Upcoming Webinars

Please check back soon for additional webinars.  Also visit http://www.nado.org/events for more training from NADO on other topics.

Past events

Addressing Environmental Justice in Transportation Planning Practice

On September 20, 2012, the NADO Research Foundation held the free webinar "Addressing Environmental Justice in Transportation Planning Practice" with support from FHWA and in partnership with the American Planning Association's Transportation Planning Division.  The webinar was approved for 1.5 AICP CM legal credits. 

In May 2012, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued an updated Departmental Order, Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, for the first time since 1997.  This order was developed in response to the 1994 Presidential Order on environmental justice (EJ) and lays out how the department will address EJ in all its programs, policies, and activities.  In addition, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released its own EJ order in June 2012, and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) released a detailed EJ circular in July 2012.

These three EJ orders provide guidance to transportation agencies receiving federal funds on complying with the agency’s policies and regulations.  In a webinar, federal agency specialists will review how each of the new orders provide a significant legal framework for conducting transportation planning at the local level, within MPOs and RTPOs, and in state DOTs, as well as for consultants conducting work under contracts using federal funds.

The webinar slides are available here (PDF).
A recording of the full webinar is online here.

More resources on USDOT, FHWA, and FTA's recent orders on environmental justice are here.

Avoiding the Housing and Transportation Squeeze in Rural and Small Town America

On August 14, 2012, the webinar “Avoiding the Housing and Transportation Squeeze in Rural and Small Town America” was held by the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index Initiative, which is a program of the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Transportation (DOT), in partnership with the NADO Research Foundation and the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA).  The recording is online here.

Rural and small town America face unique housing and transportation challenges.   While urban areas may be plagued with traffic congestion, rural areas more often face issues such as insufficient resources that impact the frequency and connectivity of transit access and service. Widely fluctuating gas prices and greater distances between employment, groceries and health services make good transportation choices essential.

This web training event focused on transportation and housing cost tools that can help illustrate the impact land use decisions have on household budgets and community economic vitality, and how to identify investment and planning opportunities to improve the livability of rural communities.  It will also introduce the Housing and Transportation Affordability Initiative, a joint HUD and DOT venture to develop tools and resources to help planners, consumers, and policy-makers make more informed decisions about where to invest scarce resources.

A new nationwide version of the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index, along with a Location Affordability Index tool, will be available from HUD later in 2012.  Visit http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/sustainable_housing_communities/housing_transaffinitiative for more details.

Lessons Learned from Irene: RPC Involvement in Recovery of Vermont's Transportation Network

On Thursday, June 7, 2012, 2 - 3 p.m. EDT, the NADO Research Foundation held the webinar “Lessons Learned from Irene: Regional Planning Commission Involvement in Recovery of Vermont’s Transportation Network,” featuring a joint presentation from two regional planning commissions (RPCs) that make up the statewide network, the Vermont Association of Planning and Development Agencies (VAPDA).  Pam Brangan, Chittenden County RPC, and Katharine Otto, Southern Windsor County RPC, shared the impacts wreaked by Tropical Storm Irene last August and the work completed by the state’s regional planning commissions to assist with response and recovery of the state’s transportation infrastructure. 

Following the severe flooding that damaged infrastructure, utilities, buildings, and communities, the Vermont Agency of Transportation asked the state’s RPCs to assist with mapping and data collection, resource matching, communications, help with FEMA Public Assistance, and technical assistance to communities.  Although these tasks were related to the transportation and hazard mitigation planning that RPCs regularly conduct, they went far beyond the typical scope of the RPCs’ training and work.  As a result, the members of VAPDA divided responsibilities, with organizations whose regions were less impacted providing support to those regions with more damage.

Watch the webinar recording here: https://vimeo.com/43631790.

Download the speakers' slides:

This webinar was held by the NADO Research Foundation's Center for Transportation Advancement and Regional Development with support through a cooperative agreement with the Federal Highway Administration.  


NADO Two-Part Webinar Series: Regional Sustainable Development

The NADO Research Foundation sponsored a two-part webinar series exploring how regional development organizations are incorporating sustainability principles into their regional planning processes. 

The first webinar of the series, Land-Based Sustainable Development Strategies in Western North Carolina, was held on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 and featured two initiatives of the Land-of-Sky Regional Council (Asheville, NC).  Linda Giltz, AICP, Senior Planner at Land-of-Sky, described the Linking Lands and Communities Project, a four-county, multidisciplinary program to help guide land use decisions across the landscape by identifying and mapping the region’s most valuable natural and cultural resources.  Erica Anderson, AICP, also a Senior Planner at Land-of-Sky, discussed the Western North Carolina Forest Products Cooperative Marketing Project, a program that builds the capacity of forest producers to sustainably pursue a variety of forest enterprises using a bottom-up planning and economic development approach guided by forest producers and by forest product consumers.  This webinar was approved for 1.0 AICP Certification Maintenance credit.

