Regional Solicitation Evaluation

This study is evaluating and redesigning the entire Regional Solicitation program and process for selecting projects for federal transportation funding in the seven-county metro region. This project is designed to align the Regional Solicitation with Imagine 2050, the next regional development guide.

The 2050 Transportation Policy Plan is one of five system plans that are part of Imagine 2050, and its goals, objectives, policies, and actions will guide and inform transportation investment over the next 25 years.

The Met Council completed a similar evaluation about 10 years ago in step with the 2040 Transportation Policy Plan, which was adopted in 2014.

Purpose

The purpose of the Regional Solicitation Evaluation is to align federally funded project selection closely to the goals, objectives, and policies of the Imagine 2050 and the 2050 Transportation Policy Plan, which are both currently being updated and will be adopted in 2025.

A foundational value of the Regional Solicitation is that projects are selected in an objective, data-driven, transparent, and performance-based manner.

Timeline

Aug. 1, 2025 – Draft of the 2026 Regional Solicitation application.

The application will then travel through the Transportation Advisory Board and its Technical Advisory Committees, be released for public comment, and then adopted by the Met Council and its Transportation Committee.

Jan. 15, 2026 – Complete online testing of the application.

Late January 2026 – Release Regional Solicitation for accepting applications.
 

Resources and outcomes

As part of the Regional Solicitation Evaluation, multiple working groups will meet to discuss specific topics in 2024. To support a reevaluation of the Regional Solicitation, the Policymaker Working Group has been formed. This group is tasked with making recommendations to the TAB and Council, and providing direction to the Technical Steering Committee and Special Issue Working Groups (including which Special Working Groups to form). Meetings notes for the Policymaker Working Group can be found here:

Documents  
Meetings
 

Regional Solicitation Technical working group

Meetings

As part of the Regional Solicitation Evaluation, multiple working groups will meet to discuss specific topics in 2024. In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature enacted legislation that provides additional funding for active transportation in the region. These new funds will be distributed by the TAB. A working group has been created to provide recommendations to TAB for how to distribute this funding in the region. Meeting materials and notes can be found here.

As part of the Regional Solicitation Evaluation, multiple working groups will meet to discuss specific topicw. To support the development of the 2026 Regional Solicitation application, several Special Issue Working Groups have been formed. These group are tasked with making recommendations on specific application category requirements, eligible projects, and scoring criteria to the Technical Steering Committee and Policymaker Working Groups. Meeting notes and materials for the Special Issue Working Groups can be found here:
 
Meetings: