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Overview of the Transportation Planning Process

Improving the transportation planning process was the central theme of
the workshop both in the plenary and breakout group sessions. Figure 1
depicts the process as discussed in the workshop and in this Guidebook.
The five steps of the transportation planning process are depicted in
the rectangular boxes and factors that influence the process, "enabling
elements," are depicted in the ovals surrounding the process boxes.

![](media/image1.wmf){width="6.008333333333334in"
height="3.589583333333333in"}

Figure 1: The Transportation Planning Process

A brief overview of each step and enabling element is provided in Table
1 below:

+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| **Step or          | **Description of Step or Element**              |
| Element**          |                                                 |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| # Step in          |                                                 |
|  the Transportatio |                                                 |
| n Planning Process |                                                 |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 1\. Identify and   | In this step, planners evaluate the current     |
| analyze issues and | transportation infrastructure in light of       |
| deficiencies       | established transportation goals, objectives,   |
|                    | and performance standards to identifying        |
|                    | specific issues or shortfalls that need to be   |
|                    | addressed now and in the future. Issues might   |
|                    | include physical condition of the               |
|                    | infrastructure such as poor pavement, safety,   |
|                    | or capacity limitations associated with growth  |
|                    | in travel demand. Which ones get addressed      |
|                    | first will depend on how they are ultimately    |
|                    | prioritized (See Step 2).                       |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 2\. Develop and    | In this step, planners objectively examine      |
| evaluate           | causes and develop alternative solutions to     |
| alternatives and   | address the deficiencies identified in Step 1   |
| establish          | in the context of the State and regional goals  |
| priorities         | and objectives and financial plans**.**         |
|                    | Planners work with stakeholders to evaluate and |
|                    | then prioritize the alternatives.               |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 3\. Prepare and    | The Long-Range Plan (LRP) documents a State or  |
| adopt LRP          | region's long-term transportation vision and    |
|                    | the incremental plan to achieve that vision. It |
|                    | is updated every three to five years to reflect |
|                    | near-term realities and considerations. It      |
|                    | represents the collective priority for long and |
|                    | short-range improvements from alternatives      |
|                    | analyzed in Step 2 as a means to address the    |
|                    | deficiencies identified in Step 1. Adopted      |
|                    | plans are often constrained by financial        |
|                    | limitations, especially in urban areas.         |
|                    | However, due to its 20-year perspective it is   |
|                    | both a vision and a plan.                       |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 4\. Prepare and    | In this step, planners examine the priorities   |
| adopt S/TIP        | identified in the LRP, available resources, and |
|                    | readiness. The S/TIP is based on the LRP and    |
|                    | reflects the immediate priorities of the        |
|                    | implementing agencies. When adopted, it         |
|                    | represents the list of transportation           |
|                    | initiatives to be implemented within the next   |
|                    | three years. It is updated at least every two   |
|                    | years.                                          |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 5\. Implement      | In this step, implementing agencies take        |
|                    | responsibility for getting their projects       |
|                    | underway, while transportation planners track   |
|                    | progress and adjust the S/TIP as needed.        |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| #                  |                                                 |
|  Enabling Elements |                                                 |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 1\. Develop goals  | Goals and objectives for a State or region      |
| and objectives     | reflect national, state, and local values. They |
|                    | should be specific and quantifiable and should  |
|                    | be associated with performance measures and     |
|                    | evaluation criteria. The effective development  |
|                    | of sound, realistic yet ambitious goals and     |
|                    | objectives is critical to the transportation    |
|                    | planning process in that they are used in the   |
|                    | identification of deficiencies, the evaluation  |
|                    | of alternatives, and the establishment of       |
|                    | priorities which are ultimately reflected in    |
|                    | the LRP and S/TIP.                              |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 2\. Organization   | The advent of information technology and its    |
|                    | increased incorporation into the transportation |
|                    | planning process represents a breakthrough for  |
|                    | transportation planners offering unprecedented  |
|                    | opportunities to store, manipulate, sift, gain  |
|                    | and share insights from large volumes of data   |
|                    | to improve the basis for decision-making. These |
|                    | tools provide information to decision-makers    |
|                    | that is richer and more objective than would be |
|                    | possible without the use of such tools. They    |
|                    | are key to the analysis and forecasting of      |
|                    | future conditions and help to answer "what-if"  |
|                    | questions on an area/statewide basis. Examples  |
|                    | include travel demand forecasting models,       |
|                    | economic/land use forecasting models, pavement  |
|                    | management systems, and air quality emission    |
|                    | models.                                         |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 3\. Public/Agency  | The financial plan assures that the             |
| involvement        | transportation plan and program are in balance  |
|                    | with revenues. It identifies available and      |
|                    | anticipated revenue, as well as funding         |
|                    | shortfalls.                                     |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 4\. Data           | Policy makers rely on information planning      |
|                    | staffs to make critical transportation          |
|                    | investment decisions. Planners collect and      |
|                    | analyze data that support an informed decision  |
|                    | process. All technical tools rely on data and   |
|                    | the effectiveness of these tools is directly    |
|                    | dependent on the quality of the data used.      |
|                    | Examples of data that might be used in planning |
|                    | include: roadway inventory data, traffic        |
|                    | volumes, population, employment data, travel    |
|                    | survey data, and commodity flow data.           |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 5\. Technical      | Early and continuous public involvement and     |
| tools              | involvement of other agencies is critical to an |
|                    | effective planning process. Ultimately, such    |
|                    | agencies and the public must support            |
|                    | transportation plans and programs in order to   |
|                    | ensure smooth implementation. Planning for      |
|                    | multiple modes may impact or require            |
|                    | involvement of different stakeholders. Planners |
|                    | must keep the public informed throughout the    |
|                    | process, inform decision-makers of public       |
|                    | views, and demonstrate explicit consideration   |
|                    | of public input.                                |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| 6\. Financial plan | Planning organizations should be structured to  |
|                    | support a cooperative partnership among         |
|                    | stakeholders and should represent a forum for   |
|                    | decision-making. Such organizations typically   |
|                    | incorporate all potential stakeholders and      |
|                    | include other jurisdictions. In this context,   |
|                    | the organization has clearly defined roles and  |
|                    | responsibilities for whom will do what in the   |
|                    | planning process. Obviously the organization    |
|                    | plays a critical role in the accomplishment of  |
|                    | the goals and objectives of the LRP and         |
|                    | effective planning overall.                     |
+--------------------+-------------------------------------------------+

