Meeting the challenges of a growing region in a sustainable fashion has become a primary focus of NYMTC's Plan 2040.
Planning for sustainable development supports economic vitality and competitiveness while accommodating that growth in a more efficient and environmentally friendly manner. Sustainable development helps to manage the growth in demand for transportation capacity; promotes affordable and quality housing and a mixture of land uses with greater access to jobs, shopping areas, and recreational activities. It also fosters the development and vital downtown areas proximate to transit and other transportation services. The region’s vast transportation infrastructure is continuously challenged by increases in population, employment and economic activity, making sustainable development not only desirable, but necessary for accommodating that growth while maintaining and improving the region’s overall mobility, and advancing the broader goal of providing convenient, flexible access to transportation services and facilities within and throughout the region.
Activities in the Region
NYMTC’s sustainability planning efforts began with the adoption of a land use-transportation goal in the Regional Transportation Plan adopted in 1997. The NYMTC Plan adopted in 2009 broadened the approach by defining a more comprehensive framework through regional desired growth areas linked to strategic transportation investments. Plan 2040 further develops this framework through extensive land-use designations and related strategic transportation investments. As its regional planning has evolved, NYMTC has also undertaken innovative sustainable development studies and was part of New York-Connecticut Sustainable Communities Consortium effort funded through a unique grant from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.