Capital Improvement Program or Plan

A fiscal planning tool developed through a process called capital improvement programming, which is the scheduling of public physical improvements (including transportation improvements) over a period of several years (generally 5 or 6 years).

Federal Highway Administration

An agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation that supports State and local governments in the design, construction, and maintenance of the Nation’s highway system (Federal Aid Highway Program) and various federally and tribally owned lands (Federal Lands Highway Program).

Long-Range Transportation Plan

A plan that identifies how the transportation system will meet economic, transportation, development, and sustainability goals—among others—in a planning area for a 20+-year planning horizon.

Metropolitan Planning Area

A geographic area determined by agreement between the metropolitan planning organization for the area and the Governor, in which the metropolitan transportation planning process is carried out.

Metropolitan Planning Organization

The policy board of an organization created and designated to carry out the metropolitan transportation planning process. MPOs are responsible for ensuring that Federal-aid transportation projects in the metropolitan area result from a continuing, comprehensive, and cooperative transportation planning process. MPOs are required to represent localities in all urbanized areas (with populations larger than 50,000, as determined by the U.S. Census).

Metropolitan Transportation Plan

A plan that acts as a comprehensive blueprint to guide the expenditure of Federal and State transportation funds in a metropolitan planning area for the next 20 years and beyond. The MTP is federally mandated and complies with the statewide and metropolitan transportation planning regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Regional Transportation Organization

An organization that identifies local transportation needs, conducts planning, assists local governments, and supports the statewide transportation planning process in non-metropolitan planning areas of a State (with populations under 50,000, as determined by the U.S. Census).

Special Assessment

A value capture technique that involves assessing incremental property taxes on land and often the buildings on that land deriving direct benefits due to a transportation improvement. The tax levied typically represents a portion of the estimated benefit to the properties located with a designated zone in close proximity to the improvement.

Statewide
Long-Range Transportation Plan

A plan that identifies how the transportation system will meet the State’s economic, transportation, development, and sustainability goals—among others—for a 20+-year planning horizon. Each State must prepare an SLRTP in accordance with 49 United States Code (USC) 5304(f) and 23 USC 135(f), which provides for the development and implementation of the multimodal transportation system, including transit, highway, bicycle, pedestrian, and accessible transportation.

State Transportation Improvement Program

A staged, multiyear, statewide multimodal program of transportation projects, consistent with the statewide transportation plan and planning processes, as well as metropolitan plans, transportation improvement programs, and planning processes. Municipalities located outside MPO or RTPO areas use STIP as a guiding document in the development of their CIP.

Tax Increment Financing

A value capture revenue tool that uses taxes on future gains in real estate values to pay for new infrastructure improvements.

Transportation Improvement Program

A four-year, fiscally constrained, short-range program that provides a prioritized list of multimodal transportation projects within a metropolitan planning area.

Transportation Utility Fees

The fees imposed by municipalities on property owners, treating the transportation system like a utility, charging property owners or occupants for their share of transportation costs based on system use.

Unified Planning Work Program

An annual or biennial statement of work identifying the planning priorities and activities to be carried out within a metropolitan planning area. At a minimum, a UPWP includes a description of the planning work and resulting products, who will perform the work, timeframes for completing the work, the cost of the work, and the source(s) of funds.

U.S. Department of Transportation

A Federal agency responsible for formulating national transportation policy and promoting intermodal transportation. It also sets safety regulations for all major modes of transportation.