Urban Transportation Planning In the United States: An Historical Overview: Fifth Edition
Chapter 1. Introduction
More than thirty years have passed since the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962 created the federal mandate for urban transportation planning in the United States. The act was the capstone of two decades of experimentation and development of urban transportation procedures and institutions. It was passed at a time in which urban areas were beginning to plan National Interstate and Defense Highway System routes through and around their areas. The 1962 Act combined with the incentive of 90 percent federal funding for Interstate highway projects caused urban transportation planning to spread quickly throughout the United States. It also had a significant influence on urban transportation planning in other parts of the world.
In some ways, the urban transportation planning process and planning techniques have changed little over the thirty years. Yet, in other ways, urban transportation planning has evolved over these years in response to changing issues, conditions and values, and a greater understanding of urban transportation phenomena. Current urban transportation planning practice is considerably more sophisticated, complex, and costly than its highway planning predecessor, and involves a wider range of participants in the process.
Modifications in the planning process took many years to evolve. As new concerns and issues arose, changes in planning techniques and processes were introduced. These modifications sought to make the planning process more responsive and sensitive to those areas of concern. Urban areas that had the resources and technical ability were the first to develop and adopt new concepts and techniques. These new ideas were diffused by various means throughout the nation, usually with the assistance of the federal government and professional associations. The rate at which the new concepts were accepted varied from area to area. Consequently, the quality and depth of planning is highly variable at any point in time.
Early highway planning concentrated on developing a network of all weather highways connecting the various portions of the nation. As this work was being accomplished, the problems of serving increasing traffic grew. With the planning for urban areas came additional problems of dispersed land use development patterns, dislocation of homes and businesses, environmental degradation, citizen participation, energy consumption, transportation for the disadvantaged, and infrastructure deterioration. More recently have been the concerns about and traffic congestion, intermodal connectivity, performance measures, sustainable development, and environmental justice.
Urban transportation planning in the United States has always been conducted by state and local agencies. This is entirely appropriate since highway and transit facilities and services are owned and operated largely by the states and local agencies. The role of the federal government has been to set national policy, provide financial aid, supply technical assistance and training, and conduct research. Over the years, the federal government has attached requirements to its financial assistance. From a planning perspective, the most important has been the requirement that transportation projects in urbanized areas of 50,000 or more in population be based on an urban transportation planning process. This requirement was first incorporated into the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962.
Other requirements have been incorporated into federal legislation and regulations over the years. Many of these are chronicled in this report. At times these requirements have been very exacting in their detail. At other times, greater flexibility was allowed in responding to the requirements. Currently, the emphasis is on increasing state and local flexibility in planning implementation, and in making the planning process more inclusive for all groups and individuals.
Over the years, a number of federal agencies have affected urban transportation planning. (Table 1) The U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) was part of the U.S. Department of Commerce when the 1962 Highway Act was passed. It became part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) upon its creation in 1966 and its name was changed to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The federal urban mass transportation program began in 1961 under the U.S. Housing and Home Finance Administration, which became the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1965. The federal urban transit program was transferred to DOT in 1968 as the U.S.
Table 1
Dates Selected Federal Agencies Were
Established
| Date | Agency Name |
|---|---|
| 1849 | Department of Interior |
| 1913 | Department of Commerce |
| 1916 | Bureau of Public Roads |
| 1921 | Bureau of the Budget |
| 1947 | Housing and Home Finance Agency |
| 1953 | Department of Health, Education and Welfare |
| 1965 | Department of Housing and Urban Development |
| 1966 | Department of Transportation |
| 1966 | Federal Highway Administration |
| 1966 | Federal Railroad Administration |
| 1966 | Advisory Council on Historic Preservation |
| 1967 | National Highway Safety Bureau |
| 1968 | Urban Mass Transportation Administration |
| 1969 | Council on Environmental Quality |
| 1970 | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |
| 1970 | Office of Management and Budget |
| 1970 | Environmental Protection Agency |
| 1977 | Department of Energy |
| 1979 | Department of Health and Human Services |
| 1991 | Federal Transit Administration |
| 1991 | Bureau of Transportation Statistics |
Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA). The name was changed to the U.S. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) by the Federal Transit Act Amendments of 1991. The U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) was created at the same time as DOT.
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 established the National Traffic Safety Agency, and the Highway Safety Act of 1966 established the National Highway Safety Agency both in the Department of Commerce. The two safety agencies were combined by Executive Order 11357 in 1967 into the National Highway Safety Bureau in the newly created DOT. In 1970 it became the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Other federal agencies became involved in urban transportation planning as new issues arose. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation was established in 1966 to administer national historic preservation programs. The Bureau of the Budget (BOB), later to become the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), issued guidance in 1969 to improve coordination among programs funded by the federal government. To address environmental concerns that were increasing in the latter part of the 1960s, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) was created in 1969 and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970. The U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), now the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), became involved in urban transportation in 1973 as part of its function to eliminate discrimination against handicapped persons in federal programs. With the passage if the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Department of Interior and the Department of Commerce became involved in some aspects of urban transportation planning. In 1977, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) was created to bring together federal energy functions. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) was created by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.
The involvement of these and other agencies at the federal, state and local level created an increasing challenge to agencies conducting urban transportation planning to meet all the requirements that resulted. Local planners devoted substantial resources to meeting requirements of higher level governments, which often detracted from their ability to address local needs and objectives. These requirements, however, were also used by local agencies as the justification to carry out activities that they desired but for which they could not obtain support at the local level.
This report reviews the historical development of the urban transportation planning process in the United States from its beginnings in early highway and transit planning to its current focus on intermodal connectivity, sustainable development, and broad participation in the planning process.
Chapter 2 discusses the early beginnings of highway planning.
Chapter 3 covers the formative years of urban transportation planning during which many of the basic concepts were developed.
Chapter 4 focuses on the 1962 Federal-Aid Highway Act and the sweeping changes it brought in urban transportation planning in the United States. It also describes early federal involvement in urban public transportation.
Chapter 5 discusses efforts at intergovernmental coordination, the beginning of the federal highway and vehicle safety programs, a deeper federal role in urban public transportation and the evolution to "continuing" transportation planning.
Chapter 6 describes the environmental revolution of the late 1960s and the increased involvement of citizens in the urban transportation planning process.
Chapter 7 addresses the events that led to integrated planning for urban public transportation and highways. These included major increases in federal transit programs as well as increased flexibility in the use of highway funds.
Chapter 8 focuses on the Arab oil embargo of 1973 which accelerated the transition from long-term system planning to short-term, smaller scale planning. It also discusses the concern for cost-effectiveness in transportation decisions and the emphasis on transportation system management techniques.
Chapter 9 highlights the concern for the revitalization of older urban centers and the growing need for energy conservation. It describes the expanding federal requirements on environmental quality and transportation for special groups.
Chapter 10 describes the efforts to reverse federal intrusion into local decisions and to scale back federal requirements.
Chapter 11 discusses the expanded interest in involving the private sector in the provision of transportation services and the decline in public resources to address transportation planning.
Chapter 12 focuses on strategic planning to the year 2000 and into the next century, and the renewed interest in new technological options. It also discusses the growing concern for traffic congestion and air pollution and the efforts at transportation demand management.
Chapter 13 describes the broadening of the urban transportation planning process to address the relationship of transportation to sustainable development, the inclusion of a wide range of participants in the process including individuals and citizen groups, and the extension of multimodal n planning to the statewide level.
Chapter 14 provides a summary and concluding remarks.
