Select scenario type

Summary

CMAP selected the "investments and policies" type. We believe that this is appropriate for our agency and region because:
• The work done on the 2040 Regional Framework Plan and 2030 RTP means that we are not starting from scratch. These plans established a solid framework for the benefits of good planning in this region.
• The formation of CMAP reflected a regional consensus that planning for land use and transportation should be done together, so we do not need to go through a scenario planning exercise to prove that this is the case.
• “Assigning” growth to different areas does not lead to an understanding of how policies and investments can affect the region’s growth.
• Because the GO TO 2040 plan will have a focus on implementation, a scenario evaluation process that helps us to understand the benefits and limitations of different potential strategies helps identify implementation actions. It also helps to understand the tradeoffs involved between a range of potential actions and goals.
• The preparation of this plan is one of CMAP’s most important projects, so considerable resources have been devoted to it. Constructing scenarios based on investment and policy variables is more rigorous and difficult than other methods, but we believe that it is possible.