Suggested Citation:
Sciara, Gian-Claudia (2012) Planning for Unplanned Pork: The Consequences of Congressional Earmarking for Regional Transportation Planning. Journal of the American Planning Association 78 (3), 239 - 255

Congressional earmarks can fund projects irrespective of carefully crafted metropolitan plans, potentially undermining years of analysis and negotiation. Yet, while earmarking of federal transport funds expanded significantly around the turn of the century, the planning literature has not considered whether or how this affected regionally scaled planning. To address that gap, this study examines how congressional earmarking and metropolitan planning interact, especially as competing paths for transportation investments.

By analyzing transportation spending bills, other archival materials, original interviews with federal, state, and local agencies, transport policy organizations, and lobbyists, this article uncovers several unforeseen planning, financial, and administrative challenges associated with congressional earmarks. Second, it reveals how metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) manage such earmarks post hoc, creatively improving earmarking outcomes and strengthening planning in the process. These findings underscore the pivotal role of federal policies that institutionalize regional planning and that can enable flexible and assertive MPO responses.