Multimodal Planning

1. Determine through a statewide process what the long term future of the state will look like. This process could be patterned after the ENVISION process used in Utah, but would establish through a collaborative effort overall policy for the design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance of the transportation system, regional development service areas, energy generation and distribution, and water supply and distribution. Other urban and rural services should be identified and costed but planned for at the local level. 

The establishment and continuous improvement of this long term planning should be a central element of each new State Administration and should be debated before each gubernatorial election. It should be considered in making local, State and Federal decisions. The result of this work should not be a State Plan, administered by a single State Planning Office. Rather, it should be a collaborative, non binding process that is jointly administered by local, regional and State agencies by pooling associated programs together to reinforce common interests.

The State Legislature should hold hearings soon on the need to conduct this process and then fund the program with others in early January, 2007.

2. Initiate in January, 2007, a review of the planning and budgeting of the Colorado Department of Transportation with the purpose of promoting projects that advance the development of a cost effective multimodal program; the review to include those projects in the State Transportation Implementation Program (STIP) and those described in each EIS or EA under way or completed over the last 5 years.
    
3. With local governments establish a new hierarchical based transit support system that provides service to at least 90% of the urban portion of the State that is within 3 miles of a rapid rail transit system station. This task should identify by the affected Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), RTD or RMRA new rail lines in the E/C/W470 or Northwest Corridor, and communities on or spurs from I-25 and I-70, including the Colorado Front Range and Roaring Fork Valley. The service area defined by this system can be used by local governments to guide their future development in a more cost effective manner over the long term future.
    
4. With local governments establish an open space program through the purchase of land or development rights that constricts urban growth to transit service areas so that transit can serve effectively the 90% of the State located in these areas.
    
5. Establish a sustainable financing system to fund these infrastructure programs developed earlier and then modified through this task effort.
    
6. Integrate the economic development analysis that may be conducted by the State through a special committee with efforts described above.
    
7. Determine long term programs for water supply and distribution and forecast development consistent with the availability of water as identified in these plans.
    
8. Develop an in house capability in the State to conduct environmental planning, capacity analysis, modeling and planning for the design of the transportation, water, regional development and economic development.
    
9. Establish a special committee composed of members from the State Government, Legislature and environmental and business communities, local government and other interests to review the work described above and to make recommendations for implementation to the various organizations affected including asking for commitments from local governments, public and private agencies and the State and Federal governments. Sponsor symposiums, conferences and summits to support understanding of the integration of local and State programs to foster improved planning for sustainable and economically sound development.
    
10. Hire CDOT and other State agency directors who are committed to the development of a multimodal program tied to local government actions that promote sustainable development. Ask that these State directors report periodically through a public process on actions taken to promote the selection of projects that further the goal of sustainable and economically sound development. 
11. Work with the Council on Environmental Quality using principles developed in SHRP II (www.TRB.org/SHRPII) to develop a more streamlined process to clear transportation projects. This new process may be able to make up some of the lost time in the RTD review and provide faster clearances for RMRA and CDOT projects.