NCHRP 08-36
Proposed Project No. 2010-16
Title: Identification of The Transportation Needs of National Parks and Public Lands Within Metropolitan and Statewide Planning Processes
Problem Statement:
National parks and public lands areas are traffic generators and impact both metropolitan and statewide transportation planning processes. While most trips to such areas are made by automobile, many others are made by public and private transit, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, or walk and bike modes. Effectively assessing the current and long range needs for all forms of travel can assist the local state and federal agencies in planning short, mid, and long term solutions to accommodate the travel demands of visitors to national parks and public lands. To the extent these needs are addressed with limited coordination between the federal lands agencies and state and metropolitan planning agencies, the resulting transportation plans are unlikely to reflect interdependencies, provide transparency, or the full spectrum of multimodal needs and impacts. The basic steps to fulfilling these needs include identifying and scoping the problem, identifying cost-effective solutions, developing and prioritizing projects to effect the solutions, securing funding, and delivering projects. These steps are fairly well established for transportation improvements within the confines of a national park or public land unit. However, corresponding processes and funding methods are far less established for improving travel conditions on the principal access routes to national parks and other public lands. Although statutory planning factor requirements relative to national parks and public lands have existed since 1991 (ISTEA), most statewide and metropolitan transportation planning efforts are loosely linked to long-term development and transportation planning activities of Federal land management agencies.
Research Objective:
The research objective is to identify planning processes that contribute to better intergovernmental cooperation and coordination with national parks and public lands, including but not limited to data sharing, collaborative needs assessment and project development as reflected by interagency MOUs / agreements regarding roles and responsibilities that establish formal relationships that transcend individuals. The proposed research will build upon prior efforts (NCHRP Report 419 (1998), NCHRP Synthesis 329 (2004). and the current NCHRP 08-36 / Task 83 (planning partnerships). Recommendations for improving institutional environments to support well coordinated statewide, metropolitan, federal lands and national parks transportation planning efforts will be developed. Key topics include:
§ Assessment of effective transportation planning efforts relative to national parks and public lands at the metropolitan, statewide, and federal levels.
§ Institutional roles, responsibilities and relationships that transcend individuals
§ Methods to prioritize needs and frameworks for funding and implementation at the regional, state, and federal levels.
Cost: $100,000.
Time Required: 12 months
Submitted by ADA40 Transportation Needs of National Parks and Public Lands
Carol Zimmerman
Vice President, Battelle Memorial Institute
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