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Moving Communities Forward showcases research and case studies about the benefits that well-designed transportation projects bring to communities.

Sponsored by

• Federal Highway Administration

Latest News

Transforming communities: U research finds that well-designed transportation projects can help entire community

UMNews, March 12, 2009
An interdisciplinary research project conducted by the U's Center for Transportation Studies examines how well-designed transportation projects have the ability to transform communities. More

About Moving Communities Forward

Transportation projects can create and enliven communities, bringing economic prosperity and environmental vitality, or they can sap precious resources and impoverish neighborhoods. In a time of limited resources, policymakers and the people they represent want transportation projects to bring about a wide array of positive benefits for their communities.

Moving Communities Forward is the result of 18 months of research by the American Institute of Architects and the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota to begin measuring how well-designed transportation projects can have multiple positive impacts on communities and to provide communities, designers, transportation officials, and policymakers guiding principles they can apply to their unique situations and needs.

Authorized by Congress and funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Moving Communities Forward analyzes more than 30 different transportation projects from every corner of the country, exploring how they affect their communities' economic progress, environmental health, public safety, level of citizen participation, and overall aesthetics and livability.

On this site you can find the report to Congress (5 MB PDF), supporting research and presentations by the CTS research team, news coverage of the study, and links to the case studies used in the research.