Abstract
Over the past century, surface transportation planning and programming gradually evolved from a largely ad hoc, locally funded affair to a highly formalized intergovernmental process, guided by both federal and state policy and supported mostly by fuel tax revenues. Metropolitan planning organizations, like the San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Southern California Association of Governments, grew out of requirements that federally funded transportation projects be part of a continuing, comprehensive, and cooperative planning process. In California today, numerous state regulations require that transportation projects advance air quality, climate, equity, and public participation goals. Over the past several decades, however, this carefully constructed federal-state partnership has been reverting back toward greater local decision-making, driven by an increasing reliance on local revenue sources. Researchers at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies have been following these developments in California and across the nation.
