Chapter 20 - Sustainability planning by Metropolitan Planning Organizations: California and national trends

Abstract

Regional transportation plans in the United States have been shaped not only by transportation policy but also by environmental and civil rights legislation, funding constraints, a shift in orientation from construction to systems management, and in many urban areas, growing housing problems and market and stakeholder interest in transit-oriented development. In response to this complex policy landscape, many Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) – federally-mandated regional transportation planning agencies – have taken on a broader scope of activities, engaging, to varying degrees, in sustainability planning, defined here as planning that links regional transportation investments with land use and environmental strategies, guided by concerns about the regional economy, social equity, and natural environment (the “three E’s”). From the literature, seven attributes of sustainable regional transportation planning are identified and operationalized into measures applied to a review of planning documents for the largest 48 MPOs in the United States. The review indicates that while most MPOs exhibited some attributes of sustainability planning as of 2016, none exhibited all of them. A deeper investigation is presented of California cases, where a state law adopted in 2008 mandates coordinated transportation and land use planning at the regional scale in order to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The investigation indicates that California’s largest MPOs have advanced sustainable land use and transport somewhat more aggressively since the law’s passage, especially regarding travel mode share and compact housing. Innovative planning strategies have included asking local governments to designate priority development areas for compact development, and providing financial incentives for local actions to support the regional plans. The analysis concludes that California’s policy framework for systematizing regional sustainability planning has provided a venue for robust dialogue on inter-governmental roles and responsibilities, but it has not yet led to but it has not yet led to the adoption of implementation programs and policy measures sufficient to ensure the law’s success.