By coordinating resources, the councils enhance the ability of rural communities to successfully compete on an equal basis with many urban areas. As a result, the state councils help ensure that DOT programs are equally accessible to rural and urban areas. For example, the CRDC co-authored Connecticut's highly successful Transportation and Community and System Preservation pilot grant from FHWA and is currently working with its grant partners to address the connections between urban, suburban and rural areas through transportation and land use planning. The process will result in transportation and economic development approaches combined with neighborhood and open space preservation in a coherent package. By virtue of its technical expertise, the CRDC is helping us learn about the impact of smart growth and livable communities initiatives in urban, suburban, and rural communities.
Tourism is a vital part of the nation's economy.
The Department of Transportation is trying to improve coordination and cooperation between transportation and tourism practitioners at the Federal, State and local level, in both the public and private sector. DOT has worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Economic Development Administration, the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior to improve transportation services and alleviate congestion in National Parks and other rural tourist locations. The NRDP has been an important partner in this effort. They facilitated several forums on the plan and collected comments from the public and tourism operators. A public shuttle bus transportation system, connected to the hub, will collect people at a parking area near the entrance to Zion National Park and take them to various stops within the Park.