1. The Northeast Megaregion in a National Infrastructure Plan
Petra Todorovich
Director, America 2050
Multi-State, Multi-Regional Solutions: Transportation, Land Use and the Environment
November 6, 2008

2. Key National and Global Trends
Rapid population growth and demographic change
Rising population means growing congestion, longer commutes
Energy security and global climate change

3. Globalization and rising foreign trade
Crumbling infrastructure
Rising goods movement is also caused by the trend towards “just-in-time” delivery, which moves goods out of warehouses and into trucks that roam the nation’s highways until the goods are needed.
Global warming provides a new imperative to increase alternative fuels and alternative transportation options. We must coordinate land use with transportation planning to allow alternatives to vehicle use in America.

4. Growing inequities and poverty
Changing spatial development patterns

5. Uneven Growth Patterns Population Change 2000 - 2050

6. Emerging Megaregions We are looking to megaregions because:
…And the Emergence of Megaregions
Megaregions are large extended networks of metropolitan areas, connected by:
Large landscapes and topography
Overlapping commuting patterns
Linked economies
Land use patterns
Shared history and culture
We are looking to megaregions because:
Challenges occur at scale greater than metropolitan region
Compete with global integration zones
Coordinate major investments in infrastructure
Potential to organize federal policies
RPA has formed the America 2050 initiative – a national program to meet the challenges of America’s future growth and the emergence of megaregions.

7. Why Megaregions?
Challenges occur at scale greater than metropolitan region
Compete with global integration zones
Foster larger industry clusters and deeper labor markets
Act as building blocks to a national infrastructure plan
They present a a scale that falls in between the federal and the state level, and thus, is not being addressed currently by federal transportation policy.

8. A Tradition of National Growth Strategies
Now let’s take a look at the Northeast Megaregion, first identified as “Megalopolis” by Jean Gottman in 1961.
The core urbanized are of the Northeast Megaregion (delineated by the brown line) is the continuous string of core base statistical areas stretching fro the northern suburbs of Boston to the southern suburbs of Washington DC.
This area contains:
49 million people, which is 17% of the U.S. Population on just 2% of the land area.
20% of the nation’s GDP
Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot 1908
Gallatin Plan 1808

9. National Resources Planning Board and the Interstate System
The 1956 Interstate Highway Act drove the last 50 years of metropolitan development in the U.S.
As we look forward to the future, what is the vision that will shape our communities in the 21st Century?
Early interstate plan, from “Toll Roads and Free Roads,” National Resources Planning Board and Bureau of Public Roads, 1939
National System of Interstate Highways, Public Roads Administration, 1947

10. Toward a 21st Century Infrastructure Investment Plan
Judith Rodin
Earl Blumenauer
The focus of America 2050 now is on developing a national infrastructure plan for the U.S., which we believe megaregions can contribute to by identifying the large-scale infrastructure projects that require the participation of the federal government.
We recently partnered with Rep. Blumenaer who introduced bipartisan legislation to create a U.S. Commission on Rebuilding and Renewing America for the 21st century, to identify an infrastructure framework for the federal investments in transportation, energy, water, and broadband to ensure sustainable and propserous growth in the 21st century.
We held a conference on May 9 to bring together bipartisan members of Congress, business and labor leaders to discuss the idea of a national infrastructure plan, its components, and how it would be implemented.
We believe the megaregions – being the center of population in the 21st century – can play a big role in developing the national infrastrucutre plan. In
RPA has convened the National Committee for America 2050 to meet the challenges and opportunities associated with America’s projected population growth and the emergence of megaregions.
Our work plan includes:
Identify emerging megaregions and the relationships that define them.
Launch megaregional research and coordination across the nation.
Promote megaregional governance and financing structures.
Develop federal policies to underpin mega-regional coordination and planning .
Ed Rendell
Tom Donohue
Forum at Woodrow Wilson Center Washington, D.C. May 9, 2008

11. A Strategic Investment Framework
High-speed rail
Goods movement and ports
Energy transmission
Water infrastructure and protection
Airports and regional connections
We envision a process whereby adjacent regions are provide with incentives or matching grants to come together and identify the major, long-term priorities of a multistate nature. We expect these projects would include investments such as high-speed rail networks, major seaports, energy transmission investments, strategic investments in international airports and transit connections to airports, as well as protection of water sheds and water infrastructure.
Over the next 18 months, the America 2050 initiative is planning a series of forums in 10 megaregions across the country in which regions come together to begin to identify major priorities, in conjunction with a privately-assembled America 2050 committee to develop a framework for a national plan.

12. The Northeast Megaregion
Boston
New York
Philadelphia
Baltimore
Washington
The Northeast Megaregion
49 million inhabitants
17% of U.S. population on 2% of the land area
20% of U.S. GDP
Will add 19 million additional people by 2050
Now let’s take a look at the Northeast Megaregion, first identified as “Megalopolis” by Jean Gottman in 1961.
The core urbanized are of the Northeast Megaregion (delineated by the brown line) is the continuous string of core base statistical areas stretching fro the northern suburbs of Boston to the southern suburbs of Washington DC.
This area contains:
49 million people, which is 17% of the U.S. Population on just 2% of the land area.
20% of the nation’s GDP

13. Change in Urbanized Land 2000 - 2050
Urbanized Areas
Source: RPA GIS Model, Woods & Poole County Population projections
25.2%
39,128,555
2050
16.4%
25,487,087
2025
9.7%
14,657,028
2000
% of Total
Acres
Year
Change in Urbanized Land

14. Transportation Infrastructure
Image: University of Pennsylvania

15. Commutes are Getting Longer 1990- 2000
Source: U.S. Census

16. 650,000 people commute between metropolitan areas in the Northeast
Source: U.S. Census

17. Employment Change Index Northeast Metros and U.S.
Economic data can also paint a picture of how the Northeast is interconnected.
This graph, which demonstrates job growth from shows how the Northeast’s five major metro areas have followed a similar cyclical patter over the last decade and a half. Washington is the exception, which has added jobs more quickly than its counterparts since the turn of the century.
But we also have found that the NE is growing at a slower rate than the rest of the nation.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics Survey

18. How do we build on the Northeast’s strategic advantages?
RPA is now moving forward with an initiative to convene leaders from the five major metropolitan areas in the Northeast to address common policy concerns.
Our priorities area issues that span regional boundaries and thus demand a megaregional response.

19. Face-to-face Communication
Density Peaks: Hubs of
Face-to-face Communication

20. Increase Capacity for Economic Growth
Provide alternatives and redundancy to congested air travel, roads
Increase frequency, speed, reliability, price of passenger rail
Increase capacity of regional rail services
20 percent of flights in the NY Metro region are 350 miles or less
By 2010 airfields at Newark and JFK will approach capacity
Provide alternatives to truck-congested highways

21. Connect Hot and Cold Growth Centers
Expand rail service to underperforming cities
Expand job markets and access to lower-cost housing
Focus investments around station areas - TOD
Future Moynihan Station West – Hub on the NEC
“Hot and Cold” Index of the Northeast: U. Penn 2004

22. Meet Targets for Greenhouse Gas Reductions
The transportation advantage.
The cold climate and old buildings disadvantage.

23. Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility
Support multi-year funding authorization/ appropriations for Amtrak
Develop a vision for the future of the Northeast Corridor mobility
Advance Northeast interests in 2009 transportation bill
U.S. Capitol Reception Apr 2008
Northeast Summit Mar 2007
Rail Bill Press Conference Oct 2008