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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Linking Community Visioning and Highway Capacity Planning. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14580.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2012. Linking Community Visioning and Highway Capacity Planning. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/14580.
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Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

T R A N S P O R TAT I O N R E S E A R C H B O A R D WASHINGTON, D.C. 2012 www.TRB.org The Second S T R A T E G I C H I G H W A Y R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M REPORT S2-c08-RR-1 Linking Community Visioning and Highway Capacity Planning Cambridge SyStematiCS, inC. with Center for tranSportation and the environment, north Carolina State UniverSity planning CommUnitieS, inC. AECOM

Subscriber Categories Highways Planning and Forecasting

The Second Strategic Highway Research Program America’s highway system is critical to meeting the mobility and economic needs of local communities, regions, and the nation. Developments in research and technology—such as advanced materials, communications technology, new data collection technologies, and human factors science—offer a new opportunity to improve the safety and reliability of this important national resource. Breakthrough resolution of sig- nificant transportation problems, however, requires concen- trated resources over a short time frame. Reflecting this need, the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) has an intense, large-scale focus, integrates multiple fields of research and technology, and is fundamentally different from the broad, mission-oriented, discipline-based research pro- grams that have been the mainstay of the highway research industry for half a century. The need for SHRP 2 was identified in TRB Special Report 260: Strategic Highway Research: Saving Lives, Reducing Congestion, Improving Quality of Life, published in 2001 and based on a study sponsored by Congress through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). SHRP 2, modeled after the first Strategic Highway Research Program, is a focused, time- constrained, management-driven program designed to comple- ment existing highway research programs. SHRP 2 focuses on applied research in four areas: Safety, to prevent or reduce the severity of highway crashes by understanding driver behav- ior; Renewal, to address the aging infrastructure through rapid design and construction methods that cause minimal disrup- tions and produce lasting facilities; Reliability, to reduce con- gestion through incident reduction, management, response, and mitigation; and Capacity, to integrate mobility, economic, environmental, and community needs in the planning and designing of new transportation capacity. SHRP 2 was authorized in August 2005 as part of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The program is managed by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) on behalf of the National Research Council (NRC). SHRP 2 is conducted under a memorandum of understanding among the American Associa- tion of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the National Academy of Sciences, parent organization of TRB and NRC. The program provides for competitive, merit-based selection of research contractors; independent research project oversight; and dissemination of research results. SHRP 2 Report S2-C08-RR-1 ISBN: 978-0-309-12909-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2012934085 © 2012 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Copyright Information Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. The second Strategic Highway Research Program grants permission to repro- duce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, or FHWA endorsement of a particular prod- uct, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing material in this document for educational and not-for-profit purposes will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from SHRP 2. Note: SHRP 2 report numbers convey the program, focus area, project number, and publication format. Report numbers ending in “w” are published as web documents only. Notice The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the second Strategic Highway Research Program, conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The members of the technical committee selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance. The report was reviewed by the technical committee and accepted for publication according to procedures established and overseen by the Transportation Research Board and approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this report are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, or the program sponsors. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, and the sponsors of the second Strategic Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of the report. SHRP 2 Reports Available by subscription and through the TRB online bookstore: www.TRB.org/bookstore Contact the TRB Business Office: 202-334-3213 More information about SHRP 2: www.TRB.org/SHRP2

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achieve- ments of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board is one of six major divisions of the National Research Council. The mission of the Transportation Research Board is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisci- plinary, and multimodal. The Board’s varied activities annually engage about 7,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transporta- tion, and other organizations and individuals interested in the development of transportation. www.TRB.org www.national-academies.org

