On September 26, the NADO Research Foundation held its third virtual peer exchange on collaborative transportation and economic development planning. This session tapped into the expertise of 30 transportation and economic development practitioners from around the country to uncover tools for developing shared visions, goals, and strategies that result in coordinated plans and infrastructure investment that supports regional prosperity. Participants explored four specific aspects of the transportation and economic development planning processes—the vision, goals and strategies, project-level work, and performance measurement—learning about proven approaches, “workshopping” sample plans using crowdsourced strategies, and sharing ideas and questions in vibrant discussions. The attendees left the peer exchange with concrete next steps for using the different parts of the planning process to connect transportation and economic development, partner on implementation, and hold each other accountable for results.
The agenda from the event is available here and the slides are here (both PDFs), as well as an exercise (Google doc) that attendees completed to compare their existing transportation and economic development plans. To use the exercise with your own plans, open the Google Doc, click on “File,” and then “Download as” to choose how and where to save the file. Additional materials that participants referenced include:
- 2040 Transportation Vision Plan (large PDF, Valdosta-Lowndes MPO/Southern Georgia Regional Commission)
- Common Community Vision Annual Report (PDF, Southern Georgia Regional Commission)
- DevelopMN Statewide Economic Development Strategy (PDF, Minnesota Association of Development Organizations)
- Finger Lakes Regional Sustainability Plan (PDF, Genesee-Finger Lakes Regional Planning Commission)
- Preparing Village Main Streets for Planning (PDF, Genesee-Finger Lakes Regional Planning Commission)
- Transportation and Food Systems in the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region (PDF, Genesee-Finger Lakes Regional Planning Commission)
- Economic Vitality Folio (PDF, Washington State DOT)
Some of the speakers mentioned additional resources and tools not developed through their organization, including the Federal Highway Administration INVEST tool (Infrastructure Voluntary Evaluation Sustainability Tool) and PlanWorks (developed through the Strategic Highway Research Program 2).
This training was the third installment of ‘On the Road to Prosperity: Fostering Collaborative Transportation and Economic Development Planning,’ a series of five virtual peer exchanges exploring how transportation and economic development planning practitioners can work together to maximize the economic impact of infrastructure investments, grow businesses and jobs, and strengthen the livability and vitality of communities and regions. These peer exchanges are conducted with support from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The fourth in the series will take place on October 31 and will focus on coordination among economic development and transportation planning agencies, including the broader alignment and combination of their plans.
To access PDFs, use a viewer such as Adobe Reader.
