More importantly, regional development organizations have experience coordinating the activities of local governments within a region and have decades of experience as the service delivery mechanism for many federal and state programs. According to Christopher Larson, Executive Director of the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission, In January 2000, the Indiana Department of Transportation established new partnerships with existing RPOs to provide services related to rural transportation planning. Through the ground-breaking pilot program, RPOs will assist the department with data collection and analysis of local project needs, provide technical assistance to rural officials in developing and prioritizing local needs, and assist in the public involvement process. The key method for rural local official participation is through the development of the RPC transportation plan and project priorities. Public transit in rural areas is limited and primarily local in nature.
Passenger rail is available only along certain corridors.
Commercial air service is expensive. Since rail industry restructuring, the abandonment of many branch lines has led to a decline in rail service to many rural areas. In addition to serving as rural transportation planning organizations, many regional development organizations provide technical assistance to local governments applying for federal transportation enhancement grants. In states such as Arizona, Iowa and Texas, they also provide rural transit services, including the Federal Transit Administration s Section 5311 program. The following state transportation departments contract with regional development organizations to perform a variety of rural transportation planning and programming activities, such as facilitating the involvement of rural elected officials, conducting special studies and gathering data, developing regional priorities, administering local transit programs, and providing technical assistance to local governments.