Metropolitan planning organizations and the new regionalism: The case of Louisville

This article outlines the new regionalism movement and its metropolitan agenda, reviews federal efforts to promote new regionalism under ISTEA and TEA-21, considers how the new federal policies changed the role of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs)in transportation planning by examining the MPO for the Louisville metropolis, and assesses the MPO process in Louisville. The local decision of whether to build a new bridge across the Ohio River was a major test of the enhanced MPO process. Federal transportation policies enhanced regional coordination and cooperation in transportation planning in the Louisville metropolis resulting in a consensus plan to build two bridges across the Ohio River, However the A MPO process did not lead to the development of a metropolitan-wide interest or perspective. Moreover, the new regionalist agenda was not advanced because sprawl was not a factor in the decision on whether and where to build the bridges.