by Andrew Goldberg, Assoc. AIA
Manager, Federal Regulatory Activities

The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has awarded the AIA a $2-million contract to study the benefits that well-designed transportation projects bring to American communities. The study, which will be completed by July 2007, will measure how transportation projects of various types promote economic development, protect public health and safety and the environment, and enhance the architectural design and planning of communities.

“We are delighted that the AIA has been awarded this important and timely study,” says AIA President Kate Schwennsen, FAIA. “This study will help to measure what architects have long known: that well-designed transportation projects can have multiple benefits to communities that go way beyond the project’s property line. With governments at all levels seeking ways to maximize limited transportation dollars to help communities prosper, this study could not come at a better time.”

The study was authorized by Congress in the 2005 transportation bill. The legislation requires the U.S. Department of Transportation to report back to Congress on the impact of federal transportation spending on community design, health, and safety by September 2007.

Transportation research and best practices
The AIA is partnering with the University of Minnesota’s Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) to complete the research portion of the study. CTS is a nationally known transportation research body that draws upon experts from a wide variety of disciplines to study transportation systems, including architecture, landscape architecture, civil engineering, economics, public policy, and environmental studies.

It was the CTS’ breadth of experience and knowledge that led the AIA to select them as research partners, explains AIA Executive Vice President/CEO Christine McEntee. “When we began looking for partners to help us complete this study, the one name that kept coming back to us was the CTS,” McEntee says. “They have a wonderful track record in research into transportation systems and immediately understood what this study is about.”

In addition to working with CTS, the AIA plans to use focus groups and case studies across the country to help finalize the study.

The final product will be not only an examination of the benefits that well-designed transportation projects bring to communities, but also a guidebook of best practices that will help policy-makers at all levels of government decide how to spend transportation funds wisely.

Schwennsen adds, “Communities of all sizes have found that the transportation choices they make affect their economic, social, cultural, environmental, and aesthetic well-being, in ways that are either positive or negative. We hope that this study will be the first step in quantifying those impacts and helping guide communities toward transportation decisions that create more livable and prosperous communities.”

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