Table 1: Overview of the Transportation Planning process

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ###### The Transportation Planning Process: Step-by-Step              |
|                                                                       |
| ######                                                                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

The following section provides useful considerations for implementing
and improving the five phases of the transportation planning process.

###### 

###### 

Step 1: Identify and Analyze Issues and Deficiencies:

Overview of Step:

In this step, planners evaluate the current transportation
infrastructure in light of established transportation goals and
objectives and identifying specific issues or shortfalls that will need
to be addressed in the S/TIP. Issues might include physical condition of
the infrastructure such as poor pavement (deficiency) or capacity
limitations associated with growth in demand such as congestion and
mobility (deficiencies). These are both current and future issues. Which
ones get addressed first will depend on how they are ultimately
prioritized\
(See Step 2).

**Special Considerations:**

It is important in this step to think from a "freight" perspective---a
"systems" perspective. Planners should recognize that "freight"
timelines are generally much shorter to meet evolving demands of the
private sector. Also, planners should recognize there is little
consensus on how to deal with private freight infrastructure, yet this
must be addressed as it does make up a substantial amount of the
transportation infrastructure.

A related consideration is the involvement of the private sector in this
step. They are intimately aware of the issues associated with the
current transportation infrastructure and may have outstanding ideas on
how to improve it or may already be working to improve some element with
private funds. In either scenario, planners should be interested in
feedback from the private sector.

Planners are encouraged to make their transportation plans
understandable by decision-makers. In order to succeed in getting issues
adequately prioritized, decision-makers must understand the
issues---which means they must be articulated in a language that they
can understand.

In other words, an improvement to some aspect of the transportation
system (addressing one of the issues for example) will have impacts on
other areas of the transportation system. A proposed highway improvement
could include unforeseen congestion on another route, which just
transfers the problem but does not solve it, or could incentivize
greater highway travel which could negatively impact a local railroad,
or could have under-appreciated environmental impacts which may energize
an obscure environmental organization. All of these potential impacts
must be considered in the planning process.

