2010 Awards

2010 Award Winners

• Outstanding Overall Achievement for a TMA MPO
  
• Outstanding Overall Achievement for a non-TMA MPO
  
• Oustanding Individual Leadership in Metropolitan Transportation Planning

Outstanding Overall Achievement for a TMA MPO

The Award for Outstanding Overall Achievement for a TMA MPO was presented to the Puget Sound Regional Council for its Transportation 2040 plan. This comprehensive long range transportation plan is a blueprint for sustainable transportation as the central Puget Sound region grows by 1.5 million people in the next 30 years.

Transportation 2040 contains significant innovations that use transportation to shape a livable metropolitan region. The plan directly supports the region's land use vision and it prioritizes projects that serve regional centers. It increases the use of transit, biking, and walking and improves the balance between jobs and housing. It incorporates technology to improve mobility and reduce congestion in 12 smart corridors. It includes a specific four-part strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles travelled. The plan also builds on current efforts to protect natural areas and focus growth within livable communities. The plan's financial strategy relies on traditional funding sources in early years and transitions over time to a new funding structure based on user fees and other pricing approaches that replace the gas tax.

Puget Sound Regional Council, or PSRC, conducted extensive public outreach and involvement to develop this plan, including engagement with the freight and business communities. Implementation of Transportation 2040 will ensure the region's communities are more sustainable and truly provide opportunities for improved quality of life. AMPO is proud to honor PSRC with this award for these efforts.

Outstanding Overall Achievement for a non-TMA MPO

The Award for Outstanding Overall Achievement for a non-TMA MPO was presented to the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission. CCRPC, as it is also known, completed the University Avenue Corridor Study in the Urbana, Illinois region. This comprehensive redevelopment plan focuses on a critical transportation link for the region, which carries residents and visitors between two cities to some of the largest employers in the county, including the University of Illinois and three major hospitals. The study recommendations call for changes to land use, zoning, building and site design, transportation, and streetscape. To accomplish this, CCRPC involved the public in identifying key issues and opportunities, integrated existing land use and transportation plans, formulated an overall vision and development concept, created a set of framework principles, developed an illustrative urban design plan, and identified key concepts and cost estimates.

CCRPC coordinated the planning process with extensive outreach to public agencies, private businesses, and residents. CCRPC used innovative computer simulations and modeling software throughout this process, which proved to be a strong tool for communicating to stakeholders and decision-makers. Recommendations and implementation steps were designed to complement existing plans and policies so they could easily fit into existing funding sources, and occur as future redevelopment takes place.

The design concepts, public outreach methods and technologies used in the University Avenue Corridor Study are readily available to planners, and some of the simulation tools are available free of charge. This makes CCRPC's success easily transferable to other communities across the country. To recognize this good work, AMPO presents this award to the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission.

Outstanding Individual Leadership in Metropolitan Transportation Planning

The award for Outstanding Individual Leadership was presented to Eric Hill of MetroPlan Orlando. Eric is the Director of Systems Planning and Operations and has served in that position since 2005. MetroPlan Orlando set a strategic goal to make the Orlando region's transportation system safer, more efficient, and more cost-effective. Eric's involvement with internal staff, local partners and stakeholders, and national efforts, has been instrumental in moving METROPLAN ORLANDO towards meeting these challenges.

Eric has been a leader in making management & operations an integral part of the metropolitan planning process, not only at home in Orlando but also nationally. He served as the chair of AMPO's Management & Operations Work Group, providing assistance to FHWA to create a framework that complies with the operations requirements in SAFETEA-LU. Eric has also served on numerous committees that focus on best practices in incorporating operations into the planning process, performances measures, and data for operations. These have included FHWA Guidebooks and NCHRP research efforts.

Eric also advances the participation of local agencies and interests that are not traditional partners in the MPO planning process, through outreach and participation in meetings and coalitions. As a result of MetroPlan Orlando' success in funding and implementing management & operations strategies, Eric is regularly invited to report on these activities at statewide and national meetings and conferences. He is an enthusiastic and effective advocate for advancing an operations approach in transportation planning.