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Transit-oriented development

Planning and conservation  ›  Urban development and revitalization  ›  Transit-oriented development

Discover how Metro is helping spark vibrant downtowns and main streets through public/private partnerships, investments and incentives in key development projects located near transit.

Focusing housing and employment near transit is one of the most effective ways to reduce regional road congestion, improve air quality and increase transit ridership. Car trips are less frequent in centers with a balance of jobs, housing and urban amenities. Focusing development in existing urban areas uses land more efficiently, reduces the need for costly new public facilities and prevents unnecessary conversion of farmland and natural areas to urban use. It can also spur the revitalization of existing neighborhoods, stimulating the creation of more vibrant communities throughout the region.

The region's long-range plan, the 2040 Growth Concept, calls for substantial amounts of the region's growth to occur in medium- to high-density mixed-use, walkable urban centers and corridors linked by high quality transit service. While this approach appeals to many citizens, public officials, planners and innovative developers, the creation of mixed-use, higher density districts has not been widely embraced by the development community, largely due to economic infeasibility. Metro's Transit-Oriented Development Program aims to provide built examples of transit-oriented development projects and to demonstrate the potential of public-private partnerships for making great communities.

Results

Metro's Transit-Oriented Development Program has contributed to many of the regions' successful transit-oriented developments and has acquired key opportunity sites at transit stations. Through active engagement in the design and construction of real projects, the program has helped identify and remove obstacles to the creation of transit villages, main streets and mixed-used urban centers envisioned by the 2040 Growth Concept.

Innovations

In 1998, Metro's Transit-Oriented Development Program was the first in the nation to receive authorization to use federal transportation funding to specifically acquire land for redevelopment adjacent to a light rail station. This authorization set the stage for Department of Transportation acceptance of the close relationship between development patterns and travel behavior. Other innovations include:

• resale of land with federal interest at a reduced cost to acknowledge that building at densities ahead of the market negatively affects economic feasibility of development
• development of an induced transit ridership model to compare transit impacts of alternative development programs
• the creation of the transit oriented development easement.


The Transit-Oriented Development Program provides financial incentives and uses public/private partnerships to enhance the economic feasibility of higher density mixed-use projects served by transit. The program uses site control and requests for proposals and qualifications to engage a private development partner or purchases a transit-oriented development easement on projects eligible for program funding. The program continues to build capacity of the private sector to develop projects that meet regional planning objectives while demonstrating to the public that the future they envisioned is indeed possible, and is happening.

Related Documents

• Transit-Oriented Development Program brochure 652K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published September 28, 2010
• Description of Metro properties 250K Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published April 28, 2010
• Transit-oriented development station area typology presentation 7.5M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published February 12, 2010
• Transit-oriented development and centers 2007 annual report 3.5M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published March 18, 2008
• Parking and density presentation 3.3M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published January 16, 2008
• Transit-oriented development program process and examples presentation 9.2M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published January 16, 2008
• Urban Living Infrastructure executive summary 2.3M Adobe Acrobat PDF | Published June 1, 2007

Related Links

Transit-Oriented Development Steering Committee

The Transit-Oriented Development Steering Committee makes recommendations to the Metro Council about high-density sustainable development projects close to transit.