Opportunities:

Planners are encouraged to think "cross-modally," in other words---think
systemically in approaching the issues and dependencies of all modes of
transportation. This can strengthen justification for many of the issues
in the plan as they may have impacts on the broader transportation
system while also helping to minimize the likelihood of unforeseen
future issues. To counter resistance to private investment, it may be
helpful to identify the benefits of private sector investment in
transportation to the public sector. Finally, planners are encouraged to
implement a regional approach to analysis---just as they must think
systemically from a "cross-mode" standpoint, planners are encouraged to
think systemically from a regional standpoint---who outside of our
jurisdiction might be negatively or positively impacted by these
recommendations? ..

Success Criteria:

-   Planners should have clearly defined goals and objectives

-   Planners have an understanding of the current transportation
    infrastructure

-   Planners are identifying deficiencies in terms of a freight
    perspective---the end-to-end movement of people and goods.

-   Planners have sought and documented inputs from key stakeholders,
    critical downstream for implementation.

-   Planners are able to concisely and clearly summarize issues
    appropriate to the audience (i.e., "laymen").

Step 2: Develop/Evaluate Alternatives:

Overview of Step:

In this step, planners objectively develop alternative solutions to
address the deficiencies identified in Step 1 in the context of the
region's short- or long-term goals and objectives and the region's
financial plan**.** Planners then work with stakeholders to determine
criteria by which to evaluate and then prioritize the alternatives.

Considerations:

As in Step 1, it is critical to approach development and evaluation of
alternatives from a freight perspective. This is difficult as many MPOs
are driven by mode-specific funding mechanisms. While this may be the
reality of current funding mechanisms, it is not the reality of the
transportation system or its users. Planners' thinking must reflect and
embrace the reality of the issues of the transportation planning system
in order to effectively identify the best solutions.

Opportunities:

Planners are encouraged to prioritize the improvement of freight
transportation---the effective end-to-end movement of people and
commodities --- rather than prioritizing a particular mode. Planners
will do the most for their region by evaluating alternatives from a
freight perspective to determine the impacts, positive or negative, of
any potential solution on total transportation network.

In addition, planners are encouraged to seek out, leverage, and
contribute to the improvement of evaluation tools for all modes as well
as intermodal trade-off analysis. These tools can greatly enhance the
decision-making process by providing an objective basis for evaluating
impacts of proposed alternatives and the weighting of criteria.

Success Criteria:

-   Planners have a clear understanding of their organization's and
    region's goals and objectives.

-   Planners think in terms of end-to-end freight as well as passenger
    movement and do not evaluate alternatives from a "mode-specific"
    standpoint.

-   Planners know what tools are available for developing/evaluating
    alternatives and are using them where appropriate.

-   Planners are communicating proactively with all stakeholders early
    on to ensure an understanding of priorities.

-   Planners have developed, or worked with their organizations to
    develop objective criteria against which to evaluate alternatives.

Step 3: Prepare/Adopt Long Range Plan:

Overview of Step:

The Long-Range Plan (LRP) documents a region's long-term transportation
vision and the incremental plan to achieve that vision. It is updated
every three to five years to reflect near-term realities and
considerations. It represents the "best" long and short-range
improvements from alternatives analyzed in Step 2 as a means to address
the deficiencies identified in Step 1 in the context of a region's goals
for its transportation infrastructure and network. It is often
constrained by financial limitations, especially in urban areas, which
some view as compromising to the true vision of a region. However, due
to its 20-year perspective it is both a vision and a plan and it is the
planners' challenge to balance this.

Considerations:

Planners should be aware of and understand the limitations of the
long-range plan and seek ways to address these limitations while not
compromising the integrity of the plan. For example, LRPs are frequently
criticized for being too long-term, and therefore not realistic. On the
other hand, in reality, it takes up to 15 years to get major investments
approved and funded which represents the largest rationale for the LRP
timeframe. The timeframe issue is a particular concern for the private
sector,who consider three to five years a long-term strategic horizon.
As mentioned above, ultimately the LRP is constrained by financial
realities which some view as negatively impacting the ability to
document the true vision of a transportation system unfettered by
limitations. Many planners fail to adequately involve the private sector
in the development of the LRP---this is definitely a shortfall and will
undermine your LRP. Planners are encouraged to be creative and think in
terms so "what-if" in this process. Also, it is often the case that
prioritization of alternatives is insufficient to provide a solid
supportable foundation for the LRP which can also undermine the process
downstream. Finally, planners should be cognizant of the changing
political landscape and the challenges they present to the LRP and
implementation stages.

