Connections 2035
A draft of Connections - The Regional Plan for a Sustainable Future [17.8 MB .pdf], the long-range plan for the Greater Philadelphia region, is now available for public comment. The Plan serves as a collective vision across municipal and county boundaries as to how the region should look and function in the future. The Connections plan focuses on strengthening linkages between land use, the environment, economic development and the transportation system. The plan proposes policies which emphasize sustainable growth, redevelopment of existing regional centers, and funding transportation projects which support the plan's goals. The Connections plan also addresses new focus areas such as climate change and energy needs, cultural and historic landscapes, and local food production.
The Plan fulfills the federal requirement that Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) like the DVRPC, develop a long-range transportation plan with a minimum 20-year horizon that identifies how federal transportation funding will be spent in the region. The Connections plan is an update to the current Destination 2030 plan and will extend the horizon year of the long-range plan to 2035.
The Plan is organized around four key planning principles: Create Livable Communities; Manage Growth and Protect Resources; Build an Energy-Efficient Economy; and Create a Modern Multi-Modal Transportation System. The Plan includes a 26-year assessment that identifies the cost to rebuild, maintain, operate and improve the region's transportation infrastructure. Reasonably expected available revenue is used to constrain the identified need in the financial plan, including a list of major regional projects. The Plan emphasizes the rebuilding and maintenance of the system with limited new capacity. To fully achieve the 'vision' beyond the constrained Plan, the region needs to consider alternatives such as right-sizing projects, local funding options, or public private partnerships.
To guide the Plan development, a scenario planning exercise was conducted comparing the continuation of current trends ('trend' or business as usual scenario), with an acceleration of current development trends (sprawl scenario), and the redevelopment of the region's existing centers (recentralization scenario). This exercise indicates that the recentralization scenario offers the region the best chance for a sustainable future by lowering vehicles miles traveled, reducing energy consumption, air pollution, new footprint acres developed, reusing more existing developed areas, locating more households and jobs with transit access, and increasing transit ridership, walking and biking trips.
Public outreach began with an on-line survey to prioritize key regional issues. Survey responses showed strong regional support for smart growth techniques and investing in improvements in the existing transportation system. Based on the survey, four key plan principles were identified, each aligned with the four issue areas covered in the Plan (land use, the environment, economic competitiveness, and transportation). These four key plan principles formed the framework for further public outreach and the development of the Plan.
Next, a series of focus groups were conducted in the summer of 2008. The focus groups consisted of the general public, elected and municipal officials, and developers. Their input helped identify particular issues and constraints that would impact the implementation of they key plan principles. Finally, a series of public workshops [15.2 MB .pdf] were held in the fall of 2008 in each of the region's nine counties to broaden the dialogue and collect feedback on the different scenarios and to define a collective vision of the future.
DVRPC is now accepting public comments on the draft Plan. The public comment period will continue through 5 pm Monday, June 22, 2009. DVRPC will then address all public comments and make revisions to the final Plan document as appropriate. For more information about the development of the Connections plan please see The Link newsletter. DVRPC encourages and appreciates your ongoing involvement and input to developing the new long-range plan and in shaping the future of the Greater Philadelphia region.