Abstract
The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users [SAFETEA-LU (Public Law 109–59, 109th Cong., August 10, 2005)] requires that metropolitan transportation plans (MTPs) “include operational and management strategies to improve the performance of the existing transportation facilities to relieve vehicular congestion and maximize safety and mobility for people and goods.” In addition, SAFETEA-LU requires that “there must be a process that provides for effective management and operation to address congestion management.” These two provisions of SAFETEA-LU establish a clear directive to incorporate operational and management strategies into the long-range planning for a region and to coordinate the consideration of the operational and management strategies between the MTP and the congestion management process (CMP). The Puget Sound Regional Council in Washington State has undertaken a process to ensure that all requirements for incorporating operational and management strategies in the region are addressed. This has included an update of the CMP to fully integrate consideration of operational and management strategies and an update of the MTP to reflect a more direct linkage of the MTP with the CMP. Research on best practices was conducted nationally. This paper relates how the concepts reflected in these best practices were implemented in the Central Puget Sound region to meet the SAFETEA-LU requirements. The CMP was modified to provide multimodal performance measures for passenger and freight movement that were more sensitive to operational and management strategies, and the data collection and monitoring programs were revised to reflect the new performance measures.
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