UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies

This article reviews major events and trends in metropolitan transportation planning and policy during the 1990s in three divergent Pacific Rim jurisdictions: New Zealand, Chile, and California. Major metropolitan areas in each country have seen rising motorization, increasing congestion, and privatization of transportation services. Devolution of transportation planning responsibility has occurred; to a lesser degree, funding responsibility has been devolved from central to regional/local government. New Zealand pushed privatization harder in the 1990s than either Chile or California. While no dominant model of transportation planning has emerged, metropolitan-level planning has become more prominent in each country studies.