Opportunities:

In response to these considerations, planners are encouraged to consider
creating a vision with no time limits, recognizing that the plan and the
pace for implementing the vision will be dependent on resources.
Planners are also encouraged to build their LRP from a systems
perspective (the improvement of freight transport) and to actively
engage the private sector in the development of the LRP.

Success Criteria:

-   Planners have a sound understanding of their organization's and
    region's goals and objectives.

-   The vision in the LRP reflects "possibilities" without respect, to
    financial or other limitations.

-   The plan for the vision, on the other hand, does reflect real
    constraints whether fiscal, political, or other and is realistic if
    ambitious.

-   The LRP reflects a systems perspective and the impacts of any
    proposed solution on the end-to-end transportation network.

Step 4: Prepare/Adopt the State Transportation Improvement
Program/Transportation Improvement Program (S/TIP):

Overview of Step:

The S/TIP is based on the LRP, but is the implementation plan. It
represents the list of transportation initiatives to be implemented
within the next three years. It is updated every two years or more
frequently and must be consistent with the transportation plan. Unlike
the vision, these are and must be constrained for obvious reasons.

Considerations:

The good news with the S/TIP is that planners find that the private
sector is willing to engage here as this is where the rubber meets the
road and the timeline is more consistent with theirs, securing their
attention and interest. The TIPs are often instrumental in helping local
planners find money and so are valuable. Planners are required to report
on the status of the previous year's requests. Issues associated with
this include a tendency by planners to "overprogram" as limited funds
are spread across too many programs and the insufficient application of
performance-based criteria. Also, planners are advised to recognize
limitations in funding such as limitations in freight from a CMAQ
perspective, though this is slowly changing.

Opportunities:

Planners have some opportunities for addressing these challenges.
Consider what would bring the private sector to the table and
demonstrate the benefits of public investments to private interests.
Some even advocate the development of a public/private comprehensive LRP
keeping in mind that the timeframes the respective communities are not
necessarily consistent. Finally, consider benchmarking against MPOs that
consider freight in the LRP/TIP.

Success Criteria:

-   Planners have a sound understanding of their organization and
    region's goals and objectives, and see~~s~~ how the LRP and S/TIP
    fit in.

-   Planners have proactively involved industry as well as other
    stakeholders in the development of the S/TIP.

-   Planners understand fiscal constraints and their plan reflects these
    realities.

-   Planners benchmark a couple of MPOs that consider "freight" in their
    S/TIP.

Step 5: Implement:

###### 

###### You are on your way! 

###### 

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ###### Enablers of the Planning Process:                              |
|                                                                       |
| ######                                                                |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

Goals and Objectives:

Overview of Element:

Goals and objectives for a region or an organization such as an MPO
reflect national, state, and local values. They should be specific and
quantifiable and should be associated with performance measures and
evaluation criteria. The effective development of sound, realistic yet
ambitious goals and objectives is critical to the transportation
planning process in that they are used in the identification of
deficiencies, the evaluation of alternatives, and the establishment of
priorities which are ultimately reflected in the S/TIP and LRP. The
importance of allocating sufficient energy and attention to these cannot
be overstated. They represent a key cornerstone to the planning process.

Considerations:

As with aspects of the transportation planning process itself, the
"freight" perspective is often not sufficiently addressed in the
definition of goals and objectives. Often goals for passenger
transportation are emphasized at the exclusion of freight
transportation, something planners must at least be attentive to and
aware of. Also, "mode-specific" thinking often dominates discussions on
goals and objectives rather than "systems" thinking. Planners are
strongly encouraged to develop goals and objectives in the broader
scheme of improving the entire transportation network from a freight as
well as passenger standpoint. Planners note that expectations for
achieving goals and objectives at a national level are often unclear in
terms of how MPO/state planning contributes to the national role in
freight planning and who is responsible for what. Finally, a frequent
issue with goals and objectives is that they are too vague to be
meaningful or measurable, or too global in nature to be effectively
dealt with at the local level. Planners should bear these considerations
in mind when formulating goals and objectives or working with others to
do so, to lay the foundation for effective planning and achievement.

