GUIDEBOOK FOR TRANSPORTATION CORRIDOR STUDIES: A PROCESS FOR EFFECTIVE DECISION-MAKING

This report contains the results of research into the design and management of corridor and subarea transportation planning studies. It is intended to provide transportation organizations, planning practitioners, and transportation decision-makers with practical tools and guidance for designing, organizing, and managing these studies to effectively support transportation investment decisions tailored to the specific conditions and performance needs for major transportation improvements. Presented as a guidebook, it brings together lessons learned from different regions of the country on corridor and subarea studies with different scopes and levels of complexity. It provides a structured approach to the process of conducting corridor studies, with an emphasis on designing each study to address the conditions unique to the particular physical, social, and institutional environment. The guidebook should be especially valuable to state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations, and local transportation planners, as well as other practitioners concerned with planning, programming, and implementing multimodal transportation projects. The report will also be useful as an educational resource into the concepts, tools, and procedures currently employed for establishing and carrying out corridor and subarea studies that sustain effective transportation planning consensus and timely project development. The report is organized in the following chapters: (1) Orientation to the Guidebook and Key Issues; (2) The Transportation Planning Process and Corridor Decision-Making; (3) Identifying the Problem and the Corridor Study Strategy; (4) Study Organization and Initiation; (5) Community Involvement and Outreach; (6) Confirming the Problem and Developing Evaluation Criteria; (7) Developing and Evaluating Alternatives; (8) Financial Analysis and Selection of the Preferred Investment Strategy; (9) Corridor Study Documentation; (10) Dealing with Technical and Institutional Issues That Arise During a Corridor Study; and (11) Actions Agencies Can Take to Facilitate the Conduct of Corridor Planning Studies.