SHRP 2 STAFF Ann M. Brach, Director Stephen Andrle, Deputy Director Kizzy Anderson, Senior Program Assistant, Implementation James Bryant, Senior Program Officer, Renewal Kenneth Campbell, Chief Program Officer, Safety JoAnn Coleman, Senior Program Assistant, Capacity Eduardo Cusicanqui, Finance Officer Walter Diewald, Senior Program Officer, Safety Jerry DiMaggio, Implementation Coordinator Charles Fay, Senior Program Officer, Safety Carol Ford, Senior Program Assistant, Safety Elizabeth Forney, Assistant Editor Jo Allen Gause, Senior Program Officer, Capacity Abdelmename Hedhli, Visiting Professional James Hedlund, Special Consultant, Safety Coordination Ralph Hessian, Visiting Professional Andy Horosko, Special Consultant, Safety Field Data Collection William Hyman, Senior Program Officer, Reliability Linda Mason, Communications Officer Michael Miller, Senior Program Assistant, Reliability Gummada Murthy, Senior Program Officer, Reliability David Plazak, Senior Program Officer, Capacity Monica Starnes, Senior Program Officer, Renewal Noreen Stevenson-Fenwick, Senior Program Assistant, Renewal Charles Taylor, Special Consultant, Renewal Onno Tool, Visiting Professional Dean Trackman, Managing Editor Pat Williams, Administrative Assistant Connie Woldu, Administrative Coordinator Patrick Zelinski, Communications Specialist ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration in cooperation with the American Associa- tion of State Highway and Transportation Officials. It was conducted in the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2), which is administered by the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies. The project was managed by David Plazak, Senior Program Officer for SHRP 2 Capacity. The research reported on herein was performed by Cambridge Systematics, Inc., supported by the Center for Transportation and the Environment, North Carolina State University; Planning Communities, Inc.; and AECOM. Elizabeth Sanford, Cambridge Systematics, Inc., was the principal investigator. The other authors of this report are Virginia Smith Reeder and Evan Enarson-Hering, Cambridge Systematics, Inc. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions to this research from Ken Leonard and John Kaliski, Cambridge Systematics, Inc.; Leigh Lane, Center for Transportation and the Environment; Joel Mann, AECOM; and Teresa Townsend, Planning Communities, Inc.

F O R E W O R D David Plazak, SHRP 2 Senior Program Officer, Capacity This report is intended to help transportation agency practitioners assess the possibilities of community visioning efforts, identify practical steps and activities when engaging in vision- ing, and establish links between vision outcomes and transportation planning and project development processes. To these ends, this research presents a model—the Vision Guide— for the preparation, creation, and implementation of a visioning process. The Vision Guide was developed using interviews, case studies, literature reviews, background research, and practical experience. It serves as the organizing framework for research on the topics of assessing community context, undertaking strategies for involving stakeholders, developing organizational structures and partnerships, and measuring progress and performance of visions and plans. A companion web tool was also developed. The web tool is intended to be a permanent and dynamic resource and will be updated and linked to additional SHRP 2 research as it is completed. Community visioning processes are significant sources of input for transportation planning processes, which now range beyond topics of connectivity or design to consider community livability and a host of interrelated issues. Visions may help guide appropriate infrastructure decisions that enhance economic competitiveness, environmental stewardship, and com- munity resources while improving transportation project outcomes. Vision processes, however, tend to produce high-level, policy-oriented outcomes that prove challenging to integrate within focused, project-specific planning efforts. As a result, visioning in support of transportation planning has not been uniformly embraced by prac- titioners and remains an undefined, though increasingly popular, practice across the nation. This research report developed a Vision Guide as a supporting framework that identifies the basic process and core elements of a vision and establishes possible linkages to transpor- tation planning efforts. This structured, simplified process will better enable practitioners to engage in visioning in support of transportation planning. The chapters in this report present four critical topic areas relevant to visioning and trans- portation planning: considering communities, reaching stakeholders, forming partnerships, and tracking commitments. • Considering communities provides an organizing framework to help practitioners assess community context and quality of life within a visioning process through the use of tools, techniques, and indicators. • Reaching stakeholders provides guidance to practitioners for selecting public involvement strategies, tools, and techniques best used within a visioning process. • Forming partnerships highlights key considerations and structures for practitioners when identifying, building, and maintaining working partnerships to lead or support a vision- ing process. • Tracking commitments helps practitioners leverage performance measurement and tracking systems to create a process that will provide ongoing checks on the status of implementation efforts and effectiveness of a visioning process.

