Abstract
The 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act placed new emphasis on transportation planning. In response, FHWA and FTA issued Joint Statewide and Metropolitan Planning Regulations (23 C.F.R §450). These regulations call for two studies, the congestion management system (CMS) analysis and the major investment study (MIS), which must be completed to analyze the best use of the existing transportation network and to determine whether and what transportation investments are needed in a metropolitan area. The intent is to use these studies as input to the metropolitan planning organization’s long-range transportation plan. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Planning Commission (SPRPC) cooperatively developed and implemented an effective approach to navigate the Mon/Fayette Route 51 to Pittsburgh transportation project through a collaborative process integrating the CMS analysis and MIS. This approach also met the requirements of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT’s) Preliminary Alternatives Analysis, one in a series of studies required under PennDOT’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) implementing guidelines. PTC’s goal to advance a preferred major investment alternative into the next phase of project development was accomplished when SPRPC endorsed the integrated CMS analysis/MIS and preliminary alternatives analysis report. Presented is a success story in the effort to integrate the metropolitan planning and NEPA processes at the project programming level. It is hoped that the planning and NEPA principles applied can serve as a model to advance other transportation projects.
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