Opportunities:

In addition to formulating goals and objectives from a broader freight
or end-to-end transportation standpoint, planners are encouraged where
possible to involve the private sector in these discussions as well as
related jurisdictions that might share an interest in the goals in order
to understand their concerns and priorities and to build relationships
early on that will support the securing of buy-in downstream for
near-term initiatives and implementation. Also, planners are encouraged
to educate fellow planners, their organizations, their communities, and
their industry partners on the importance of and issues associated with
"freight" and a freight perspective in their region, such as the
importance of freight on a local economy. With respect to the
relationship to federal goals and objectives, local planners should push
for maximum flexibility in the implementation of federal funding to
maximize support for local priorities from a freight perspective. The
better a planner understands these local needs from a broad perspective
of freight, the better chance they stand of securing federal and private
sector support.

Success Criteria:

-   Planners consider this element to be a cornerstone to their planning
    effort and have allocated appropriate time and energy to ensure it
    is done well.

-   Planners have proactively included the private sector and
    neighboring jurisdictions in discussions on goals and objectives.

-   Planners have worked to educate their community, policy makers, and
    the private sector on freight issues and benefits, and the
    importance of freight to the region.

-   Planners have defined goals and objectives which are specific and
    measurable as opposed to visionary and vague, and are able to show a
    link between national, state, and local values.

-   Planners have associated performance measures and evaluation
    criteria for each goal.

Organization:

Overview of Element:

Obviously the organization plays a critical role in the accomplishment
of the goals and objectives of the LRP and effective planning overall.
No specific structure is required to optimize the planning process.
However, it should be structured to support a cooperative partnership
among stakeholders and should represent a forum for decision-making.
Planners are encouraged to think outside the physical boundaries of
their MPO when thinking about their planning organization and think in
terms of a broader, virtual organization that incorporates all potential
stakeholders to include other jurisdictions. In this context, planners
should establish regional priorities to achieve regional goals with
clearly defined roles and responsibilities for who will do what in the
planning process.

Considerations:

While significant freight champions exist among stakeholders, and there
is federal support for regional approaches (through MPOs), a lack of
centralized structure/strategies for focusing freight planning can slow
the process. Also, the "regional" view may not cross the state line
which can bring additional complications to planners' jobs. Also, there
is frequently a lack of coordination among MPOs and between government
levels (i.e., national , regional, and local) as well as a wide
variation in MPO and state DOT technical abilities. Another challenge
which planners should be aware is the difficulty new constituencies may
face in gaining entry to the planning process---this may be due to a
lack of understanding in how the process works and how to get involved,
or due to entrenched relationships among current players which excludes
newcomers, but planners are encouraged to reach out and engage such
organizations. Finally, planners are sure to encounter competing issues
and interests among stakeholder organizations (such as trucking and
rail), which will impede spirit of collaboration in planning as
organizations are looking out for their interests, which planners are
challenged to balance. A planning leader will do all he/she can to work
around and overcome these challenges, improving the planning process as
a result.

Opportunities:

Again, the importance of good communication cannot be
overstated---planners are encouraged to actively involve all state DOTs,
as well as local agencies, industry, and interest groups in freight
planning. They are encouraged to incorporate a regional perspective in
everything and to work to actively engage regional partners where shared
interests are involved. Cooperation is greatly enhanced where
relationships exist. Planners are also encouraged to consider a wider
scope such as thinking in terms of "corridors" or "trade routes" which
may greatly enhance and expand their virtual planning organization.
Finally, again, planners should seek to increase the focus on freight in
their MPO or state planning organization to reap the benefits of
systems-thinking and to optimize resources.

Success Criteria:

-   Planners understand the key corridors and trade routes in their
    regions and have established a relationship with the organizations
    involved in the making transportation decisions (such as other MPOs
    and industry players) for those routes\--to include other state
    planners\--despite institutional barriers which may exist.

-   Planners are reinforcing "freight" as a perspective in their
    immediate organization.

-   Planners know and are actively engaged with the freight champions in
    their sphere of influence.

-   Planners have worked with their organization to encourage new
    constituencies to enter the planning process.

-   Planners are actively seeking to increase their technical planning
    skills.

-   Planners have a clearly defined role which he/she can effectively
    communicate to others.

