COORDINATION AND DIVERSIFICATION OF INVESTMENTS IN MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION

Across the nation, there are opportunities to improve multimodal coordination and prioritization of investments among transportation agencies. This article develops a method to coordinate and diversify transportation investments across travel modes and qualitative goals. The method helps decision makers to identify and prioritize investments for multimodal corridors, which involve large-scale coordination of transportation projects across modes. The article describes the developed method in two parts: prioritizing multimodal corridors at a macro level of analysis and coordinating modal projects at a micro level. The benefits of the method include (a) identification of efficient investment alternatives to meet travel demands when considering multiple modes relative to only single modes, (b) direction of funding to the multimodal corridors and modal projects where the needs are most urgent, and (c) increased transparency and accountability of multimodal agencies for funding that can be allocated across multiple modes. The article addresses multimodal transportation planning efforts with systematic, evidence-based approaches to coordinating long-range investments.