Reinventing the Urban Interstate: A New Paradigm for Multimodal Corridors (2011) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 60-73
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From page 60... ...
Local governments typically have responsibility for land use; state highway departments design, build, and operate freeways; transit agencies plan, build, and operate transit services; and federal transportation agencies provide funding and oversight. Multimodal corridors require close collaboration among these and other institutions that may not typically work together.
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From page 61... ...
These DOTs were not accustomed to planning and operating facilities for other modes such as transit, paratransit, bicycling, or walking -- those not explicitly incorporated into the original interstate highway system.1 Similarly, transit agencies are important in multimodal corridor projects, but they generally focus on operating and maintaining their existing services. As a result, when calls are made for transit agencies to expand and include planning for transit-oriented development and pedestrian and bike access to their systems, agencies often think that this will be more than they can handle.2 As a result, transit and highway agencies in particular can appear to serve distinctly different constituencies, and the skill sets valued in one agency are not always transferable to the other.
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From page 62... ...
In recent years the USDOT has evolved from being an agency focused exclusively on highway construction into an increasingly effective partner in facilitating multimodal corridors. USDOT strengths as a new paradigm project partner include • Working relationships with federal legislators and other policymakers who can help build political and financial support for a new paradigm project • Experience working with transportation planning, engineering, and construction firms • Active collaborations with state DOTs and transit agencies • An ability to set standards of practice in transportation planning, engineering and financing practices that could benefit new paradigm projects • An increasingly multimodal perspective, the result of a number of reforms both from within and outside of the federal government.
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From page 63... ...
Even so, since this scarcity of transportation funds is a challenge that all projects and modes face, the multimodal nature of new paradigm projects may help make them more competitive for federal funds in the future since they offer the potential for cost-savings, multimodal coordination, reduced environmental impacts, and greater person-carrying capacities than competing unimodal projects. Working to fill the gap, local governments are increasingly levying sales taxes to fund transportation projects.
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From page 64... ...
State DOT strengths as new paradigm project partners include • Real-world expertise at planning, designing, building, and operating highway facilities and networks • A close working relationship with USDOT, an important source of new paradigm project funding • Relationships with highway planning, engineering, and construction firms • Relationships with local governments, since state DOT highways often serve as primary travel arteries through and between cities and counties where new paradigm projects might be built • Access to alternate funding sources such as state transportation funds and county and city sales taxes that are playing an ever-increasing role in meeting the shortfall in available federal funds • An increasingly multimodal perspective, the result of a number of reform movements both from within and outside of state DOTs. The trend toward a more multimodal orientation has made state DOTs an important partner in new paradigm project collaborations.
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From page 65... ...
, the Regional Denver's Regional Transit District, and numerous local governments within the corridor commissioned the Major Investment Study in 1995, CDOT and FHWA were concerned that the recommendations were too transit-oriented and contained only minor freeway capacity improvements. At this point, the partnership took a step back, reassessed their priorities, and decided to focus on improvements that would enhance mobility for all modes of travel in the corridor, not just transit.
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From page 66... ...
As a result, efforts to enhance transit services in freeway corridors through cross-agency partnerships can find willing and enthusiastic partners in transit agencies. Efforts to build a multimodal corridor require active transit agency involvement.
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From page 67... ...
In particular, transit agencies advocate for multimodal solutions to transportation problems and as new paradigm project partners with access to various federal, state, and local project funding sources. Transit Agencies as Agents of Multimodal Compromise In the case of the T-REX multimodal corridor project (see Figure 6-1)
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From page 68... ...
But their decision-making powers come from below, as their governing bodies are typically run by boards of constituent local government representatives.20 The wide-ranging scope of their responsibilities for transportation modes in their region, their role as the funding conduit from the federal and state levels to local modal agencies, and their mandate to coordinate and prioritize the various transportation projects throughout their regions offer an opportunity to facilitate multiagency partnerships that are central to new paradigm projects. MPO agency strengths in multimodal, new paradigm project partnerships include • Regional-level planning and project financing expertise • Access to funding from multiple levels of government • Ongoing, staff-to-staff-level working relationships and partnerships with local transit agencies, governments, state DOTs, and USDOT • Commission/board representatives typically drawn from local government administrative and elected officials MPOs: Potential New Paradigm Consensus-Builders Nevertheless, these MPO strengths can also manifest themselves as shortcomings and obstacles when undertaking a new paradigm project.
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From page 69... ...
However, to be effective advocates for matching growth patterns and access improvements to the needs of the transit line and freeway in a new paradigm corridor, it is best if local governments are given the power to pool their efforts and coordinate their policies and programs between neighboring jurisdictions. Research on comprehensive planning techniques in highway corridors suggests that these goals can be achieved either by empowering local governments with state legislation to encourage cooperation in land use planning or by creating regional agencies that have authority to do land use and transportation planning at a regional level.22 However, when local governments are determined to take a leadership role in new paradigm corridor development, state or other legislation may not be necessary.
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From page 70... ...
Similarly, the success of Washington DC's Orange Line/ I-66 corridor, which has the highest transit ridership of any multimodal corridor researched here, is due in no small part to the active participation and influence of Arlington County's local government. These agencies fought to have the Orange Line diverge from its in-median alignment along I-66 and travel at a half-mile distance to the south through its planned commercial centers.
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From page 71... ...
identified certain common, key factors in states that allow local governments to successfully engage in interjurisdictional cooperation: • Coordinated financial incentives to encourage local government cooperation • Support for inter-agency collaboration by state officials • Public recognition in the state and the corridor that the state has land use and transportation problems that require inter-jurisdictional solutions22 State legislation can help other new paradigm project stakeholders to collaborate, but research suggests that whether a state has such legislation or not, the willingness of a local government to partner with the DOT on corridor access management and land use issues is a critical factor determining the success of corridor planning efforts.25 Since multimodal corridors are often designed to take advantage of existing freeway rights-of-way as a means to add high-capacity transit, effective collaboration between state DOTs (who own and operate most freeway facilities in the United States) , transit agencies, and MPOs (to name a few)
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From page 72... ...
States also have enacted laws governing access to HOV lanes and design standards for various facilities. These laws can restrict context-sensitive designs that are not "by the book." At the local level, many transit agencies have property or sales taxes that fund transit capital and operating expenses.
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From page 73... ...
In doing so, each partner has brought their best capabilities to the table: local governments have provided land use controls and surface street facilities that support the transit line and the freeway; the MPO has played the role of consensus-builder and project financier; the transit agency has been the lead agency in designing, building, and operating the transit line; the state DOT has been both an advocate for a multimodal corridor design and the lead agency responsible for re-designing the freeway facility; and the USDOT has played the role of providing project oversight and advocating within the federal government. Successful new paradigm partnerships should be designed so that each party is given a role according to its strengths and is given a sense of empowerment in decision making.
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