Planning at a metropolitan scale is important for effective management of urban growth, transportation systems, air quality, and watershed and green-spaces. It is fundamental to efforts to promote social justice and equity. Best Practices in Metropolitan Transportation Planning shows how the most innovative metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in the United States are addressing these issues using their mandates to improve transportation networks while pursuing emerging sustainability goals at the same time. As both a policy analysis and a practical how-to guide, this book presents cutting-edge original research on the role accessibility plays - and should play - in transportation planning, tracks how existing plans have sought to balance competing priorities using scenario planning and other strategies, assesses the results of various efforts to reduce automobile dependence in cities, and explains how to make planning documents more powerful and effective. In highlighting the most innovative practices implemented by MPOs, regional planning councils, city and county planning departments and state departments of transportation, this book aims to influence other planning organizations, as well as influence federal and state policy discussions and legislation.

"This [i.e. The] purpose of this guidebook is to help organizations improve the development, implementation, and management of their transportation plans and programs. By adding an element of performance measurement and monitoring to existing transportation planning processes, agencies can obtain better information about the performance of their existing programs and services. Performance-based planning provides a process and tools to identify and assess alternative programs, projects, and services with respect to overall transportation plan goals and objectives."--Ch. 1. Overview, p. 3.

This guidebook is for transportation agency managers, engineers, and planners who want their agencies to use the planning process to implement a systematic and consistent approach to access management. For employees who are dealing with the consequences of poor access management at the project and operational levels, the guidance provides a resource that outlines the specific steps their agencies can take to establish a policy and planning basis for implementing access management best practices. This guidance focuses on how to use the planning process to establish the implementing mechanisms that will result in the application of access management principles.