Rural and Small Community Planning

The Rural and Small Community Planning focus area page is a one-stop shop for resources about transportation planning in rural and small communities on the TPCB website. It includes links to publications, legislation and guidance, recent peer events, upcoming calendar events, and related websites.

• Non-Metropolitan Local Officials Consultation - The webpage describes the role of non-metropolitan local officials in the statewide transportation planning process.
• The Transportation Planning Process: Key Issues (the "Briefing Book") - The "Briefing Book" is a primer to help you better understand Federal transportation planning regulations and requirements at the statewide and metropolitan planning levels.
• Click here to access a full list of Legislation, Regulations, and Guidance related to rural and small community planning on the TPCB website.
• Recent publications on rural and small community planning:
  • Integrating the Highway Safety Manual into the Highway Project Development Process
  • New Tool for Estimating Economic Impacts of Transportation Projects
  To find existing publications and resources on rural and small community planning or to add new ones, visit the TPCB Resource Index.

• Upcoming conferences and webinars related to rural and small community planning:
  • Council of University Transportation Centers Summer Meeting
  • National Congestion Pricing Conference
  • Ohio Conference on Freight
  To browse all events on the TPCB website or to add new ones, please visit the events calendar or the TPCB Resource Index.

• Recent peer events related to rural and small community planning:
  • National Scenario Planning Peer Exchange Report - July 8-10, 2012
  • Scenario Planning Peer Workshop Report - Denver, Colorado
  • Financial Uncertainty and Conflicting Priorities in Transportation Planning
  Read other peer event reports.

• American Public Transportation Association (APTA)
• Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO)
• Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA)
• National Association of Regional Councils (NARC)
• National Rural Development Partnership (NRDP) - A multi-faceted organization bringing together partners from all levels of government as well as private for profit and non-profit organizations to address the needs of rural America.
• National Rural Transit Assistance Program
• The Rural Information Center (RIC) - Contains over 3,000 links to current and reliable information on a wide variety of rural resources and funding sources, including RIC's Database,Federal Funding Sources for Rural Areas Database.
• RPO America
• RuralTransportation.org - Developed under partnership between the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), this is a web-based resource tool for rural transportation stakeholders, including local elected officials and regional development professionals.
• Rural Transportation Tool Box - Part of a partnership between the US Department of Agriculture and the U.S. DOT concerning long-term agricultural transportation, rural passenger and freight mobility challenges.
• Transportation Research Board's (TRB) Rural Public and Intercity Bus Transportation (AP055)
• TRB Statewide Multimodal Transportation Planning
• United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) Briefing Rooms - Each briefing room offers an in-depth discussion synthesizing ERS research and the economic issues that frame the analysis. Also included are recent ERS research developments, readings and data, questions and answers, and a collection of other ERS products and services addressing the issue. There is a wealth of valuable information for anyone working in rural and small communities.
• World Bank: Rural Transport Group - The mission of the Rural Transport group is to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of rural transport investments by harnessing the knowledge of transport professionals and exploiting synergies through strategic networking with related groups' professionals.