Making the Connection: The Transportation Improvement Program and the Long-Range Plan

The Capital District Transportation Committee (CDTC), the metropolitan planning organization for the Albany, New York, area, provides an illustration of a number of effective connections between the long-range plan and the federal-aid capital program. CDTC took over 3 years to develop a performance-based, stakeholder-driven, long-range transportation plan, called New Visions. New Visions goals, programming principles, and budget targets guided the development of the transportation improvement program for flexible federal aid in the region. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act’s (ISTEA’s) fiscal constraint requirements were used to broaden the horizons and perspectives of potential fund sources, as well as to focus on the strategic use of the federal-aid program to meet long-range goals. Using a combination of innovative techniques and the “tried-and-true” foundation of the benefit-cost analysis, a capital program was built in a stepwise fashion, beginning with a policy decision to honor existing commitments prior to considering new projects. The methods and process used show how a medium-sized metropolitan planning organization effectively leveraged the metropolitan planning provisions of ISTEA to advance a positive agenda for the region.