Departments of transportation around the country are struggling with timely project delivery. One of the issues that is contributing to project delays is how land use issues, including indirect and cumulative impacts, should be incorporated into the overall transportation decision-making process. This paper reviews the transportation decision-making process, placing special emphasis on the controlling decision-makers in the three phases, metropolitan planning organizations for long-range planning, departments of transportation for project development, and environmental resource agencies for permitting. With three entirely separate sets of controlling decision-makers, the author contends that DOTs must take the lead to create a more collaborative decision-making framework with both MPOs and permitting agencies related to land use issues.
Abstract