Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Major Investment Study (MIS)?

The Major Investment Study (MIS) is an important element of the metropolitan transportation planning process. Essentially, the MIS is a tool for making informed decisions about improving transportation in metropolitan areas.

Major Investment Studies are called for in Section 450.318 of the joint Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)/Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Final Rule on Statewide and Metropolitan Planning issued in the Federal Register on October 28, 1993 and effective November 29, 1993. This requirement was triggered by the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA), and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969.

The MIS is designed to provide decision-makers with better and more complete information on the options available for addressing identified transportation problems before decisions are made. The MIS provides a focused analysis and evaluation of the mobility needs and related problems of a corridor or subarea within the region. Depending on the scale of the issues and factors, the MIS may identify a multimodal set of transportation investment and policy options to address those needs and problems; develop measures of benefits, costs and impacts, as well as financial requirements; and allow comprehensive, multimodal analysis and evaluation of the options.

The MIS is a cooperative and collaborative process that expands the traditional role of many participants -- both agencies and public interests -- from passive reviewers to active contributors in the performance of the study and the decision making process.

(Source: National Transit Institute Training Program for Major Investment Studies Desk Reference, National Transit Institute at Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey in association with the U.S. Department of Transportation, April 1, 1996)

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When is an MIS undertaken?

An MIS for a corridor or subarea is undertaken when the need for a major metropolitan transportation investment has been identified in the metropolitan planning process and where Federal funds are potentially involved.

If the metropolitan area decides to advance a project that emerges from this metropolitan planning/MIS process, the next steps involve project development -- including preliminary engineering -- which defines major design features in greater detail, and completion of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act. This then leads to final design and implementation of transportation improvements.

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What public agencies are involved in the MIS process?

Several types of agencies are involved in the MIS process, including:

Federal Agencies (i.e. Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration)
State Agencies (i.e. Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development)
Regional and Local Officials (i.e. Ouachita Council of Governments, Ouachita Parish Police Jury, Monroe City Council, West Monroe City Council)
Federal, State, and Local Environmental Resource/Permit Agencies (i.e. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
Other Affected Agencies (i.e. transit agencies, preservation commissions)

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What are the benefits of conducting an MIS?

The MIS will provide decision-makers with more timely and complete information on the options for addressing identified transportation problems before investment decisions are made and included in the transportation plan. Furthermore, because the MIS addresses an array of factors in a focused fashion, this should lead to improved transportation decisions consistent with land use, environmental considerations, transportation system performance, and community resources.

The MIS framework also provides a mechanism through which highway, transit, and integrated multimodal alternatives can be developed through a single, integrated process. The multimodal comparisons made through this process help ensure that scarce resources are put to their best use.

Also, Major Investment Studies provide a mechanism for addressing a variety of Federal requirements for system and project planning. These include:

Early consideration of NEPA principles, which require that social, economic, and environmental impacts of alternative courses of action be considered and documented, the use of a systematic interdisciplinary approach, and involvement of the public and interested agencies,

ISTEA requirements for intermodal planning and fiscally constrained plans,

Appropriate and effective public involvement,

Executive Order 12893, Principles of Federal Infrastructure Investments, which calls for a systematic analysis of the expected benefits and costs of investment options, and

Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, which calls for a strategy to identify and address disproportionately high and adverse human health and environmental impacts on low-income and minority populations

Major Investment Studies will also provide input to subsequent NEPA documents prepared on the preferred investment strategy. Under previous procedures, it sometimes became necessary to revisit certain elements of the system planning process during project-level studies and NEPA documentation in order to better define the purpose of and need for a proposed project, or to more fully consider a wider range of alternatives. By doing more thorough analyses in the planning stage, potentially redundant analyses can be reduced or eliminated, enssuring that decisions reflect transportation, land use, environmental, and community objectives. The MIS can reduce the total amount of time and cost needed to implement a preferred investment strategy.

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How does the MIS fit into the metropolitan transportation planning process?

Transportation planning typically begins with the identification of problems or needs to be addressed. Alternatives or options to solve the identified problems or needs can range from relatively low-cost strategies and policies to high-cost major investments.

The MIS is a subset of the more comprehensive metropolitan transportation system planning process. The metropolitan planning process includes an initial analysis at a systems level that identifies regional travel patterns and needs/problems and assesses policies and strategies for solving them. Normally, the analytical effort relies on techniques that assess trends and demands at a relatively broad level of detail.

Where major investments are contemplated, however, there is a need to address transportation needs on a smaller scale, using more focused analyses to help decision-makers understand the options for addressing smaller-scale transportation problems. The MIS serves this need and, in this context, it is an integral element within the metropolitan transportation planning process.

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What are the next steps after the completion of the MIS?

Now that the MIS is complete, the next steps involved include:

Review of the MIS by local governing bodies to determine if the project is feasible and in the long-term interest of the community;
Securing funding for the Ouachita Loop and integrating it into the area's metropolitan transportation plan;
Preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (including preliminary design and engineering) for the project as required under federal law;
Undertaking final project design and engineering;
Acquiring necessary right-of-way for the project; and
Project construction.

In general, this process could take several years to complete.

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Last revised: November 30, 1999

Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

What is a Major Investment Study (MIS)?

When is an MIS undertaken?

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What public agencies are involved in the MIS process?

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