Highlights Megaregions are not clearly a crucial spatial scale to address transportation issues. Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPOs) partnerships at the megaregional scale are somewhat widespread. MPOs typically engage in megaregional collaborations requiring limited organizational time and resources. Few MPOs view megaregional planning as a high priority or as highly effective. Results suggest that megaregional planning will not evolve without support from federal and state DOTs.

    Abstract Researchers have argued that megaregions are a crucial spatial scale to address infrastructure modernization, growth management, economic development and environmental impacts because processes affecting these domains are highly concentrated within megaregional spaces. This paper evaluates the conceptual issues and policy salience of megaregional planning in the U.S. by analyzing the results of a 2018 survey of 382 designated MPOs. Drawing upon the survey results, we find support for the notion that MPO partnerships operating at the megaregional scale are somewhat widespread and involve MPOs along with other partners, like state DOTs and councils of governments. A subset of common concerns—especially multi-modal freight, major transportation corridors, economic development, intercity rail service, and air quality—appear to motivate megaregional partnerships. MPOs were most likely to engage in megaregion-scale collaborations requiring relatively low levels organizational time and resources versus more substantive collaborative efforts to develop joint plans or coordinated project investments. At the same time, few MPO respondents viewed megaregional scale planning collaborations as a high priority or as highly effective. For the majority of MPOs, it appears likely that the costs of such collaborations currently outweigh prospective benefits. Survey respondents identified increasing staff funding, requiring state DOTs’ statewide plans to address megaregional issues, and facilitating and enabling inter-local agreements for megaregional planning as actions that would enhance the salience and effectiveness of megaregional planning. These actions will likely occur only if planning at this scale is embraced as an important priority by federal and state policy makers.


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    Title :

    The salience of megaregional geographies for inter-metropolitan transportation planning and policy making


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2020-02-04




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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