Public Agency Involvement:

Overview of Element:

Early and continuous public and agency involvement in the freight
planning process is critical as ultimately these are the agencies and
people which must support any plan in order to ensure smooth
implementation downstream. The freight planner must think even more
broadly as multiple modes may impact or require involvement of different
stakeholders. Examples of organizations the freight planner should
involve early on include average citizens, affected public agencies,
private transportation providers, transportation agency employees, and
those who are transportation-disadvantaged.

Planners are advised to keep the public informed throughout the process,
inform decision-makers of public views, and demonstrate explicit
consideration of public input. This element is strongly linked to the
requirement to proactively educate constituents on freight
considerations so that when planners are seeking support for a freight
initiative, he/she is able to work with a base which understands the
value of freight to a region's economy and people's daily lives as
opposed to only the negative implications.

Considerations:

While there are many challenges in public and agency involvement, all
planners agreed that public involvement processes are at least
well-established and that opportunities explicitly exist to conduct
successful public/agency involvement. What is needed most of all to make
such initiatives work is planners proactively seizing these
opportunities.

Challenges include a lack of sufficient resources, a lack of
understanding of the part of many planners of unique freight-related
issues and opportunities which results in the inability to identify the
proper players, and a lack of understanding on the part of the public of
the benefits of freight which can result in disproportionate resistance
to freight infrastructure improvements. Other challenges include a lack
of participation in these processes by trucking, rail, marine and air
organizations as well as imbalances in representation at forums (such as
highly vocal community organizations).

Opportunities:

The bottom line for planners is that this element simply cannot be
ignored despite the challenges or planners risk late stage obstacles
which will greatly increase the cost and stress associated with any
freight improvement initiative. Planners are encouraged to attend trade
association meetings to develop relationships with these organizations
and in order to increase their understanding of the relative positions
these organizations might take with respect to proposed initiatives.
Planners should also seek to become educated on freight issues as well
as benefits and transfer that knowledge through proactive outreach
campaigns to the community and related agencies, as most planners agreed
that this lack of understanding is what currently makes the public
involvement task so challenging. Planners can invite public citizens as
well as private organizations to participate in public sector hearings.
Some planners might want to consider establishing freight advisory
committees in their MPO or state planning organization.

Success Criteria:

-   Planners are educated on and understand the freight perspective and
    approach public/agency involvement strategies from a total
    transportation network perspective.

-   Planners have identified all necessary stakeholders for involvement.

-   Planners are sponsoring or supporting proactive initiatives to
    educate the public and private sector about freight benefits.

-   Planners are engaging the public and impacted agencies early on in
    the planning process, despite challenges with doing so.

-   Planners have incorporated public/agency involvement into their
    planning timeline and have funded appropriately.

Data:

Overview of Element:

Good planning, and the successful execution of any transportation plan,
ultimately relies on a foundation of good data. Bad data, or
insufficient data, will compromise the integrity of the planning and
will likely interfere with planners' success in achieving goals. All
technical tools rely on data and the effectiveness of these tools is
directly dependent on the quality of the data used. Examples of data
that might be used by a planner in evaluating freight requirements
include~~s~~ roadway inventory data, traffic volumes, population,
employment data, travel survey data, commodity flow data.

Considerations:

The good news for planners with respect to data is that there is a lot
of it, and it is widely available. The bad news is that there is a lot
of it, and it is widely available. Planners frequently experience "data
overload," feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data available and
unsure of what to use or where to start. Data is collected but not
effectively utilized largely because planners simply do not know how to
use the vast amounts of data that are available. On the other hand,
despite the abundance of data, there is also a lack of awareness of
exactly what is being collected and what is available. Other data
collection management issues exist as well, such as the fact that much
data is stratified by mode and are not conducive to intermodal analysis,
nor is it linked to any economic indicators making economic analysis
from the data difficult or impossible. Also, data is not as timely as
most would like nor is it efficiently gathered---there are many sources
actively working to gather the same information resulting in redundancy
and inherent conflicts in data which undermines users confidence or
trust in the data. These are all serious and real issues today with data
used in transportation planning, so planners must be diligent and
proactive in their use of data to ensure it meets quality standards.
Don't assume all data is necessarily good or valid!

