The Central New Mexico Climate Change Scenario Planning Project is now complete. The project resulted in a series of policy documents and directly informed the Futures 2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP), the long-range transportation plan for the Albuquerque metro area and a critical source of information on the impacts of growth in the region. The Futures 2040 MTP was approved in April 2015.

The Preferred Scenario, developed through the two workshops last summer, was adopted as part of the 2040 MTP as an alternative vision for future growth in the region. The Preferred Scenario demonstrated that emphasizing growth in major activity centers and along key commercial and transit corridors could lead to reductions in CO2 emissions and residential water consumption, as well as minimize the amount of development that takes place in locations at risk due to climate change impacts (such as wildfires and flooding).

The Preferred Scenario and the 2040 MTP now serve as the starting point for planning for growth and developing in the City of Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Comprehensive Plan update and Integrated Development Ordinance. These documents will outline priorities for the City and County and update the zoning code and development regulations to support the priorities identified in the Comprehensive Plan.

There are several important documents that resulted from the climate change project:

• The benefits of the Preferred Scenario are the foundation of the 2040 MTP, and several sections of the plan focus on issues related to climate change. The most accessible format is an Executive Summary.
• A Project Final Report was produced by the consulting team (EMI/UNM) summarizing the process and findings of the climate change project.
• The US DOT Volpe Center prepared two documents: a Guidebook assessing the benefits provided by the project and recommendations for further analysis; and an Integration Plan specifically for the MRCOG region outlines a series of programs and initiatives that could be taken to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions make the region more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

All of the reports, along with additional materials related to the climate change project, can be found here on the MRCOG website. The 2040 MTP can be found here or at http://tinyurl.com/Futures2040MTP. MRMPO staff would like to thank everyone for their participation in this project.

Albuquerque's new bike share program, BICI, was recently featured in the news. Since the bike share started in May, there have been over 1,400 bicycle trips taken. More about the BICI program, as well as ABQ RIDE's new app feature that shows bike trails and bus connections, can be viewed here.