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Guidebook for Assessing Collaborative Planning Efforts Among Airport and Public Planning Agencies (2020)

Chapter: Chapter 3 - Collaboration in Transportation Planning: The Benefits

« Previous: Chapter 2 - Factors Influencing Airports and Public Planning Agencies as Part of Surface Transportation Planning
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 3 - Collaboration in Transportation Planning: The Benefits." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guidebook for Assessing Collaborative Planning Efforts Among Airport and Public Planning Agencies. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25781.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 3 - Collaboration in Transportation Planning: The Benefits." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guidebook for Assessing Collaborative Planning Efforts Among Airport and Public Planning Agencies. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25781.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 3 - Collaboration in Transportation Planning: The Benefits." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guidebook for Assessing Collaborative Planning Efforts Among Airport and Public Planning Agencies. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25781.
×
Page 16
Page 17
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 3 - Collaboration in Transportation Planning: The Benefits." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Guidebook for Assessing Collaborative Planning Efforts Among Airport and Public Planning Agencies. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25781.
×
Page 17

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14 C H A P T E R 3 One of the most important ways to encourage collaborative action is to define and highlight the benefits that will accrue when such collaboration occurs. The definition of these benefits becomes an important part of a strategy to convince agencies and groups to participate. This chapter identifies some of the benefits associated with collaboration in transportation planning. 3.1 Joint Benefits for the Region Collaboration among the airport and surface transportation planning agencies is especially important for airport access planning in the following circumstances: • Where: – Land around the airport is constrained (especially in urban environments). – Airport ground access is congested (roadways). – Multiple jurisdictions border the airport, and the MPO can play a broker role. • When: – Land use changes near the airport affect traffic patterns, leading to more congestion (e.g., redevelopment of San Diego Port land across the street from San Diego International Airport). – Several environmental impact efforts are under way, for different federal agencies or at the state level (e.g., California Environmental Quality Act); collaboration could avoid duplica- tion of effort and facilitate data sharing. – New projects are being designed for airport access (e.g., the Landside Access Moderniza- tion Plan at Los Angeles International Airport and the Crenshaw Line). – The sharing of responsibilities for the design and financial investment in new facilities must be decided. Airport staff are best qualified to describe to surface transportation plan- ning agency staff what federal constraints exist for airport revenue or federal funds on capital spending for airport access projects (airport revenue diversion rules), especially off of airport property and not exclusive to airport access. MPO planners can present the order of priorities for regional investments resulting from TIP and long-range planning to airport staff. 3.2 What Does the Airport Gain? A good relationship with the local transportation/transit agency will enable the airport agency to advance and influence local road and transit projects affecting access to the airport. The MPO manages federal funding for local transportation. Surface transportation projects need to be included in its TIP and in its long-range plan to receive federal funds. Agreement Collaboration in Transportation Planning: The Benefits

Collaboration in Transportation Planning: The Benefits 15 Connecting Mass Transit to an On-Airport People Mover in Project: Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles County has been cited for a best practice for airport–surface transpor- tation planning [e.g., ACRP Report 4: Ground Access to Major Airports by Public Transportation (MarketSense Consulting LLC et al., 2008)]. Indeed, the Southern California Association of Governments employs a dedicated regional aviation planning specialist to work with over 50 airports in Los Angeles County, and included a 40-page appendix on aviation and airport ground access in its 2016 regional plan (Southern California Association of Governments 2016). The ongoing simultaneous development of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Crenshaw Line light rail and Los Angeles World Airport’s Landside Area Modernization Program required additional collaboration between the agencies. Both agencies signed a master cooperative agreement describing in detail the rules of collaboration between them, including regular meetings at different levels of hierarchy and conflict escalation mechanisms. This master cooperative agreement has led to an agreed-on distribution of costs and planning efforts for shared elements of both projects, as well as successful coordination of construction sequencing to increase efficiencies and reduce costs. The Case of Freight-Dedicated Airports: Victorville, CA; Sacramento Mather Airport, CA; and Fort Worth Alliance Airport, TX The Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) is a large corporate airport in Victorville, California. The MPO (Southern California Association of Governments) has suggested a series of projects SCLA could undertake to improve access to the airport, including the construction of an express lane to make access to SCLA more efficient. Sacramento Mather Airport offers a case where the local MPO, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, has played an active role in airport planning, contributing to move all cargo services from Sacramento International Airport to Sacramento Mather Airport. The MPO is a strategic partner for this airport’s plans and must approve any land use plans; it has approved the expansion of the airport to grow its freight activity, and planned a light-rail expansion to the airport that will facilitate employee access. Finally, Fort Worth Alliance and the North Central Texas Council of Governments have focused on runway extension, involving multiple government agencies and adapting existing infrastructure to accommodate the expansion. MPO investments on Interstate 35W and Texas 114 have also contributed to improve the quality of access to Fort Worth Alliance. on including airport access projects in the TIP is essential for securing federal funds when these projects are off of airport property and cannot benefit from Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds, for instance. Several airports emphasized in a survey for this report that a good working relationship with local surface transportation agencies can serve useful purposes beyond airport access projects.

