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The TPB approved its current plan, known as Visualize 2045, and the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), on June 15, 2022. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the Air Quality Conformity determination for the plan and TIP on August 25, 2022. As the TPB is required to produce a plan every four years, the next plan would typically be due in August 2026. However, through Resolution R19-2021, the TPB directed its staff to initiate an update to the plan with a target completion date of 2024.
At its core, the long-range transportation plan describes how the TPB, its member jurisdictions, and transit agencies work together to tackle challenges facing the region, gather public opinion, and through policies and investments in projects and programs, advance the most effective strategies to make progress on the region’s goals today and in the future. Developing a long-range transportation plan is a federal requirement for the TPB, and the plan describes why a federal requirement exists and how the TPB meets those requirements.
The plan update includes many activities and components. There are two main parts of the plan: the constrained element that is used to demonstrate financial constraint and is analyzed to ensure the emissions from the future transportation system meet or are less than certain targets, known as Mobile Vehicle Emissions Budgets (MVEBs). The second main part of the plan provides a comprehensive description of the regional policy priorities, planning process, activities, strategies, and performance.
The TIP is a federal obligation document which describes the planned schedule in the next four years for distributing federal, state and local funds for state and local transportation projects. The TIP includes highway projects, rail, bus, and streetcar projects and bicycle and pedestrian improvements, as well as roadway and transit maintenance projects, operational programs, and many other transportation-related activities.
The Technical Inputs Solicitation is the activity that TPB staff undertake to gather the required technical inputs for the constrained element of the long-range transportation plan. Click here to download the draft solicitation document (draft as of January 6, 2023) and see below for additional resources.
Local projects of regional significance (for example, capital improvements that add or remove highway or transit capacity and therefore might affect future air quality) are included in the constrained element of the plan so long as sufficient revenue is available to pay for the projects. The constrained element is generally a list of projects that is a subset of all the transportation work in the region, limited by requirements related to the Air Quality Conformity analysis. Typically, the projects are regionally significant road and transit improvements, although these projects often include freight, bicycle, and pedestrian enhancements.
Projects do not have to be in the constrained element to be important to the region. Examples of activities not in the constrained element include studies and projects that do not yet have funding that will be required to be in the air quality analysis once they are funded. Also not included are standalone trail projects, locally funded bicycle and pedestrian projects that do not repurpose an existing lane, or privately funded electric vehicle infrastructure.
The following resources are provided to inform regional transportation planning, including but not limited to the project, program, and policy inputs to the constrained element of the long-range transportation plan.
Inputs to the next plan should:
The public will be invited to comment during the technical input solicitation process as the members of the board re-examine projects. Learn more on the Get Involved page.
Technical staff should use the TIS Instruction Guide to input their project submissions.
Air Quality Conformity refers to whether the financially constrained element of the long-range transportation plan (LRTP) projects collectively contribute to the air quality improvement goals embodied in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. If the LRTP is found by the TPB to meet regional air quality goals, federal agencies certify that the plan is “in conformity.”
Financially constrained means that each project included in this section or element must be capable of being completed using revenue sources that are already committed, available, or reasonably expected to be available in the future.
For answers to any of the following questions, please refer to the FAQs document by clicking here.
