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CUTR’s Planning and Corridor Management program
provides research support, training, and technical assistance to state, regional, and local agencies on access management,
right-of-way preservation issues, best practices in transportation planning, and community impact assessment.
Researchers specialize in land development and access management practices, corridor management
planning, MPO long range planning practices, land development and access management strategies for interchange areas,
right-of-way preservation strategies, medians and roadway design issues, agency coordination strategies, public
involvement, and the development of access management and right-of-way preservation policies, procedures, and programs.
It is the role of transportation planners to provide solutions to society's mobility needs while remaining sensitive to the potential impacts of transportation improvements to the built and natural environment.
In an effort to provide a wide range of services relevant to state and national policy decision-makers, CUTR provides research and support services in a variety of transportation planning areas. Among these are community impact assessment, growth management, and transportation and land use policy development.
Access Management & Corridor Preservation
Comprehensive access management is a relatively new approach to addressing traffic congestion, crashes, and
loss of arterial capacity. Access management programs address the location, spacing, design, and operation
of street and driveway connections to major roadways, as well as subdivision and site design practices.
Access management also involves roadway design applications, such as median treatments and auxiliary lanes,
and the appropriate spacing of traffic signals.
Access management does more than preserve the safety and efficiency of major roadways. Well-designed access
systems help preserve community character, advance economic development goals, and protect the substantial public
investment in roads and highways. As state and local governments strive to cope with traffic problems,
limited rights-of-way, rising construction costs, and revenue shortfalls, more and more are recognizing the
benefits of access management.
In the face of shrinking revenue, communities across the nation are struggling to keep pace with growing demand
for transportation improvements. Agencies are paying more and getting less when it comes to roadway improvements.
Right-of-way costs often represent the single largest expenditure on a transportation project and now exceed
construction costs in many urban areas. One reason is the lack of adequate corridor preservation measures.
Corridor preservation is the coordinated application of measures to obtain control of or protect the right-of-way
for a planned transportation facility. CUTR conducts research on corridor preservation best practices, prepares
policies and ordinances, and provides training on corridor preservation to states, local governments, and MPOs.
Planning & Policy
MPO Planning
Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) are multi-jurisdictional agencies that prepare Long Range Transportation
Plans and Transportation Improvement Programs for metropolitan regions, as well as other specialized transportation
studies and activities. They are created by federal and state law to provide a continuing, cooperative and
comprehensive (3C) regional transportation planning process for urbanized areas of more than 50,000 people.
CUTR provides technical assistance and research support to MPOs, state Departments of Transportation, and
multi-MPO alliances through best practices research, training, policy development, organizational analysis,
and other specialized applied research.
Growth Management and Concurrency
Florida’s growth management act (Chapter 163, Florida Statutes) establishes guidance for local governments
to control growth through the comprehensive planning process. Transportation concurrency is a growth
management strategy aimed at ensuring that transportation facilities and services are available
“concurrent” with the impacts of development. CUTR provides research of transportation concurrency
best practices, inclusion of alternative modes in new development, mitigating transportation impacts
on congested facilities, and development review.