APPLYING LEAST COST PLANNING PRINCIPLES TO A RURAL REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN

This paper describes how legislation in the state of Washington requires that Regional Transportation Plans (RTPs) incorporate a "least cost planning" methodology into updates of those plans after December 31, 1999. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) was responsible for providing guidelines on this methodology, one for urban regional transportation planning organizations (RTPOs) and one for rural RTPOs. The Island County Sub-Regional Transportation Plan was chosen as the pilot project for developing the rural methodology. Least cost planning had been around in the energy field for some time, but had only been introduced to the transportation field on a theoretical basis at that time. Least-Cost Planning: Principles, Applications, and Issues2 was selected as the guide for developing the project. This research did not actually provide a methodology, but discussed the concepts of least cost planning within the framework of transportation planning methods. Six principles were identified and became the basis for the study, and these principles are: (1) an emphasis on developing system-level plans, (e.g. regional or MPO level plans) to explore policies that can only be fully evaluated at that level; (2) consideration of all alternatives, including demand management approaches; (3) explicit accounting for uncertainty in the estimation of benefits and costs; (4) public involvement in the decision-making process; (5) coordination among jurisdictions; and (6) monitoring and updating plans to reflect new information about demand for different facilities and the cost-effectiveness of different approaches. This paper describes how those principles were applied to the Island County Sub-RTP, what constraints exist to applying the methodology, and the advantages of using least cost planning.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Full conference proceedings available on CD-ROM.
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Authors:
  • Schutz, J B
• Conference:
  • Institute of Transportation Engineers 2003 Annual Meeting and Exhibit (held in conjunction with ITE District 6 Annual Meeting)
  • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Date: 2003-8-24 to 2003-8-27
• Publication Date: 2003

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: 8p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Cost effectiveness; Decision making; Least overall cost; Methodology; Metropolitan planning organizations; Public participation; Regional transportation; Rural areas; Theoretical studies; Transportation planning
• Geographic Terms: Washington (State)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00972814
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 27 2004 12:00AM