Click here for the webinar recording (WMV).

Click here for a PDF of the presentations (PDF). 

The second webinar was held on Tuesday, July 12. Rural-Urban Connections in the Sacramento Region explored how the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) is addressing rural growth and development issues in their regional planning processes.  David Shabazian, Senior Planner with SACOG discussed the Rural-Urban Connections Strategy (RUCS), a look at the region's growth and sustainability objectives from a rural perspective.  Through the RUCS framework, SACOG is working with rural residents, businesses, and public agencies to form strategies that enhance the agriculture sector, rural economies, regional and local food systems, resource conservation, and regional sustainability.  Raef Porter, Senior Research Analyst at SACOG, demonstrated in real-time the interactive scenario modeling tools that SACOG is using to broaden understanding of how land use and transportation investments affect rural areas, agriculture production, and the region as a whole.  This webinar was approved for 1.5 AICP Certification Maintenance credits. 

Click here for the webinar recording (WMV).  This file includes both the presentation slides and the model demonstrations, with audio.
Click here for the PowerPoint presentation slides only (PDF) (large file).

Social Media and Electronic Participation in Regional Planning and Economic Development

March 30, 2011 – The NADO Research Foundation and RPO America held the webinar “Social Media and Electronic Participation in Regional Planning and Economic Development.” The webinar provided an overview of social media demographics and covered strategies that regional planning and economic development organizations are using to market their programs and reach out to the public through social media. With many options of social media applications available, organizations may find it useful to hear how other regions have used blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other media so expand their online outreach and engagement efforts beyond their website and newsletter.  The speakers' presentations are below:  This webinar is supported by the Federal Highway Administration through the NADO Research Foundation’s Center for Transportation Advancement and Regional Development. 1.5 AICP CM credits are available.

Rural and Small Metro Alternative Transportation Practices

February 15, 2011 - The NADO Research Foundation and RPO America held a webinar showcasing the work of two award-winning organizations on rural travel demand management and small metropolitan trail development. The Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments (Waterloo, IA) developed the Prairie Pathways Initiative to enhance the experience of trail users through interpretive signage, interactive kiosks. The Southwest Region Planning Commission (Keene, NH) developed a website and outreach materials on rural travel demand management to address transportation options throughout the region. Both projects have improved the experience of residents and visitors to the region by offering highlighting the extensive bicycle and pedestrian facilities and other transportation amenities. The speakers' presentations are below:

As winners of the 2010 NADO Trailblazer Awards, these two organizations were selected by peer judges for being highly innovative and effective regional transportation projects.  For more information on the award-winning projects, click here.

This webinar was supported in part by the Federal Highway Administration through the NADO Research Foundation’s Center for Transportation Advancement and Regional Development. 1 AICP CM credit is available for attendees.

New Approaches to Integrating Economic Development Planning

November 18, 2010 - The NADO Research Foundation partnered with the American Planning Association Economic Development Division to hold the free webinar “New Approaches to Integrating Economic Development Planning.”  Most jurisdictions and regions include an economic development element in their comprehensive plans and regional plans, but to-date rarely has economic development been truly integrated into these plans.  This webinar will familiarize attendees with several new concepts relating to the integration of regional and local economic development planning with broader planning efforts.  

The presentation focused on several types of plans, including Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS), the CEDS improvement initiative and aligning the CEDS with other regional plans, economic development in regional sustainability plans, and economic prosperity elements in comprehensive plans.  The presenters also covered simple and useful ways to present and analyze economic data in plans. 

Webinar speakers included:

  • Shana Johnson, Civic Synergy, LLC
  • Carrie Kissel, NADO Research Foundation
  • Amy Kessler, North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission
  • Jim Saylor, SEDA-Council of Governments
View a copy of the speakers' slides here (PDF).  A recording of the webinar is available here (WMV file).  View Pennsylvania DOT's document for MPOs and RPOs: Developing Long Range Plans: Resource Guidance for Pennsylvania Planning Parnters (PDF). This webinar has been approved for 1.5 AICP CM credits.


SafeRoadMaps: An Online Safety Planning Tool

November 9, 2010 - The NADO Research Foundation held a free webinar on SafeRoadMaps, an online interactive tool using the familiar Google Maps platform that displays crash locations.  Developed by the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (based at the University of Minnesota), this tool displays incident information for crash events as well as "heat maps" that show the crash density for an area.  The webinar covered the features of Safe Road Maps.org as well as effective ways to use the information contained in the tool for integrating safety into regional planning.  Speakers included:
  • Tom Horan, CERS Research Director
  • Brian Hilton, SafeRoadMaps Project Director
  • Nathan Botts, Claremont Graduate University

View the recording of the webinar here (Windows Media file), and the slides used by the speakers here (PDF, large file).  

