

Engagement: TPEC's formation - Inspired by Innovation
The Transportation Policy and Economic Competitiveness (TPEC) Program was formed in 2013 when the Minnesota Legislature directed the Minnesota Department of Transportation to fund research at the University of Minnesota on transportation policy and economic competitiveness.
Legislators were interested in how innovations in transportation could contribute to Minnesota’s economic competitiveness. The TPEC research program was designed as an ongoing effort to explore these innovations as seen through the prisms of financing, industry clusters, and transportation technology, and to identify their implications for transportation policy in Minnesota.
The University of Minnesota TPEC team has conducted multiple policy research projects in these three focus areas:
- Innovative Transportation Finance Options and Economic Development. A competitive transportation system must have adequate sustainable revenue streams to cover capital and maintenance costs.
- Transportation Policy and Industry Clusters. Dynamic and innovative industry clusters are critical for the success of a regional economy. Freight transportation plays a critical role in the success of these clusters and regional competitiveness.
- Transportation Technology Impacts on Economic Competitiveness. Information technology is dramatically changing the way in which transportation systems are managed. These include technologies that improve economic competitiveness through productivity improvements as well as bringing safety, environmental and social benefits.
An advisory council of transportation policy and economic development leaders, including bi-partisan leadership from the Minnesota State Legislature’s transportation committees, has provided feedback and guidance to this research.
—Lee Munnich, TPEC founding director and researcher