Transportation Planning of the Future: Mitigating GHGs in the US through Green Litigation

This paper describes how the US Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficient Act of 1991 (ISTEA) signaled a shift in transportation planning, moving the process from a federal-state partnership to one in which the role of regional planning agencies became central to the selection and prioritization of transportation infrastructure. This devolution of responsibility has been reinforced with the passage of transportation enabling legislation, including the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The broad perspective underlying these legislative actions was, and has been, that regional governments are better suited for selecting and prioritizing transportation projects. The new path is clear: metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are responsible for prioritizing billions of dollars each year to implement long-term, 20-year regional transportation plans (RTPs). This paper reviews two recent important case studies that highlight the difficulties of responding to shifting state and national priorities within the current institutional context of regional transportation planning.