Regional-Local Conflicts in Transportation Planning

Recent trends suggest a dramatic swing from past practices of locating major transportation facilities with emphasis upon the interests of certain publics (notably the motoring public) to perhaps an overriding consideration of local interests that are intolerant of broader needs and concerns of other affected publics. More effective representation of all interest groups in the transportation planning and negotiating process requires: (1) More attention to impact on community values at the system and corridor planning phases; (2) procedures for documenting system-wide impact of eliminating controversial links; (3) multimodal transportation planning; (4) common goals and objectives for regional transportation and land development planning; and (5) better means for injecting broader citizen interests into the planning process.