DEVELOPMENT AND INITIAL SCREENING OF ALTERNATIVES FOUR CASE STUDIES--MAJOR INVESTMENT STUDIES SAN DIEGO, ORANGE COUNTY, HOUSTON, AND LAS VEGAS

Under the new ISTEA planning and development process for major transportation investments, four very significant multi-modal major investment studies are underway. One of the most significant aspects of the new ISTEA guidelines is to develop an initial set of alternatives that respond to the study corridor's need for mobility for improvements. Through direct participation in four major investment studies, the most difficult and thought provoking parts of the process are the development of a range of alternatives responding to that problem statement, the related pro-active public involvement program, and the screening process including developing the evaluation criteria to reduce this universe of alternatives to a half dozen or less for more detailed analysis. Four significant major investment studies in different urban areas of the country are presented in this paper that discuss the processes and techniques that led to the agreement on the detailed set of alternatives. Common themes and lessons learned are also presented. The four studies are all currently under the Option I process and most include a full range of multi-modal and policy (congestion management, freeway pricing, etc.) alternatives. It is important that this process be able to stand-up to the NEPA (and other local environmental regulations) process for elimination of alternatives and the consideration of all "reasonable" alternatives. The four major investment studies are the I-15 Corridor (San Diego), Central Corridor (Orange County, CA), I-10 Katy Corridor (Houston). and the Resort Corridor (Las Vegas).