Sarah Siwek of Sarah J. Siwek & Associates, whose paper describes the intent of conformity, health impacts of air pollutants, and requirements and responsibilities under the federal regulations. This paper thoughtfully and clearly informs the debate on this issue, which is under much discussion nationwide.

Julie Hoover of Parsons Brinckerhoff tackles the issue of Major Investment Studies, required in the metropolitan planning regulations. She delivers much needed answers to questions of responsibility, interagency cooperation and planning linkages, while recommending clear actions for state and local entities.

Robert Stanley of Cambridge Systematics, Inc. has developed a timely paper on Congestion Management Systems and, importantly, the notion of performance. He not only provides details on the purpose and development of management systems, but identifies the need to evaluate measures of system performance within the context of ISTEA's vision.

Finally, Hank Dittmar of STPP has contributed two insightful papers to this workbook. The first is an answer to the many requests STPP receives for a model Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). This paper provides a section-by-section discussion of how a TIP can be organized and presented in order to serve as a user-friendly tool for all interested participants in the planning process. The second paper calls attention to the notion of a Metropolitan Transportation System that is articulated in ISTEA. Two examples of regions that have developed an MTS are provided and the role of an MTS is explored within the context of political and planning processes.

The breadth of knowledge brought together in these papers promises to be an important resource for transportation professionals, decisionmakers and citizen advocates. Editing the Workbook has proved to be a fantastic opportunity to soak up innovative ideas about transportation planning, and it will doubtless provide insight and guidance to anyone involved with making the vision of ISTEA a reality.