Opportunities:

The problems referenced above are extremely important as improved data
holds one of the most valuable keys to improving the transportation
system and the use of existing infrastructure assets. Initiatives are
currently being discussed to create some kind of integrated freight data
architecture---a consistent set of freight data that would be available
at all planning levels (local, state, and federal) which would meet some
established quality standards. USDOT would likely coordinate this kind
of effort, but local and state planners would drive it in terms of the
requirements. As a planner, if you are not currently engaged in efforts
to evaluate your data sources and improve your data management, it is
advised that you get involved, be aware of, and influence where it is
moving.

Success Criteria:

-   Planners understand the relationship of data to their planning
    process and understand their sources of data.

-   Planners are aware of efforts to improve data management in freight
    planning---from ensuring the right data is being collected to
    ensuring it is managed to established quality standards and that it
    is available in the right formats.

-   Planners are familiar with available tools for managing/analyzing
    data in their freight planning (See Technical Tools Section).

Technical Tools:

Overview of Element:

The advent of information technology and its increased incorporation
into the transportation planning process represents a breakthrough for
transportation planners offering unprecedented opportunities to store,
manipulate, sift, gain and share insights from large volumes of data to
improve basis for decision-making. These tools provide information to
decision-makers that is richer and more objective than would be possible
without the use of such tools. They are key to the analysis and
forecasting of future conditions and help to answer "what-if" questions
in planning. Examples include travel demand forecasting models,
economic/land use forecasting models, pavement management systems, and
air quality emission models.

Considerations:

Today's freight planning tools are best at forecasting population and
engineering data rather than other areas such as cost-benefit models for
freight, quick-analysis, or other intermodal planning. Planners are
encouraged to educate themselves on available tools and their
limitations. Also, planners must understand that the tools are only as
good as the data used in the tools, which is often flawed, as well as
the analysts' ability to use the tool. Also, planners should be aware
that not everyone will accept the validity or credibility of their
analysis if they are using tools, as there are inconsistent levels of
faith in outputs in the planning community. This is largely due to the
inherent data flaws (See Data Section), but planners need to be prepared
for this resistance. Some models are cumbersome to use, so planners
should evaluate the value of the output in the process against the
relative cost (or pain) of usage.

Opportunities:

How can a planner address these challenges in order to improve the
quality of their planning and to better address freight considerations
in their planning? First, planners should educate himself/herself on the
strengths and weaknesses of available toolsets. Next, planners should
advocate for the development of improved models for freight such as
state of the art commodity flow models, as well as for the linkage of
models through integrated toolsets. Planners are encouraged when
thinking about tools to think in terms of trade requirements versus
mode---the need (such as transporting goods from a port to a warehouse)
versus the means of meeting the need (shipping, rail, truck). Similarly,
planners must insist that tools cross state borders in order to
accurately address all ~~of~~ planners' considerations---otherwise the
analysis is necessarily artificial and the tool will not produce
accurate results.

Success Criteria:

-   Planners are aware of available tools and how they can assist in
    their planning efforts, specifically in the understanding of
    freight-related issues.

-   Planners are engaged with their leadership to advocate for
    development of improved models and for development of integrated
    toolsets which link models together for more comprehensive analysis.

-   Planners are evaluating and using tools with a "freight" perspective
    in mind rather than a purely regional or mode-specific focus.

-   Planners are attentive to data source quality and the analytic rigor
    of the selected toolsets in order to defend their analytic tool
    output, and have supplemental data to accompany and reinforce tool
    output.

Financial Plans:

Overview of Element:

The financial plan assures that the transportation plan and program are
in balance with revenues. It identifies what can realistically be done
as well as funding shortfalls for requirements and may include
strategies to address the shortfalls or innovative funding options.

Considerations:

The primary issue with financial plans in freight planning is that they
traditionally do not address cost-benefit analysis for freight projects.
There is also a general lack of understanding of total freight funds and
the co-mingling of these funds to support a freight project.

Opportunities:

Planners are encouraged to develop plans that co-mingle funds where
appropriate to maximize support for freight initiatives.

Success Criteria:

-   Planners are educated on and aware of available funding options.

-   Planners are willing to think innovatively about how to get the most
    value from these funding options.

-   Planners have realistically estimated resource requirements for
    initiatives.

-   Planners have attempted to do cost-benefit analysis of proposed
    transportation initiatives from a freight perspective.

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