TRANSPORTATION
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Transportation Improvement Program
The Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is a four-year plan that provides information regarding transportation projects that are federally funded or regionally significant in the MACOG region.
The TIP includes projects for all surface transportation modes, including highways and streets, bridges, active transportation facilities, and public transportation. The projects listed are developed in cooperation with state and local agencies.
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Michiana on the Move: 2050 Transportation Plan
Michiana on the Move is a long-range plan that identifies regionally significant transportation needs and issues. It is a fiscally constrained document that analyzes the community's demographics and examines travel patterns and trends. The planning process also includes analyzing alternatives to meet future demands while providing a safe and efficient transportation system that promotes mobility without adversely impacting the environment.
Transportation Performance Measures
Federal Transportation Performance Measures (TPM) are standardized metrics established by transportation legislation to evaluate and improve the nation's transportation system performance. These measures track key areas, including safety, infrastructure condition, system reliability, freight movement, congestion, and air quality across all state DOTs and Metropolitan Planning Organizations. States must set performance targets and regularly report progress to ensure accountability and data-driven decision-making in transportation investments. The TPM framework has fundamentally changed how transportation agencies approach planning and programming by creating a more systematic, objective approach to identifying needs and prioritizing limited resources.
Current Targets
Transportation Asset Management Plan
Pavement deteriorates faster as it ages, so it is important to have an up-to-date inventory and assess the condition of the roads. MACOG assists communities in collecting pavement condition data using the PASER system. The PASER (Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating) system is a visual assessment that rates the condition of the road from 1 (failing) to 10 (excellent). With this information, local governments can project future pavement conditions and plan for the most effective treatment.
The Transportation Asset Management Plan (TAMP) is an essential management tool that integrates planning, construction, maintenance, and operation to improve the transportation network's performance. By analyzing conditions, evaluating alternatives, and projecting future needs, TAMPs allow local and state governments to allocate investments where they are needed most.
Communities with an INDOT-approved asset management plan are eligible to apply for funding from the Community Crossings Match Grant Program. This program allows local governments to obtain additional funds to complete road maintenance projects.
Active Transportation
Active transportation is human-powered transportation that engages people in healthy physical activity while they travel. It includes walking, bicycling, pushing strollers, using wheelchairs and other mobility devices, skateboarding, and rollerblading. Everyone is a pedestrian on each trip, whether walking from the transit stop to work or across the parking lot.
The MACOG region boasts more than 800 miles of trails, bike lanes, and bicycle routes. MACOG continues to foster a region-wide commitment to accessible and efficient active transportation. In 2016, the Active Transportation Plan was adopted into Michiana on the Move: 2040 Transportation Plan. This plan identified needs and resources to improve and increase walking and bicycling in the region and serves as a comprehensive strategy to ensure that all transportation network users can move around in a safe, connected, and accessible environment.
Regional Public Transit
As the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), MACOG coordinates with local public transit providers to plan for the future. Throughout the region, these providers assist passengers in accessing essential services, employment, and educational opportunities and participating in social activities. Learn more about the local transit providers, the Regional Mobility Plan, and Section 5310 funding.
CONNECT Transit Plan
MACOG, in partnership with Transpo (South Bend Public Transportation Corporation), created the CONNECT Transit Plan. It outlines the vision and blueprint for enhancing public transit in the Region. This multi-year study started in the Summer of 2021 and was adopted by the Transpo Board of Directors and the MACOG Policy Board in the Spring of 2023. As recommended in the CONNECT Transit Plan, the short-term network is being implemented with service changes commencing in March 2025.
Safety
Improving highway safety is vital to the health and well-being of every Hoosier. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), motor vehicle-related injuries are the leading cause of unintentional death for people in the United States. Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) developed a Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) focusing on areas representing the state’s greatest roadway crash prevention or mitigation needs. Working with INDOT and the Indiana State Police, MACOG reviews and uses collected crash data to identify high-crash locations and locate potential safety project locations.
MACOG is developing a 2024 Regional Transportation Safety Action Plan to eliminate traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries.
Traffic
MACOG collects and analyzes information on traffic in northern Indiana annually. The data assesses transportation needs and system performance and develops planning and programming recommendations. Traffic data also plays an important role in planning and designing transportation projects.
MACOG collects traffic data at nearly 5,000 locations on local and state roads every three years in 12 Indiana counties and 1 Michigan county. Counts are conducted on 24- or 48-hour cycles and over 99% of the counts include vehicle classification, which means we can differentiate between cars, motorcycles, semi-trucks, and buses.
Traffic count data for the region is also made publicly available via the Regional Traffic Count website. The data is seasonally adjusted to represent the annual average daily traffic (AADT).
Congestion Management
Congestion management is the application of strategies to improve transportation system performance and reliability by reducing the adverse impacts of congestion on the movement of people and goods. A congestion management process (CMP) is a systematic and regionally-accepted approach for managing congestion that provides accurate, up-to-date information on transportation system performance and assesses alternative strategies for congestion management that meet state and local needs.
The CMP, as defined in federal regulation, is intended to be a systematic process for the safe and effective integrated management and operation of the multimodal transportation system.
The process includes:
Development of congestion management objectives
Establishment of measures of multimodal transportation system performance
Collection of data and system performance monitoring to define the extent and duration of congestion and determine the causes of congestion
Identification of congestion management strategies
Implementation activities, including identification of an implementation schedule and possible funding sources for each strategy
Evaluation of the effectiveness of implemented strategies
Roads & Highways
Functional Classification
The Department of Transportation classifies streets and highways according to their intended service in the road network. The classes are interstate, other freeway & expressway, other principal arterial, minor arterial, major and minor collector, and local. The characteristics of the routes differ depending on urban or rural location.
The Indiana Department of Transportation maintains and updates classifications as traffic and development change. Their website offers a map viewer.
Intelligent Transportation Systems
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) integrate advanced communications technologies into transportation infrastructure and vehicles. They encompass many wireless and wireline communications-based information and electronics technologies.
MACOG incorporates various ITS-related strategies and technologies into transportation planning and project development. Following is the Regional ITS Strategic Plan and Architecture. This plan describes how various projects and strategies incorporate ITS components and apply them to our region.
Freight
Indiana is the Crossroads of America, which has led to a high volume of freight in the region. North Central Indiana is served by an interstate highway, many state routes, rail lines, and connections between these networks. Providing a network that efficiently accommodates these movements is critical to the region’s economic well-being.
The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act includes freight provisions that establish national goals for multimodal freight and designate a national freight network. The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) most recently completed an Indiana State Rail Plan in 2021. Previous plans include a 2014 Multimodal Freight and Mobility Plan and the 2011 Indiana State Rail Plan. The department is preparing an update to the Rail Plan in 2017.
Regional Freight Profile
The region has a high volume of freight traffic because of the concentration of rail infrastructure and highways. Indiana Toll Road (I-80/I-90), US 20, US 30, US 31, SR 2, and US 6 are vital corridors. CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, Canadian National, South Shore Freight, Elkhart & Western, Grand Elk, and Chicago, Ft. Wayne & Eastern operate trains on the rail infrastructure in the region.