01559860

Component

Federal and state transportation planning statutory and regulatory laws require transportation projects to be consistent with transportation plans and improvement programs before a federal action can be taken on a project requiring one. Significant delays in project delivery can occur if the federal funding is withheld when projects are found to be inconsistent with transportation plans and improvement programs. This issue is especially critical for projects in nonattainment and maintenance areas because an inconsistent project might trigger a conformity failure or delayed determination for the entire plan and/or program. This paper describes the main challenges leading to project inconsistencies, which are insufficient communication over the changes to projects’ design concept and scope, cost, and estimated letting date. The research team developed a comprehensive background informational, Project Consistency Guidebook, and a project consistency checklist for practitioners to check for consistency during the project development process. The guidebook explains how project planning and development interact with the regional and project level air quality conformity process, and details procedures and tools that Departments of Transportation and Metropolitan Planning Organizations can use to understand and maintain project consistency.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADA10 Statewide Multimodal Transportation Planning.

01550057

15-4732

English

19p

2015

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Metropolitan planning organizations; Programming (Planning); State departments of transportation; Transportation planning

Project consistency; Project development process; Transportation projects

Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General); I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-4732

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 1:34PM