Transportation Concurrency

Multimodal Transportation Concurrency Program

Application Forms for New Development

What is Transportation Concurrency?

Transportation concurrency means measuring whether the transportation network can support the anticipated growth outlined in the Comprehensive Plan. It is related to Transportation Impact Studies and Transportation Impact Fees, but serves a different purpose.

The Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA)

The Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) (RCW 36.70A.030 (6) (b)) requires cities to ensure that transportation improvements are in place when development occurs—or that funding is committed to complete those improvements within six years.

Bellingham’s Multimodal Transportation Concurrency Program (BMC 13.70) uses level of service (LOS) standards and performance measures for sidewalks, bike lanes, WTA transit, multi-use trails, and vehicles. The program supports the 2016 Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element by guiding infill growth primarily to Urban Villages and helping complete sidewalk and bicycle networks across the city.

Bellingham’s Multimodal Transportation Concurrency Program (BMC 13.70) was one of the first in the nation to move beyond auto-focused level of service (LOS) standards. Instead, it uses a multimodal approach to assess the citywide transportation network. The program has been featured in several state and national publications, a few of which are listed below.

Transportation Reports on Annual Mobility (TRAM)

Since 2006, the Transportation Report on Annual Concurrency (TRAC) has served as the City’s annual assessment of transportation concurrency across the multimodal network. In 2009, Bellingham adopted a multimodal concurrency program, and TRAC began tracking annual improvements to pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and vehicle networks. It also recognized that Greenways trails provide a secondary transportation function in some areas.

With the completion of the Bicycle Master Plan in 2014, the report was renamed the Transportation Report on Annual Mobility (TRAM). TRAM now serves as an annual report card for the City’s transportation system, evaluating performance across all major modes: walking, biking, transit, driving, and freight.



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