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TRANSACTION plan nearing adoption; officials say technology can be embedded in funded projects
Summary
The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s long‑range plan known as TRANSACTION is expected to come to the authority for adoption in December 2022, and staff told the Transportation Technology Committee on Nov. 30 that technology projects can be included in the plan and later compete for regional funding.
The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s long‑range plan known as TRANSACTION is expected to come to the authority for adoption in December 2022, and staff told the Transportation Technology Committee on Nov. 30 that technology projects can be included in the plan and later compete for regional funding.
“TRANSACTION is the name of our long range transportation plan for Northern Virginia,” said Keith Jasper, MBTA’s principal for transportation planning and programming, introducing the update.
Why it matters: TRANSACTION is the eligibility framework for projects that can later be funded through MBTA’s six‑year program. A project must appear in TRANSACTION to be eligible for regional revenues; the plan itself does not commit MBTA to fund any listed project.
Jasper said the draft TRANSACTION update looks to 2045, contains about 424 projects with an estimated aggregate cost of roughly $75 billion, and uses ten weighted performance measures to evaluate projects as a group. He emphasized the plan is fiscally unconstrained and geographically unconstrained—its role is to identify needs and projects that address long‑term multimodal goals.
Jasper also discussed technology in the plan. He said roughly 17 projects in the draft can be characterized as primarily technology‑focused, ranging from intelligent transportation systems to electrification infrastructure. Staff reported that MBTA regional revenues allocated since fiscal 2014 total about $3.1 billion and that, historically, only about $20 million of regional revenues have gone to projects characterized primarily as technology projects.
Committee members asked about how technology elements might be incorporated into traditional projects such as bus rapid transit, intersection work or transit facility upgrades. Jasper said that many traditional projects include technology components—signal priority, charging infrastructure, fare payment systems—and that such components can be captured either as stand‑alone technology projects or as elements within larger projects that appear in TRANSACTION before seeking MBTA six‑year program funding.
Members and staff cited recent examples: an ITS (intelligent transportation systems) request from Loudoun County in the most recent funding cycle, expansion of electric transit vehicle fleets and associated charging and facility upgrades in other jurisdictions, and the Regional Multimodal Mobility Program for mobility and operations innovation. Jasper noted ITS projects often score well on benefit‑cost measures because they deliver localized impacts at relatively low cost and can be implemented quickly.
No final authority action on TRANSACTION occurred in this committee meeting; staff described the adoption timeline and posted drafts on the TRANSACTION web page for public review. Jasper encouraged jurisdictions and project sponsors to consider how technology can be embedded in their project proposals before submitting requests for the next funding call (anticipated May 1, 2023).
Ending: Staff said adoption in December would retire the 2017 TRANSACTION version; projects listed in the updated plan will form the eligible pool for the next several six‑year funding cycles.
