The FHWA and FTA have initiated a series of joint Enhanced Planning Reviews (EPRs) to assess the impact of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) on the planning processes conducted by the transportation agencies serving metropolitan areas. The EPRs are also intended to determine the effects of planning on transportation investment processes. The information collected in the EPRs is intended to be of assistance to individual metropolitan areas in their continuing efforts to improve transportation planning practice, and to federal agencies in formulating policy and identifying technical assistance needs among agencies engaged in metropolitan planning.

The FHWA and FTA have initiated a series of joint Enhanced Planning Reviews (EPRs) to assess the impact of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) on the planning processes conducted by the transportation agencies serving metropolitan areas. The EPRs are also intended to determine the effects of planning on transportation investment processes. The information collected in the EPRs is intended to be of assistance to individual metropolitan areas in their continuing efforts to improve transportation planning practice, and to federal agencies in formulating policy and identifying technical assistance needs among agencies engaged in metropolitan planning.

This policy research project was funded by and conducted for the Texas Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration. The research was performed during the 1997-98 academic year by 18 graduate students and a faculty project director at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin. Its purpose was to examine "best practices" in governmental multimodal/intermodal transport policies, plans, and programs. This task was accomplished by investigating supranational, national, state, and local government multimodal/intermodal activities in North America, Western Europe, and Latin America.