ADDRESSING CONCERNS ABOUT THE MAJOR INVESTMENT STUDY REQUIREMENTS

Abstract

One of the new requirements of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 is the requirement that State Departments of Transportation, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and transit operators conduct a major investment study (MIS) in metropolitan areas where (1) a major investment is proposed, and (2) federal funds are potentially involved. On October 28, 1993, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued the Statewide and Metropolitan Planning Rule which sets out the criteria for where and when an MIS is required, what agencies should be involved, factors to be considered, relationship to the environmental process, and funding options for developing studies. Although the FHWA and FTA crafted the Metropolitan Planning Rule with the intent of providing the MIS requirements in a way that emphasized flexibility and local decision-making, the federal agencies were soon faced with concerns from local and state transportation agencies about the MIS requirements. On January 5, 1996, the FHWA and FTA authorized the FHWA and FTA Region Nine Offices (Region Nine encompasses the States of Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada, and the Pacific Islands) to conduct a pilot program to look at the concerns about the MIS requirements, and to make recommendations on addressing these concerns, including alternative simplified procedures for meeting the MIS requirements. In January, 1998, the FHWA and FTA Region Nine Offices submitted to their respective Headquarters Offices, the FHWA/FTA Region Nine Major Investment Study Pilot Program Evaluation Report. The two-year MIS Pilot Program included an evaluation of seventeen areas of concern with the MIS requirements, a review of the MIS efforts that successfully used innovative approaches, and the evaluation report presents findings and recommendations to address concerns about the MIS requirements.