OBJECTIVE: Transportation

About this objective

Land use and transportation are closely interrelated – changes in land use affect transportation; changes in transportation affect how land can be used. Transportation systems connect people to housing, work, services, and recreation opportunities. The region is well-served by an existing system of extensive roadways that provide connections for people choosing or able to use a personal vehicle. A transportation system that is well connected with uses and services close to an individual’s daily needs provides opportunities for choices in travel options that can help to decrease driving. Both planning and investment need to be coordinated to ensure thoughtful growth and development while continuing to serve people’s mobility needs throughout the region.

The region also has a robust network of existing and planned regional transit, bicycle, and walking/rolling infrastructure responding to increasingly diverse travel preferences and needs. Many residents use these options for some or all of their daily travel needs due to cost, ability, health goals, climate concerns, or preference. Additional housing, jobs, and services in places that support these travel modes can have many benefits, including:

• Increased accessibility of the region for those without access to a personal vehicle.
• Reduced need for vehicle trips and/or their cost and duration.
• Reduced GHG emissions related to transportation and land use.
• Efficacy of regional investment in regional transit/bicycling infrastructure.
• Increased positive health outcomes due to greater physical activity.

Places well-served by transit, bicycle, and pedestrian infrastructure can be identified in several ways. Comprehensive plans and other local plans often call out these places specifically. Transit market areas, an analysis maintained at the Met Council, are areas with density, walkability, and levels of car ownership that favor various levels of transit service. Population analysis such as age (youth/older adults), ability, income, and personal preferences can also identify areas with likely non-automobile-using residents.

Local governments in the region can support, reinforce, and create these areas through planning and implementation that encourages additional density around activity centers and along corridors, a greater mix of uses, and improvement to the walkability and livability of the area. A critical piece of local planning is the development of interconnected local street and pedestrian networks that provide more opportunities to support travel by modes other than a car. The design of the networks, the street layout, the relationship with the surrounding land uses, and the space for people to travel without a car is important in creating effective and safe places for people.