DEVELOPING A REGIONAL STRATEGY FOR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

The southern California region has historically been ineffective in obtaining capital money from federal agencies for transit system development. This has been the case in spite of the fact that the region contains more people than 46 other states and is still growing rapidly. Growth, in fact, is reaching a level that requires the region to become more effective in developing its entire transportation system in order to facilitate that growth. The history of transportation in the region is examined and the reasons why transportation development is slow are investigated. Overlapping agency responsibilities and the lack of regionwide consensus are cited as principal causes. The financial and talent resources of the region are substantial and could be used to develop a successful transportation program if properly managed. A strategy is proposed by which a successful program could be realized. The strategy involves a top-down approach that begins by asking, "What should the transportation system accomplish?" There follows a phased project development process that includes a series of decision points, each more specific than the last. The strategy also includes the assignment of specific decision-making responsibility to specific agencies at each decision point.