Review of MPO Long Range Transportation Plans and Regional MPO Planning Activities and Products

To assist FDOT with updating the Florida Transportation Plan in coordination with metropolitan planning organization (MPO) planning activities and plans, CUTR was asked to: 1) review and summarize Florida MPO long range transportation plan (LRTP) goals, objectives and planning priorities; 2) assess the status of regional transportation planning products; and 3) document the research method used in 2002 to prepare a 20-year statewide transportation shortfall and discuss the practicality and validity of extrapolating that financial shortfall estimate using data from a small sample of MPOs. CUTR reviewed MPO long-range transportation plans to identify their key transportation planning priorities. The various policy statements (goals, objectives and other policy statements) from individual MPO LRTPs were synthesized into generalized goal statements representing the most frequently stated priorities of individual MPOs. In all, 20 generalized goal statements were developed. An assessment of the status of regional transportation products was conducted and an inventory of both completed and planned regional transportation planning products was created. In all, 21 of Florida’s 26 MPOs have entered into formal arrangements to form seven (7) regional associations of MPOs. A wide variety of transportation planning products have been produced by the regional associations of MPOs, including regional long range transportation plans, project priority lists, transportation models, public involvement programs and websites, and transportation studies (transit, economic impact, land use vision, etc.). Developing a revised estimate of the 20-year statewide financial shortfall, based on an extrapolation of the 2002 shortfall estimate using sample financial data, would be impractical and difficult to defend. Instead, a new statewide shortfall estimate should be calculated in 2006, at which time all 26 individual MPO long range transportation plans would have been updated. + Read more