MPO Policy and Procedures Manual - Indianapolis Metropolitan ...

3. Indianapolis Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP)
The Indianapolis Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) is the MPO’s primary transportation
policy document. It establishes the purpose and need of major projects underlying the federal
transportation funding program, identifies activities to address major issues, and prioritizes
investments in the transportation system.
Despite the application of fiscal constraint (see below) and the project-level specificity, the LRTP
is not a project-programming document. Instead, it represents the best point-in-time information
of anticipated transportation projects, activities, and strategies over the long-term. The LRTP
also provides an estimate of the total roadway capacity available for particular milestone years,
which are coordinated with air quality requirements so that the air quality impacts of the system
may be assessed (see below). Finally, and most importantly, the LRTP provides the basic policy
framework for all regional transportation activities.
Unlike the Indianapolis Regional Transportation Improvement Program (IRTIP), the Indianapolis
LRTP is not incorporated into any statewide document. The IRTC approval of the LRTP is final.
That does not mean that the project-level decisions are solely the MPO’s purview however, as
many other stakeholders (i.e., IndyGo, INDOT) also have long-range planning processes. These
separate planning documents must all be consistent with one another.
Some pertinent features of the LRTP are listed as follows:
• A minimum 20-year horizon is required;
• The LRTP is fiscally-constrained: activities are prioritized relative to realistic projections
of available financial resources (federal, state, local, and in some cases, private) out to
the LRTP horizon year;
• The LRTP identifies policies, strategies, and projects for the future;
• The LRTP focuses at the systems level, including roadways, transit, non-motorized
transportation, and intermodal connections;
• The LRTP must be consistent with the statewide long-range transportation plan;
• The LRTP must be updated every four years.
Details of the Long-Range Planning Process
The planning process includes a number of steps and shall include:
• The projected demand of persons and goods in the Metropolitan Planning Area over the
period of the LRTP;
• Existing and proposed transportation facilities (including major roadways, transit,
multimodal and intermodal facilities, pedestrian walkways and bicycle facilities, and
intermodal connectors);
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