Pilot Program to Expand Transportation Planning Assistance
The Center for Transportation Studies (CTS), Mn/DOT, and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have joined together to establish a pilot Planning Technical Assistance Program (PTAP). The new program is one of four regional technical resource centers to be created under the federally sponsored Transportation Modeling Improvement Program (TMIP).
PTAP's anticipated role will be to provide training and educational programs and offer information exchange forums for small- and medium-sized communities in the region. Programs will first be created for Minnesota and then partnerships will be explored for expansion into surrounding states. The first regional center created through TMIP-in operation for over two years-is located at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI). It serves large MPOs requiring technical support for complex, data-intensive travel demand models (e.g., TRANSIMS).
Directing the creation of the PTAP resource center is the advisory committee which includes the following members: Bob Johns (chair) of CTS; Annette Bair of the Southwest RDC; Ron Chicka of the Duluth-Superior MPO; Bob Benke, Kathy Briscoe, Craig Collison, Randy Halvorson, Al Schenkelberg, Otto Schmid, and Patrick Weidemann of Mn/DOT; and Philip Miller and Susan Moe of the FHWA.
To collect customer input on what transportation- and planning-related educational assistance is needed, initial questionnaires were distributed to MPO, RDC, and Mn/DOT planners; members of the League of Minnesota Cities; and Mn/DOT pre-construction engineers during their October-November meetings. Based on the input received, a second survey distributed to a broader customer group will solicit input on the preferred format for suggested educational programs. Regional planning needs will be explored further upon the development of the initial PTAP program elements.
In cooperation with Mn/DOT, a full range of training topics are being considered. These include: Introduction to Travel Demand Forecasting, Advanced Travel Demand Forecasting, Introduction to Transportation Planning, Introduction to Metropolitan Planning, Improving Effectiveness of Public Meetings, and Mn/DOT's pilot Rural Transportation Planning course. The first in the PTAP series of training opportunities, "Introduction to Travel Demand Forecasting," was offered by Mn/DOT on February 1-4 at the Mn/DOT Training and Conference Center in Arden Hills.
If you have comments or input to PTAP, we'd like to hear from you! Please feel free to contact any member of the advisory committee or contact Cheri Trenda of CTS at 612-625-5829, or drop an e-mail at trend001@cts.umn.edu
--Cheri Trenda