Chicago, April 6, 2000:  The agencies responsible for regional planning in northeastern Illinois today entered into a new collaborative partnership in preparing for the future growth of the metropolitan region. Meeting at the offices of the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) in Chicago, representatives of the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS), the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), and NIPC executed an interagency agreement to govern their joint planning activities. The agreement identifies the overall responsibilities of each agency in regional planning and reaffirms their commitment to the integration of regional land use and transportation planning.

"Planning in northeastern Illinois must be collaborative," said NIPC President Herbert T. Schumann. "Integration of transportation and land use planning is an absolute necessity as we prepare for over a million new residents between now and 2020. This integration can only be achieved through the joint efforts of state, regional, and local agencies and the private sector. This agreement reaffirms the partnership which the four agencies have developed over a number of years."

"This region has been doing a good job of integrating all the considerations that go into our transportation system," said Thomas McCracken, Chairman of the RTA. "What is crucial is the continuing spirit of cooperation reflected in this agreement."

The agreement outlines the responsibilities of the four agencies in regional planning. CATS has primary responsibility for the metropolitan transportation planning process, NIPC for demographic forecasting and regional growth management and land use planning, IDOT for coordination of regional and statewide planning and for administration of federal transportation planning funds, and RTA for mass transit planning and programming. The principal product of the partnership will be the region’s long-range Regional Transportation Plan, which is prepared every three years and is the blueprint for major transportation expenditures in the region.

Aristide Biciunas, Executive Director of CATS, said: "We’re learning that the way to improve transportation planning is to strengthen land use planning. We’ve been doing that for a while, but this is the first time the region has had a formal agreement to integrate land use and transportation planning."

The four agencies have agreed to develop a prospectus which will establish implementation strategies for integrated regional land use and transportation planning and to incorporate these into the cooperative planning process. The strategies will include shared land use and transportation system goals, guidance for infrastructure investment, and methods of implementation of the agreement. It will also identify funding requirements and sources for essential regional planning activities. The prospectus will be developed during the next year with broad public input and participation. The first step will be a public meeting in May to define the scope and schedule for the prospectus.

"The agreement we are signing today may be thought of as a constitution," said Schumann, "which provides the broad framework for planning in the region. The four agencies, working with our governmental and civic partners, will now proceed to flesh it out to describe the precise steps needed to help guide the region’s growth into the new century."

The interagency agreement replaces one which has been in place since 1978. Preparation of the new agreement was motivated by changes in federal laws governing regional transportation planning, and by growing demands from civic and community organizations that planning for major transportation investments be more closely tied to overall growth objectives for the six-county area

The Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission is the comprehensive planning agency for the six-county metropolitan area. In addition to planning, the agency provides technical and research assistance and reviews state and federal grant requests for local governments.