Multimodal Transportation Assessment

The Multimodal Transportation Assessment (MMTA) is a report used to help the County Board, constituents and County staff understand the anticipated impacts and proposed mitigations of the proposed development on the County’s transportation network. This includes analyzing impacts to vehicular, pedestrian, bicycle, and transit access to and around the site.  The MMTA also provides transportation safety and crash information at critical intersections near the site.  

Arlington County has adopted the use of MMTAs to ensure impacts to all modes of travel are considered, which provides staff and the public a more comprehensive discussion of how the community will access and engage with the site. The scope of the MMTA brings together a mix of qualitative and quantitative analysis for consideration through the site plan review process.  

Administrative Regulation 4.1 specifies for which project types an MMTA is required for special exception projects. For Form Based Code projects an MMTA is required for any development project with 150 or more dwelling units or 100,000 square feet or more of non-residential use including hotel.

The MMTA process is outlined in the following sections as it typically progresses from scoping to report submission. The MMTA requirements are also outlined in the Requirements for MMTA matrix.   

MMTA Scoping  

Pre-Scoping  

Applicants should complete both of the following documents prior to requesting a scoping meeting. For help completing these documents, use the MMTA Pre-Scope Guide(PDF, 465KB). 

After completing the Pre-Scoping documents, please combine both scoping forms into a single pdf and email des-signalits@arlingtonva.us to request an MMTA Scoping Meeting with County staff. County staff will reach out with proposed dates and times for the Scoping Meeting. 

Scoping Meeting 

At the Scoping Meeting, County staff and the applicant will finalize the scope, provide additional information, and address any outstanding questions or comments on the Pre-Scoping Forms.  Once the scope is finalized, both the applicant and Arlington County Staff will sign the Pre-Scope Form. This signed form should be included in future MMTA submittals as an appendix. If the applicant needs to revise the scoping document after obtaining a signed scoping form, the applicant should contact des-signalits@arlingtonva.us to request a meeting. When a scoping form is being revised, the County reserves the right to revisit the assumptions in the scoping form.  

MMTA Report

Once the MMTA Pre-Scoping forms are approved and signed the applicant will work to complete the MMTA Report. The MMTA Guidance Document(PDF, 227KB) further explains what is expected in each section of the report. The MMTA shall be submitted through the Electronic Plan Review (EPR) process as a separate document in the Project folder within the Site Plan submittal. Supporting analysis or modeling files shall be transmitted to des-signalits@arlingtonva.us.

All County comments on the MMTA will be added to the site plan comments in the EPR system. If a meeting is needed to resolve comments, please reach out to the DES planner assigned to the project.

Traffic Count Collection Policy

Applicants should collect traffic counts under the following conditions to ensure accurate and representative data, minimizing fluctuations caused by atypical traffic patterns. The typical count collection guidelines are listed below. If the applicant wishes to deviate from these standard conditions, it should be discussed in the scoping meeting and explicitly mentioned in the pre-scope forms. A list of applicable dates for schools and holidays is located on the County’s website. 

  • Generally, counts shall be collected on a typical weekday (Tuesday through Thursday) when Arlington County Schools are operating on a normal schedule 
  • No holidays during the week 
  • No inclement weather 
  • No major events in D.C.  
  • Saturday/Sunday as relevant to the use of the existing/proposed site 
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