Office of Planning, Environment, & Realty (HEP)
Planning · Environment · Real Estate
| Issue | Examples and Comments |
|---|---|
| Regional Development | |
| Financial stability | Examples: development economics, public finance impacts of development, cost of system preservation. Many regions are interested in incorporating financial feasibility into transportation and land use strategies. |
| Livability | Examples: mobility, smart growth, quality of life, multimodal transportation, community preferences. Many transportation agencies have worked to integrate livability and quality of life issues into transportation plans, but it is an ongoing challenge. |
| Demographics | Examples: aging, immigration, health. It is likely that demographic shifts will impact transportation needs. |
| Local economy | Examples: impacts of technology, megaregions, sector outlooks. |
| Reporting | |
| Modeling tools, visualization techniques | Transportation agencies might be required to report greenhouse gas emissions and/or other sustainability metrics, which will require new modeling capabilities. New or enhanced visualization techniques might become more important as agencies seek to communicate more complex concepts to the public. |
| Risks | |
| Climate change | Examples: greenhouse gas emissions, vehicle miles traveled, water quality and quantity. Particularly in coastal areas, transportation agencies may need to evaluate climate change-related risks. |
| Fuel price/availability | Disruptions to the supply of oil might affect many regions and affect agencies' consideration of system vulnerability. |
| Transportation funding | The structure of transportation finance could change in the future. Agencies might need to evaluate their ability to build and maintain transportation systems under financial constraints. |
| Economic growth/decline | Economic shifts could pose dramatic changes to projected transportation and development conditions. |
| Security | Heightened security concerns could change people's willingness to ride public transit and/or overall travel behavior. It could also affect the feasibility of very high-density development. |
| Technology | While advances in vehicle and fuel technology are expected, gasoline-powered vehicles are expected to remain the primary technology for the foreseeable future. |
| Freight | Economic, environmental, and financial changes could change freight logistics. |
