The TPB does not exercise direct control over funding and does not implement projects, but it does perform a range of activities that promote an integrated approach to transportation development. The requirements of federal law compel the key transportation players in the region to work through the TPB process. The TPB exercises its basic role as a coordinating agency in several ways:
The TPB ensures compliance with federal laws and requirements.
Federal requirements inject consistency and coordination into regional transportation decision-making. The federally mandated metropolitan planning process requires all MPOs across the country to produce two basic documents—a metropolitan transportation plan (commonly referred to as a long-range transportation plan) and a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The TPB's current long-range plan is called Visualize 2045. A new plan, Visualize 2050, the National Capital Region Transportation Plan, is under development with anticipated approval set for June 2025. The TIP lists projects and programs that will be funded in the next six years. Since 2000, the long-range plan has used a planning horizon of 25 years. In order to receive federal funding, transportation projects must be included in the transportation plan and the TIP.
Federal law also requires the TPB to show that the region will have adequate funds to build the projects listed in these two main planning documents. The funding for the plan and TIP must be “reasonably expected to be available,” according to federal transportation law enacted in 1991. This financial constraint is intended to make sure the different partners in the region’s transportation system are realistically planning for the future.
In addition, the TPB must make sure that the projects in its metropolitan transportation plan and the TIP, taken collectively, contribute to air quality improvement goals for the region. This is a requirement of the federal Clean Air Act. The TPB must also comply with federal laws, regulations and policies stipulating that regional transportation plans must not disproportionately affect low-income or minority communities in an adverse way.
The TPB provides a regional transportation policy framework and a forum for coordination.
While federal law and regulations drive much of the region’s regular transportation planning activities, the TPB has also developed a Synthesized Policy Framework that is intended to guide the region’s transportation investments.
Prepared in 2022, the Synthesized Policy Framework lays out key principles, goals, and strategies that will help the region to develop the transportation system it needs to sustain equity, accessibility, sustainability, prosperity, and livability. The agencies that implement transportation projects in the District of Columbia, suburban Maryland, and Northern Virginia must show that the goals of their projects are consistent with the Framework.
The TPB provides technical resources for decision-making.
Finally, the TPB is a technical resource. The TPB staff is continually working in close coordination with staff from the local and state jurisdictions and WMATA, as well as with outside consultants, to produce numerous studies and analyses. This technical information is essential for the decisions made by the TPB itself and for the decisions of the jurisdictions comprising the region. In addition, the TPB provides grant-based local technical assistance programs for small-area and corridor projects to improve safety, walkability, and community connections.
Technical information and analysis are prepared on a variety of topics, most of which fit into a few broad categories. Travel monitoring activities gather information on current travel patterns and conditions. For example, data is collected on transportation facilities throughout the region to assess the performance of highway and transit facilities. Congestion levels are calculated based upon measures of the average number of cars per lane-mile of highway. Personal travel patterns are also surveyed to determine how people are traveling, for what purpose and how far.
Travel forecasting develops predictions about future travel conditions. The TPB staff develops these forecasts using computer programs (“models”) whose inputs include assumptions about the future, including projected population and job growth, data about planned or potential improvements in the transportation system, and assumptions about future travel demand. The model’s outputs produce travel forecasts that inform a variety of decisions, such as helping to determine how various transportation investments will affect mobility in the region. Information about current and future travel conditions is used for a number of purposes—especially for the regional air quality analysis required by the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, as amended and for understanding potential impacts on Equity Emphasis Areas. Technical data produced by the TPB staff are also used by other jurisdictions and agencies. TPB members use TPB data on a regular basis to plan and operate their services and facilities.