Four-year TIP tops $2.4 billion
How are projects included in the TIP?
The Council’s Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) for 2007-2010 is a multi-modal program of highway, transit, bicycle, pedestrian and transportation enhancement projects approved for federal funding for the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. While federal regulations require that a TIP be developed at least every two years, this region has chosen to revise its TIP every year.
In March 2006, the region completed a solicitation process for federal funds for projects to be programmed in 2009 and 2010. The Council’s volunteer Transportation Advisory Board selected projects and developed a TIP that covered four years, 2007-2010. MnDOT and the Metropolitan Council also identified projects for 2009 and 2010. The 2006 projects that have contracts let, or in some manner have been authorized, were deleted.
The Metropolitan Council identifies transit service funding needs and objectives, planned transit service and capital improvements, and costs and funding sources that help implement the 2030 Transportation Policy Plan with input from the Transportation Policy Advisory Committee.
Many of the highway construction projects included in the new TIP are under MnDOT jurisdiction. They originate from ongoing MnDOT planning and programming activities, and respond to the region‘s transportation plan. The projects that lead to the completion of the metropolitan highway system, along with the projects on other major arterials, are based on the Council’s transportation plan and on MnDOT’s Transportation System Plan and programming process.
City and county federal aid projects are products of local comprehensive and transportation planning programs, and reflect local and regional priorities. These projects have been determined to be consistent with regional plans before being included in the TIP. Such plans must be consistent with the Council’s transportation policy plan.