Barb Thoman and John DeWitt of Transit for Livable Communities presented the findings of a peer review of the Metropolitan Council's key transportation planning documents—the Transportation Policy Plan and the TEA-21 project ranking criteria—on October 12. The review was conducted by Ralph Cipriani of Seattle, manager of the metropolitan transportation plan for the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC), and Mike Hoglund, transportation planning manager for the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. The presentation was part of the Transportation and Regional Growth Study's ongoing workshop series.

The Portland and Seattle areas were selected for the Peer Review because all three areas face similar challenges stemming from growth, have similar goals with respect to transportation, land use, and growth, and have strong regional planning authorities.

Because of these similarities, it is likely that lessons learned in Seattle and Portland could be useful to the Metropolitan Council in designing its Transportation Policy Plan. Thoman stressed, however, that the purpose of the Peer Review was not to determine whether one region's plan was better than another's.

The Peer Review identified five themes common to transportation planning in the Twin Cities, Seattle, and Portland:

1. Land use is central. Both Portland and Seattle have made land use regulation central to managing transportation issues as the regions' populations increase. In particular, the PSRC seeks to reinvent the region's form in coming decades by holding the line on growth and increasing overall density.

2. Both incentives and regulation are needed. Portland and the PSRC have adopted regulations and incentives as integral parts of their approaches.

3. Incentives should be defined and implementation guided. The final plans adopted by Seattle and Portland define their incentive-based policies and include elements like street design guidelines and design classifications.

4. A regional pedestrian and bike approach is included. Both Seattle and Portland incorporate an explicit, regional vision of non-motorized transportation's role; a regional scope is considered critical for success.

5. Transit is a foundation of regional development patterns. Both Portland and the PSRC view fixed rail and other high-capacity transit as a foundation of regional development. In this context, transit hubs become a focus for development and a key element of the overall growth-steering strategy.

Additional Issues

In addition, the Peer Review pointed out several areas where the three metropolitan areas differed in their philosophies and implementation strategies:

1. Flexibility in project selection. The Metropolitan Council's proposal is much more detailed and specific, allowing for a greater level of individual project merit evaluation.

2. Focus on transportation pricing and full costs. This is a major component of the Puget Sound plan, and the PSRC relies on full-cost analysis to inform decision making.

3. Taking account of induced demand. Portland has introduced detailed procedures to account for demand created by transportation and land use projects.

4. Setting goals and measuring progress. Portland has also adopted and applied regional performance indicators to set goals and judge plans.

5. The Twin Cities' strong starting point. Both reviewers had substantial praise for numerous Twin Cities policies and innovations. These included Transit Tax Incentive Zones (which have been dropped from the latest TPP) and the comprehensive 2020 Master Plan.

Following Thoman and DeWitt's presentation, researcher Mary Vogel of the University of Minnesota's Department of Landscape Architecture provided additional analysis of the transportation planning issues raised in the Peer Review. In her view, a comprehensive transportation planning effort should implement a "street focus"—recognizing that the design of a street is important to the development of the community, and therefore to the transportation needs of those who live, work, or travel there.

Vogel's idea parallels the common themes identified in the peer review, in that it emphasizes land use as a critical component of transportation management.