MPO Transportation Funding for Livable Communities

When it comes to planning transportation infrastructure investments in U.S. metropolitan areas, there is often a disconnect between land-use and transportation planning that dates back to the emergence of regional transportation planning in the United States. A number of factors explain the lack of coordination between land use and transportation planning. One is that a dearth of planning capacity - in the form of funding, staff, technical expertise, models and other technology - which limits the ability of many MPOs to address regional issues beyond their core responsibility of preparing a long-range regional transportation plan and a short-range transportation improvement program (13-16). But the single biggest hurdle to integrating land-use and transportation planning is a legal one. Namely, states typically delegate authority to regulate land uses through zoning and other police powers to local governments, which leaves MPOs with little influence in decisions about land use (18).