16 Guidebook for Assessing Collaborative Planning Efforts Among Airport and Public Planning Agencies In fact, the MPO may be in a position to act as a broker between the airport and surrounding cities and counties or city and county transportation planning agencies, as well as between the airport and certain groups such as local residents affected by noise issues. The MPO’s (as well as other surface transportation planning agencies’) experience in public outreach can also com- plement the airport agency’s experience, which is often more limited. Not all airports regularly conduct projects requiring public outreach and may have less experience and fewer resources to perform outreach programs. The MetCouncil, for instance, has helped the Minneapolis–St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission (MSPMAC) with public outreach to address noise concerns in the western part of the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. In some cases, the airport can also cultivate relationships with local surface transportation planning agencies to move transportation projects forward that support economic development in disadvantaged areas close to the airport. In turn, these projects and the airport’s visible support of them can mitigate any negative relationship between the airport and local commu- nities. Damaged relationships between airports and local communities have been a growing concern across the United States, especially with respect to implementing new flight paths. 3.3 What Do Public Planning Agencies/MPOs Gain? For airport access planning: • Coordination with airport plans for on-airport passenger movements (people mover, con- solidated rental car facilities, etc.) can help reduce costs and reduce redundancy of access investments (and especially avoid investments in plans inconsistent with on-airport plans). • An early and accurate understanding will occur of the constraints under which airport rev- enues or federal funds will be available for funding airport access projects. Airport staff are best qualified to explain and communicate the complex environment of airport funding to surface transportation planning agencies’ staff. This early understanding can be an asset in order to elaborate financially feasible solutions to access issues. • Support from the airport can help to move airport access projects forward [e.g., bus rapid transit (BRT) Blue Line in Indianapolis]. The Airport Helps Plan for the Entire Metro Area: Indianapolis International Airport Ensuring full use of existing collaboration structures between the airport and MPO can sometimes be overlooked. Having a formal, clear role of the airport on the MPO planning board is essential for the airport to play a role in access planning and regional planning. Nominating a responsive, involved airport manager to the board is a precondition to achieve this, as has been the case in Indianapolis. When the Indianapolis Airport Authority started attending Indianapolis MPO committee meetings, this participation led to significant planning collaboration shortly there- after. Once the airport has a strong voice on the MPO planning board, it can broaden the conversation by sharing its priorities and projects with the other agencies and local governments, while making sure airport needs such as con- nectivity and economics are covered at MPO meetings. In Indianapolis, the airport helped broaden the conversation around the overall transportation plan. The airport representative on the MPO board played a key role in committees for

Collaboration in Transportation Planning: The Benefits 17 planning regional transit and development projects in the west of the metro area. The airport engagement in planning with local communities was critical in improving the perception of the airport among local constituents. In particular, the Indianapolis Airport Authority was successful at restoring its relationship with local communities west of the airport thanks to a combination of land divestments and revitalization projects, including local road improvements. The involvement of the Indianapolis Airport Authority in supporting the Indianapolis MPO and, in particular, BRT projects without direct impact on the airport also enabled the authority to influence the design of the BRT Blue Line, which will serve the airport and ultimately neighborhoods north of the airport in need of redevelopment. For regional transportation planning: • Inclusion of airport representatives in MPO technical committees (standing and ad hoc) can help move projects outside of the airport forward as well, where the airport can lend technical or staff support (e.g., in Indianapolis). • Improvement in the accuracy of regional transportation models can occur (which in turn can support regional transportation plans) by including accurate data on transportation demand and trip generation (e.g., Baltimore/Washington International Airport in the regional trans- portation models). • Expansion of the MPO’s role to include air transportation makes it a truly multimodal agency (e.g., National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board in the Washington, D.C., area). The Airport Helps Plan for the Entire Metro Area: Indianapolis International Airport (Continued)

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Public-use airports, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), and local land-use/ transportation planning agencies all have independent yet interrelated planning processes bound by legal and policy requirements to ensure compatibility. This means that they should work cooperatively to solve joint transportation challenges in the most effective and efficient manner.

The TRB Airport Cooperative Research Program's ACRP Research Report 216: Guidebook for Assessing Collaborative Planning Efforts Among Airport and Public Planning Agencies offers guidance for enhancing collaboration between airports and metropolitan surface transportation planning agencies.

An additional resource is the contractor's final report.

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