In August 2005, authorization for the federal transportation program was renewed in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). A new report published by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) offers insight and data regarding human service transportation coordination planning. Projects supported by Elderly Individuals and Individuals with Disabilities (Section 5310), Job Access and Reverse Commute (Section 5316, or JARC), and New Freedom (Section 5317) funds beginning in FFY 2007 are required to be derived from such a plan.

TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Results Digest 331, Preparing Coordinated Transportation Plans: A Guidebook for State Departments of Transportation, explores existing coordinated planning processes within state departments of transportation (DOTs) that meet the Federal Transit Administration’s requirements. The report also examines aspects of those processes that will be useful to other state DOTs and their planning partners as they develop or revise their own planning processes.

In addition to summarizing how the coordinated planning requirements have been implemented in a number of states, this report describes the efforts of the case study states in more detail. Approaches and practices that have been used successfully are presented for the consideration of other state DOTs, and are elaborated by reflections on lessons learned and best practices.

The report contains helpful visual aids listing the key characteristics and plan features for each case study site, as well as contact information for key personnel who were involved in each case study’s coordination plan. The easy-to-follow format allows the reader to browse through the various case studies to see how each of the featured DOTs approached the planning process, including:

• identifying key stakeholders and planning partners;
• identifying and addressing gaps or unmet needs;
• developing and prioritizing strategies for coordinating human services transportation.

"The coordinated planning processes established by SAFETEA-LU created a new challenge for state DOTs,” says Chris Zeilinger, Director of the National Resource Center for Human Service Transportation Coordination, “The states rose to the occasion, and this guidebook highlights some excellent practices that states and communities can learn from one another as they continue carrying out their Job Access, New Freedom and Section 5310 programs."

The report, with appendices, is available at http://www.trb.org/news/blurb_detail.asp?id=10134.