For transportation agency practitioners interested in the linkages between visioning and planning, this research, in combination with SHRP 2’s Transportation for Communities project on collaborative decision making, highlights the connections between strategic vision outcomes and transportation decision processes. The Vision Guide is connected to the transportation planning and project development processes identified in related SHRP 2 Capacity research and presented in the Decision Guide structure on the website Transportation for Communities—Advancing Projects through Partnership (TCAPP), found at transportationforcommunities.com. Whether an agency is undergoing a long- range transportation plan, corridor planning, or environmental review process, the infor- mation in the phases, activities, and decisions included in the Vision Guide can be applied to the collaborative decision-making process to bring the right people and the right ideas together at the right time.

C O N T E N T S 1 Executive Summary 1 Visioning and Transportation Planning 3 Organization of the Vision Guide 4 Vision Guide Components 5 Visioning in Support of the Collaborative Decision-Making Framework 7 CHAPTER 1 Project Background 7 Purpose of the Project 7 Research Approach 10 CHAPTER 2 The Visioning Process 10 Introduction 10 The Evolution of Visioning 12 Visioning in Practice 14 Lessons Learned and Success Factors 16 CHAPTER 3 Transportation Agency Involvement in Visioning 16 Introduction 16 Transportation Perspectives and Considerations 17 Decision Factors for Agency Involvement 23 CHAPTER 4 Vision Guide 23 Introduction 23 Roles within the Visioning Process 24 Overview of the Vision Guide 25 Description of Vision Guide Elements 31 Decision Points within the Vision Guide 32 Component Areas of the Vision Guide 36 CHAPTER 5 Considering Communities 36 Introduction 36 Assessing Community Quality of Life 39 Application within the Vision Guide 42 CHAPTER 6 Reaching Stakeholders 42 Introduction 42 Summary of Current Practices 42 Involving Stakeholders in Visioning 43 Outreach Techniques and Tools 49 Application within the Vision Guide

53 CHAPTER 7 Forming Partnerships 53 Introduction 53 What Is Partnering? 53 Purposes of Partnerships 54 Structuring Partnerships 56 Key Factors in Successful Partnerships 57 Application within the Vision Guide 59 CHAPTER 8 Tracking Commitments 59 Introduction 60 Review of Existing Tracking Practices 62 Model Commitment Tracking Process 63 Application within the Vision Guide 66 CHAPTER 9 Conclusion 66 Visioning in Support of the Collaborative Decision-Making Framework 66 The Collaborative Decision-Making Framework 73 Visioning in Support of Collaborative Transportation Decision Making 75 References 77 Appendices Appendices and color versions of the figures in this report are available online: www.trb.org/Main/Blurbs/166047.aspx.

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TRB’s second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) Report S2-C08-RR-1: Linking Community Visioning and Highway Capacity Planning explores community visioning efforts, identifies steps and activities that might be considered when engaging in visioning, and highlights the links between vision outcomes and transportation planning and project development processes.

The report also presents a model—the Vision Guide—that is a blueprint for preparing, creating, and implementing a visioning process. As part of the project that produced Report S2-C08-RR-1, a companion web tool was also developed. The web tool, Transportation—Visioning for Communities (T-VIZ), is the interactive version of the Vision Guide.

Appendixes to the report, which are available only in electronic format, are as follows:

• Appendix A: Case Study Summaries

• Appendix B: Considering Communities

• Appendix C: Stakeholder Outreach Resources

• Appendix D: Commitment Tracking

An e-book version of this report is available for purchase at Google, iTunes, and Amazon.

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