Research Project Description

 

Mineta Transportation Institute

Strategies for Connecting Transportation Funding and Smart Growth: State and Regional Best Practices and Incentives

 

Project Number: 2607

Principal Investigator: Gary Binger, Land Use Planning Consultant, MTI Research Associate

 

Research Project:

The research will address certain fundamental questions about state or regional strategies used to facilitate compact development, transit-oriented development, job-housing proximity, public transit or affordable housing.  Do they, or could they, work? What were, or could be, the keys to a strategy’s success? What were, or could be, the potential barriers to their implementation? Investigation will include interviews with public agency stakeholders who have been actively involved in the policy-making process.

 

Institution:
Mineta Transportation Institute                                                

Telephone Number:
(408) 924-7560

Email Address: mti@mti.sjsu.edu

Project Objective:

A growing number of state and regional agency practitioners are interested in incentive strategies that effectively leverage state and regional transportation funding to accomplish smart growth outcomes. Although state and regional associations have investigated techniques for integrating transportation and land use planning, these efforts have been broad-based case studies that don’t identify or catalog incentive strategies relating to specific smart growth objectives.  

 

Between 2001 and 2004, the National Governors Association (NGA) as well as the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO) prepared reports describing state and regional transportation and land use linkage initiatives. These include Institutionalizing Smart Growth Principles into the Metropolitan Planning Process by AMPO, and various best practices issue briefs by the NGA.  Since that time a growing number of innovative policies and incentives aimed at encouraging closer job/housing proximity and transit-oriented development, as well as curtailing unsustainable sprawl-type development, has been implemented both within California and in various parts of the country.

 

The product from this research project would enable state and regional practitioners and policymakers to examine an array of contemporary approaches that have, or could, play a significant role in establishing compact land use patterns, transit-oriented development, job-housing proximity, public transit and affordable housing without usurping local government land use authority. 

 

Abstract:

This project is designed specifically to research and identify state and regional agency transportation policies, programs and incentives that would significantly advance on-the-ground smart growth practices without usurping local government land use authority. The scope of this research would focus on strategies whose objective is promoting:

 

  1. Compact land use patterns;
  2. Transit-oriented development;
  3. Job housing proximity
  4. Public transit; and
  5. Provision of affordable housing 

 

The overall objective of this research project would be to identify 5-10 specific state and regional strategies that fall within each of the above five categories. The selected strategies may have recently been implemented, are currently being pursued, or have been recommended by independent institutions or experts.

 

   Task Descriptions:


1. Project Management

2. Literature Review

3. Interviews

4. Catalog preliminary strategies

5. Select and evaluate final strategies

6. Prepare final report

Following submission of the draft final report, the following actions will occur:
Copyedit and preparation of Peer Review Draft
Peer Review and Author’s Response
Final Editing and Pre-Publication
Printer’s Blue line Proof and Final Print
The estimated time for these to occur will be no less than two months. Final publication and Web posting: October 2007

Total budget:
$45,037

 

Principal Investigator: Gary Binger, Land Use Planning Consultant, MTI Research Associate

 

Team Member: Dr. Shishir Mathur, Assistant Professor, Urban and Regional Planning Dept., SJSU; MTI Research Associate

 

Two SJSU Students: TBD

 

Technology Transfer Activities:
Upon publication, pdf and html versions will be available on the Mineta Transportation Institute web site. The project experience and data will be available for community meetings. Authors are encouraged to submit articles based on the research to relevant journals and to present the information to end-users at conferences. MTI anticipates sponsoring a national symposium to distribute the findings of this report.

 

Potential Benefits of the Project:

The product from this research project would enable state and regional practitioners and policymakers to examine an array of contemporary approaches that have, or could, play a significant role in establishing compact land use patterns, transit-oriented development, job-housing proximity, public transit and affordable housing without usurping local government land use authority. 

  

The end user of the results from this research would include state and regional policymakers and practitioners, local government leaders, as well as stakeholders representing economic, environmental and equity interests. These leaders would be able to draw from the research results in assessing or advocating a variety of approaches for addressing critical land use challenges facing our states, regions and localities.

TRB Keywords:
Transportation policy, Public transit, Land use, Transportation, Planning

Primary Subject:
Transportation/Land Use/ Environment