Transportation for Communities - Advancing Projects Through Partnerships

Partner Portal

Who makes transportation decisions? What do they care about? What are their roles? These questions are essential to collaboration - find the answers on the Partner Portal.

Partners and Stakeholders

TCAPP makes a very clear distinction between partners and stakeholders:

• Partners are those agencies with federally-mandated decision-making authority: the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), resource agencies, and state departments of transportation (DOTs). Partners must share their decision-making authority, or collaboration will not work.
• Stakeholders are any agencies, organizations or individuals that do not have a mandated decision making authority. Stakeholders include those who are impacted or otherwise interested in the outcome of the process, and their input is a necessary and invaluable part of collaborative decision making.

Adding Partners

While TCAPP has been designed with the four identified partners in mind, it is important to recognize that these may not represent the full range of partners who may be involved in decision making on a given plan, program, or project. For example, a particular process might require decision-making involvement from a unit of local government or from a funding partner (such as a non-profit organization) or implementation partner (such as a transit agency). In defining whether these types of agencies or organizations are "partners" rather than "stakeholders" it is necessary to consider their decision making authority. Is approval from these agencies required, and if their approval is not attained would that cause the plan/project to automatically fail? It is very important that all participating agencies/individuals understand their roles as either partners (with decision-making authority at some point within the process) or stakeholders (with an advisory role throughout the process).

For more understanding of Stakeholders and their roles within TCAPP see "How do Stakeholders Collaborate?"

Partner Interests

In order to collaborate, it is essential that each agency understand what other partners care about. Each partner has a set of specific interests that guides their involvement in transportation decision making. These interests relate to the agency's mission and authority within transportation decision making.

A summary of each agency's interests is presented below. Detailed information on the interests of each partner can be found by clicking on the agency's name, or, click here for a full printable table of interests .

The Federal Highway Administration has a primary interest in ensuring that transportation plans and projects are collaborative and inclusive, and that decisions meet legal and regulatory requirements, are consistently applied, and represent a wise use of public funds.

Metropolitan Planning Organizations have an interest in ensuring that long-range transportation plans and corridor plans address the community's vision and needs and incorporate all legally required elements, and that programming/funding decisions are consistent with plans, legal requirements, and the desires of the community.

State Departments of Transportation are interested in ensuring that transportation decisions are consistent with statewide needs and policies, meet legal requirements, consider maintenance and operations issues, wisely use public funds, and are inclusive of the public.

Resource Agencies are primarily interested in ensuring that conservation planning is considered to the greatest extent possible, and that the environmental review process is carried out properly and in accordance with environmental regulations.