ABSTRACT
While the development of regional transport plans in North American urban regions typically relies on models that assign generalised population and employment characteristics to large analysis zones, efforts to incorporate actual land use policy are more limited. The central Puget Sound area of Washington state (USA) uses traditional urban transport modelling, but the region also took steps to incorporate land use and growth management policy in the most recent update of its Metropolitan Transportation Plan. This chapter examines how land use policies and provisions, both local and regional, have been integrated into the transport plan update. The chapter relies on the impressions of the author, who managed the growth strategies work on the update, rather than on detailed scrutiny of documents. The benefits, at both the local and regional levels, of linking land use policy with regional transport planning are discussed here. Limitations to the process are discussed, as well as opportunities for further refinement and improvement. The relevance of this process to other urban regions is also described.
