Progress toward Capital Project Element Finalization – Summer 2010
Major transportation capital projects support the GO TO 2040 preferred regional scenario. Since 2009, a system of projects has been documented, evaluated and circulated for public review. Projects are evaluated to assess fiscal constraint and to assure that they do not exceed pollution guidelines. Implementation of the selected set of projects are also expected to improve the region’s overall performance. Based on this process, a recommended set of both fiscally constrained and unconstrained projects was presented to the CMAP Transportation Committee in March 2010. The MPO Policy Committee and CMAP Board will be asked to adopt a capital project program in October 2010.
Current Project Descriptions
Individual project descriptions for both the current fiscally constrained and unconstrained lists of projects, a map of the proposed projects (PDF), as well as a map of the constrained projects (JPG) are all available for review.
Evaluation and Selection Processes
Individual transportation capital projects proposed for the region have been evaluated against measures assessing how well they perform in light of the regional indicators, as well as planning factors established by the United States Department of Transportation. CMAP developed these measures beginning with a report on best practices in other regions around the country prepared by the Volpe Center, the research branch of the US Department of Transportation. Also, see the Memo to CMAP Board Recommending Evaluation Measures - June 2009 (PDF 462 KB)
Using these reports and feedback from CMAP committees, a list of evaluation measures was developed and used in the project selection process.
To be “fiscally constrained”, the cost of these projects including operations and maintenance will not exceed the expected funds available between now and 2040. When evaluating pollution emissions, their region’s existing transportation system, plus the proposed projects, must meet air quality “budgets”, or pollution emissions limits set by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. A transportation system that meets these budgets is said to be in conformity.
Project proposals have been evaluated individually; a summary of the evaluations can be found here (XLS).
Aggregate impact of the current Major Capital Projects on region-wide evaluation measures is documented here.
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