DOT should put away the rule book and take out its check book to address MPO governance reform. We may need fewer than 400+ MPOs across the land. But we need stronger regional planning and policy engagement if the federal transportation program is going to get the best bang for its limited buck.
MPOs accountable to local elected officials–who in turn answer to local voters—are best suited to represent the local transportation needs and concerns. We should work together to create a system that insures those local voices remain sufficiently local to understand local concerns, and yet are still heard at statewide and national levels.
While GPS mapping was groundbreaking, auto manufacturers and tech companies are now rushing to create sophisticated, ultra-precise maps of cities and every possible inch of road throughout the United States. The primary objective is to build functional and thorough digital representations of urban environments that autonomous vehicles, drones, and other automated technologies can use to safely navigate to any destination.
This week, we present a matched set of op-eds on DOT’s proposed MPO consolidation rule – one opposed to forced MPO consolidation and one in favor.
Guest op-ed critiquing USDOT’s recent proposed rulemaking to force the consolidation of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in many areas.
Guest op-ed expressing the need for the consolidation of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in many areas.
On June 27th, the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration jointly released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Coordination and Planning Area Reform. This rule has the potential to dramatically reshape the transportation planning landscape.
On May 27th, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) jointly released a final rule updating metropolitan, nonmetropolitan, and statewide transportation planning rules to reflect changes in law made by the enactment of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) in 2012 and the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act in 2015.
The potential impact of autonomous vehicles on society is vast, with both positive and negative implications.
Generally, public safety is the largest positive impact cited as AVs have the potential to eliminate the majority of the 94 percent of automobile accidents caused by human error.
When it comes to transportation problems and solutions in America, the focus often remains on the dense urban agglomerations – New York, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, etc. But what about the smaller towns and metropolitan suburbs, where the majority of Americans live?
June 25, 2015 – The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee yesterday approved, by a unanimous vote of 20 to 0, a highway reauthorization bill providing $277.4 billion in Highway Trust Fund contract authority for the Federal Highway Administration over the six-year period of fiscal 2016 to 2021.
April 2, 2015 – The Obama Administration this week submitted the legislative text of a slightly revised version of the GROW AMERICA Act, its six-year, $478 billion surface transportation reauthorization proposal, to Congress.
July 22, 2015 – Division B of the new McConnell substitute amendment for the DRIVE Act contains previously unseen provisions reauthorizing mass transit programs drafted by the staff of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. The funding authorization levels are displayed in the table elsewhere in this issue. An initial overview of major policy changes in Division B follows.
One might think that investing in airport infrastructure would be something that airport authorities and airlines would agree upon. Airport operators want to provide better services, and airlines want better airports. This would seem to be a no-brainer.
BY KEVIN HEANUE Transportation Consultant In the last edition of the Eno Brief, Steve Lockwood presented one view of a future Federal Aid Highway Program under constrained finances. It is also worth considering a fundamentally different approach meriting equal consideration.
November 10, 2014 – Voters in numerous states and localities sent mixed messages on transportation and infrastructure ballot initiatives in last week’s elections. Upon further analysis, a few patterns emerge.
BY KYLE MOTYCKA Business Development and Proposal Manager – Rail Veolia Transportation Maintenance & Infrastructure, Inc. California and Hollywood. The tie goes back to the early days of film where individuals had big dreams and Hollywood was the place where dreams come true.
BY DAVID Z. PLAVIN Like living organisms, public authorities seem to have a finite life cycle. They come into being to serve a public purpose: to undertake and/or finance public enterprises that other general governmental entities can not or do not want to do, and/or to insulate the elected leadership from any negative consequences.
BY JONI EARL Chief Executive Officer Sound Transit Many transit agencies were hit hard by the recession; what added dimension to Sound Transit’s experience was passing a $17.8 billion expansion measure on November 4, 2008, literally the eve of the financial chaos.
In the run-up to the last authorization bill, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), metropolitan regions had their sights set high.