LAND USE AND TRANSPORTATION STRATEGIES DEVELOPED IN CENTRAL FLORIDA'S LONG RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLAN

This paper describes how transportation planning organizations are constantly struggling with balancing transportation supply with the demands created by land use. In Central Florida, this issue is further complicated by the single sided responsibility of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to coordinate transportation without land use regulatory authority. Arguably, land use decisions have dictated the transportation needs. The 2025 Long Range Transportation Plan for the Orlando Urban Area has addressed this issue for the first time by completing a Land Use Alternatives approach in order to develop implementable land use strategies as a policy tool to make transportation investment more sustainable. The MPO formed a partnership with participating agencies to allow local land use planners an opportunity to formulate and test alternative land use strategies against the preferred transportation plan. These strategies will be used to inform local agencies of the most effective strategies and land use prototypes to sustain their communities and maximize the land use/transportation relationship. Results produced from this effort will be used to inform local city councils and county commissions of the benefits derived from enhancements to the land use/transportation system. This paper describes the process followed to develop and test the land use prototypes and details the strategies that produced the most significant and positive results.