Specifically, this report (1) discusses the MPOs’ experiences in implementing ISTEA’s planning requirements and (2) examines the extent to which the U.S. Department of Transportation’s certification review process ensures that the MPOs in larger urban areas comply with ISTEA’s requirements. Despite these challenges, the MPOs we interviewed believe that their efforts to meet these requirements have been beneficial. The state transportation planning officials we interviewed were less unanimously supportive of these provisions, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) advocates eliminating the requirement to financially constrain the long-term transportation plans. Also, successfully constraining a TIP requires reliable projections of revenue—projections that were not always available. Second, the MPOs had to obtain reliable estimates of the funds available from the state departments of transportation. Two MPOs said that the states continue to resist the MPOs’ and regional interests’ efforts to assume greater authority over project identification. While the MPOs we interviewed unanimously endorsed the continuation of the public participation, financial constraint, and project selection requirements, some states opposed the continuation of these requirements. AMPO supported the financial constraint requirement for the long-term (20-year) plan. FHWA’s and FTA’s Certifications of MPOs

To ensure that urban transportation plans and programs are an outgrowth of the planning process that ISTEA prescribes, ISTEA required the Secretary of Transportation to conduct planning certification reviews at the MPOs in transportation management areas. However, in reviewing 55 certification reports, we found that the reports are of limited usefulness in assessing trends or problem areas in the ISTEA planning process. First, the certification reports vary widely in format and content because the Department did not develop standard formats for assessing or reporting the MPOs’ compliance. Second, three MPOs were certified despite significant deficiencies in the urban transportation planning process. Twenty-three MPOs were certified without qualification, and 31 were certified subject to certain corrective actions being taken. To date, one MPO has not been certified—the MPO for the Boston metropolitan area; its certification was held in abeyance. Recommendation

We recommend that the Secretary of Transportation direct the Administrators of the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration to develop reporting formats for assessing and reporting on the MPOs’ compliance with ISTEA’s planning requirements in such a way that the Department can identity any nationwide patterns in planning deficiencies, the underlying causes of these planning deficiencies, and the extent to which the MPOs have made progress in meeting the requirements.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed: (1) metropolitan planning organizations' (MPO) implementation of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) planning requirements; and (2) whether the Department of Transportation's certification review process ensures that MPO in larger urban areas comply with those planning requirements.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) the MPOs have found three of ISTEA's planning requirements particularly challenging to meet: (a) requiring greater involvement by citizens; (b) limiting short- and long-term transportation plans to reasonable revenue projections (the financial constraint requirement); and (c) selecting transportation projects; (2) the MPOs found that the requirement to involve citizens had ensured that their transportation plans better reflected their regions' transportation needs; (3) the financial constraint requirement led the MPOs to obtain more reliable revenue projections from the state departments of transportation and transit agencies and to exclude those projects that could not be financed within budget constraints; (4) ISTEA's project selection authority required the MPOs to become consensus builders, effectively working with the states, localities, and transit agencies in identifying projects; (5) in some cases, the efforts of the MPOs and the local officials to assume greater authority have encountered resistance from the states; (6) despite the difficulties encountered, the MPOs that GAO interviewed said that their efforts to meet these three planning requirements had improved their transportation plans; (7) the 13 MPOs that GAO interviewed unanimously endorsed the continuation of the ISTEA planning requirements; (8) in contrast, state department of transportation officials that GAO interviewed did not uniformly support the continuation of ISTEA's planning requirements; (9) as of January 1996, the Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) had reviewed 55 MPOs; (10) 23 were certified without qualification, and 31 were certified subject to certain corrective actions being taken; (11) the certification of one MPO was held in abeyance because of significant areas of noncompliance; (12) in reviewing 55 certification reports, GAO found that the reports are of limited usefulness in assessing trends or problem areas in the ISTEA planning process; (13) the certification reports vary widely in format and content because the Department did not develop standard criteria for assessing or reporting the MPOs' compliance; and (14) three MPOs were conditionally certified despite significant deficiencies in their urban transportation planning processes.