NCHRP Research Report 1158: Snapshots of Planning Practice documents the process of developing four Snapshots of Planning Practices, concise and visually appealing documents that report on current planning practices in use by transportation agencies in four practice areas: Complete Streets, Data Sharing for Performance Management, Agency Collaboration on Freight Delivery in Local Communities, and Economic Analysis to Support Decision-making. This report will be immediately useful to transportation planners from state departments of transportation and other regional and local agencies seeking to incorporate or improve their transportation planning practices in the four areas covered by the snapshots.  

Transportation planning agencies and officials face a rapidly evolving technical, policy, legislative, and procedural environment. Agency professionals often seek the guidance of peers and experts to help them to effectively address these challenges. Challenges include managing the demand for new transportation technologies and services within the confinements of existing streets, navigating the effects of growing e-commerce on travel patterns, managing resilience and risks, and implementing transportation planning in compliance with federal and state laws and regulations.

Under NCHRP Project 08-128, “Snapshots of Planning Practice” Cambridge Systematics developed four concise and visually appealing documents summarizing agency practices and listing resources for application in four transportation planning topics. The research process included completing a literature review as well as conducting surveys and interviews with agency stakeholders to develop practice vignettes and other resources to share with colleagues in the snapshot documents. Interviews and a workshop with practitioners shaped the content details and the design of the snapshot documents.

In addition to NCHRP Research Report 1158, Web-Only Document 431 and an implementation plan are available on the National Academies Press website (nap.nationalacadmies.org) by searching NCHRP Research Report 1158: Snapshots of Planning Practice or NCHRP Web-Only Document 431: Snapshots of Planning Practice.