Visit www.SafeRoadMaps.org to learn about crash locations in your region.  The SafeRoadMaps team has also set up a Google Group to gather feedback from users.  Join the Google Group at http://groups.google.com/group/srmnado. 

Natural Gas Drilling: Regional Economic Opportunities and Infrastructure Challenges

August 4, 2010 - With support from the Federal Highway Administration, the NADO Research Foundation hosted a webinar to examine the natural gas drilling boom in the Marcellus shale formation in Pennsylvania from the perspective of two regional planning and development organizations that are at the heart of the drilling boom. 

Speakers:
  • Rick Biery, Regional Planning Program Manager, Northern Tier Regional Planning and Development Commission and RPO
  • Jeff Stover, Executive Director, SEDA-Council of Governments Joint Rail Authority

The presentations provided in this webinar are available for download here as a PDF document.

A recording of the webinar is available here (WMV, large file).  To view the video, Windows Media Player (available as a free download here) must be installed on your computer.

This webinar was offered through the NADO Research Foundation's Center for Transportation Advancement and Regional Development, under a cooperative agreement with the Federal Highway Administration.

This webinar has been approved for 1.5 AICP CM credits.

For more background on this topic, access the NADO Research Foundation's recent issue brief: Natural Gas Drilling in the Marcellus Shale: Regional Economic Opportunities and Infrastructure Challenges (PDF).

Addressing Transportation Safety through Road Safety Audits


June 9, 2010 - With support from the Federal Highway Administration, the NADO Research Foundation hosted a webinar on Road Safety Audits and incorporating safety into planning.  A Road Safety Audit or Road Safety Assessment (RSA) is an examination of an existing or future road or intersection by a multidisciplinary team.  It qualitatively estimates and reports on potential road safety issues and identifies opportunities for improvements in safety for all road users.  With over half of traffic fatalities in the U.S. occurring on rural roads, rural and small metropolitan regions are positioned to benefit from RSAs in improving their transportation network and identifying projects that may qualify for federal safety funds. 
Experts working in a rural regional planning commission, a metropolitan planning commission that includes both rural and urban areas, and the Federal Highway Administration explained how to identify members of an RSA team, conduct the RSA, and use the findings to recommend safety improvements.

Speakers included: 

  • Rosemarie Anderson, Transportation Specialist for the Federal Highway Administration Office of Safety 
  • Chuck Wise, Senior Transportation Planner for the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission, Woodstock, Vermont 
  • Keith Nichols, Senior Transportation Engineer for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, Chesapeake, Virginia

The presentations provided in this webinar are available for download here as a PDF document.

A recording of the webinar is available here (WMV, large file).  To view the video, Windows Media Player (available as a free download here) must be installed on your computer.  Additional resources for conducing RSAs are available through the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Safety here.

This webinar was offered through the NADO Research Foundation's Center for Transportation Advancement and Regional Development, under a cooperative agreement with the Federal Highway Administration, and was organized with assistance from the FHWA Safety Program.

This webinar has been approved for 1.5 AICP CM credits.

Metropolitan and Rural Transportation Planning: Case Studies for Regional Collaboration


March 31, 2010 - This webinar offered case studies of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and rural transportation planning organizations (RPOs) that are working together to identify creative solutions across transportation planning boundaries. The webinar was approved for 1.5 AICP CM credits.
 
Webinar presentations:

A recording of the webinar is available here (WMV, large file).  To view the video, Windows Media Player (available as a free download here) must be installed on your computer.  

For more information on planning agency collaborations, view the NADO Research Foundation and AMPO report Metropolitan and Rural Transportation Planning: Case Studies and Checklists for Regional Collaboration or view the Resource Library page on Rural and Urban Collaboration.

Climate Change Is Heating Up

May 21, 2009 - The webinar “Climate Change Is Heating Up: The Latest Information and Resources for Transportation Planning Agencies in Rural, Small- and Medium-sized Regions” was jointly sponsored by the NADO Reserach Foundation and Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO).  The webinar was approved for 1.5 AICP Certification Maintenance credits.

The webinar featured a joint presentation by Cindy Burbank, National Planning and Environment Practice Leader for PB Americas, and Harrison Rue, Principal for ICF International.  Burbank and Rue provided an overview of climate change information and its relationship to transportation planning, discussed potential regulatory and legislative issues, economic impacts and prospects for addressing climate change, opportunities to adapt to and mitigate climate change, and provided additional information and funding resources.

Download free Adobe Reader here to view PDF files.
To view webinar videos, you may need to install Windows Media Player on your computer, available as a free download here.