Public comment period closed
The public comment period ran from June 25 through Aug. 10 and brought in more than 200 commenters. The 2020 Update to the Transportation Policy Plan and public comment report will go before the Transportation Advisory Board on Oct. 21 for recommended approval to the Metropolitan Council on the following schedule:
- Transportation Committee: Oct. 26
- Metropolitan Council: Nov. 11
The 2040 Transportation Policy Plan 2020 Update (TPP) presents the Metropolitan Council’s policies and plans to guide development of the region’s transportation system. The TPP must be consistent with the regional vision set forth in Thrive MSP 2040 and describe how the transportation system will be developed and operate to support Thrive MSP goals.
The Council embarks on a major update once every 10 years that aligns with updates to the Regional Development Guide (Thrive MSP 2040). In between, we put together minor updates. This is a minor update that includes recent small changes to regional transportation investments and revenues, new travel trends data, results of recently completed studies and projects, and keeps the Metropolitan Planning Organization in federal compliance.
The COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak
The 2020 COVID-19 outbreak has had and will continue having significant impacts on the regional transportation system and its funding streams. These include both short- and long-term impacts on:
- The ways we travel whether by car, transit, bicycle, walking or flying
- Equity and environmental justice
- Future transportation revenues and transportation system spending
These will all need to be fully analyzed as the outbreak subsides and travel patterns resume to fully understand the effects. Because of this, these changes are not fully addressed in this update. That future analysis is reflected in Chapter 14: Work Program of the draft update, where we’ve added three studies on travel behavior, highway and transit revenues and spending, and the aviation system. Other chapters reference and acknowledge the COVID-19 outbreak and potential long-term changes to our transportation systems.
Work program plans, studies and analyses
The work program also includes several other new studies to assess and understand the rapidly changing transportation landscape and its impact on our region:
- Assessment of Regional Congestion Mitigation Philosophy
- Mobility Hub Planning Guide
- Regional Bicycle Transportation Network Bikeway Facility Guidelines and Measures
- Industrial Land Atlas Mapping Tool
- Electric Vehicles Planning Study
- Inventory and Planning Scenarios for Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Transportation Policy Plan Development
The region’s transportation plan comes together by collaborating with counties, cities and townships to create a vision for a shared transportation system. The Met Council builds these partnerships to help make a stronger system possible, serving people and connecting to places across the region. Our job is to listen to our partners and the people who live in the region to hear what they want in a transportation system. We then translate a shared vision for our region’s transportation system into investment plans and decisions that help build and maintain that system.
Public participation
Transportation Public Participation Plan (18 pages, pdf)