CRITICAL ISSUES IN STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

This paper highlights state-of-the-art ideas and procedures that are pertinent to current problems in the statewide transportation planning process. It draws on the critical issues that emerged during the preparation for and participation in a national series of seminars on statewide highway planning. The seminars were sponsored jointly by the states and the Federal Highway Administration. Issues include fiscal problems, public involvement, planning and programming relations, multimodal planning and programming, energy, land use, and surveillance and evaluation. The overriding issue in most states is that expected highway revenues will not meet expected highway needs. The states' responses highlight the need for state governments to manage available resources more effectively. Courses of action available to the states include preservation of the existing transportation system, emphasis on possible rather than desirable improvements, focus on specific corridors for modal trade-offs, more extensive education in energy conservation, land use control to protect highway utility, early and continued public involvement, and management's accountability for implementation of state transportation improvement programs. These activities are discussed and examples are given of how some states are dealing with the issues. /Author/