CHAPTER 1

Background

NCHRP Project 08-128, “Snapshots of Planning Practices,” reinitiates the concept of developing planning Snapshots with a focus on current and emerging topics in transportation planning. In general, planning Snapshots provide guidance and practical resources to transportation agencies and stakeholders so that they can address these topics and issues effectively and with the most up-to-date approaches and tools.

The four Snapshot topics included in this effort are Complete Streets, Data Sharing for Performance Management, Collaboration on Local Freight Delivery, and Economic Analysis to Support Decision-Making. These four topics represent current issues in transportation planning for state departments of transportation (DOTs) and municipal planning organizations (MPOs).

The focus of the four products are as follows:

• Complete Streets: Policies, methods, tools, and processes used by state DOTs and MPOs to accommodate different modal uses of the roadway and roadway rights-of-way.
• Data Sharing for Performance Management: Strategies, methods, processes, and procedures for identifying, adopting, and sharing specific data and planning performance metrics.
• Collaboration on Local Freight Delivery: Successful collaborations between state DOTs, MPOs, local governments, and private-sector freight providers to address the growing demands of goods movement.
• Economic Analysis to Support Decision-Making: Processes and tools used by state DOTs, MPOs, and local transportation agencies to assess and evaluate the economic value of transportation investments to inform decision-making.

NCHRP, in partnership with the AASHTO Committee on Planning, managed the original Snapshot series between 2013 and 2018 through NCHRP Project 08-36(120). These Snapshot products presented high-level information on current planning practices in areas such as integrated planning, innovations in long-range planning, freight planning, crash data, and connected and autonomous vehicles. The process for developing these products was focused on conducting and synthesizing practitioner surveys. Each Snapshot was prepared independently over a period of a few months.

During the NCHRP Project 08-128 revived Snapshot effort, the process involved researching all four topics at once; completing a literature review and series of interviews to identify effective practice and lessons learned; highlighting noteworthy practices for agencies at different points in the implementation process; and offering tips, resources, and key practices to support agencies in their planning decisions.

The overarching goal was to make each Snapshot a resource that can be relied on by practitioners and decision-makers. Additionally, instead of just offering a Snapshot of the topic practice area at one point in time, these Snapshots are designed to serve as a resource for advancement.

The renewed Snapshots offer levers of change and resources to provide agencies the information they need for realistic practice implementation and program advancement.

In support of that goal, the project’s objectives were to:

• Produce four new Snapshots of Planning Practices to add to the series of initial Snapshots produced under prior work;
• Create visual and valuable research-based products that provide transportation agencies with a synopsis of who is doing what, why, how, and where on each Snapshot topic; and
• Establish implementable strategies and methods to ensure that the Snapshot series remains a visible and valuable product that reaches broad audiences.

This report summarizes work undertaken from September 2023 through January 2025 as part of Phase I and Phase II of this project. In Phase I of this effort, the research team conducted a literature review and practitioner outreach. These investigatory tasks informed the development of four draft Snapshot products. In Phase II, the research team continued to refine the Snapshot products based on practitioner and project panel feedback and developed an Implementation Plan for Snapshot publication and dissemination.