Transportation
Local streets
Primarily used to gain access to the property bordering the road
Ports
Provide a valuable resource for jobs and economic activity throughout the US. - Goods enter the US and in many cases, get transferred to rail or truck using urban and rural corridors that are congested, thereby emitting more pollutants into the atmosphere. - However, marine highway services along the US Coastlines and commercial waters an alleviate road and rail congestion (eg Panama Canal).
Urban collectors
Provide both land access and traffic circulation with residential, commercial, and industrial areas by collecting and distributing traffic to these areas.
Federal-Aid Highway Act 1962
- Highway construction projects in urbanized areas of more than 50,000 must be based on continuing, comprehensive planning process carried out cooperatively (3-C Process) among state and local municipalities. - Created regional transportation agencies.
Which office/industrial uses generate the most parking spaces
- Medical building - General office - Warehousing
Which commercial uses generate the most parking
- Shopping centers - Movie theaters - Restaurants
Traffic Impact Studies
Bases for determining needed on-site and off-site traffic improvements, such as traffic lights, turn lanes, and road widenings, as part of the subdivision and land development process. - They need to be recast as transportation impact studies, which work out multimodal solutions, including transit, etc.
Nation's First Subway
Boston in 1897
Lancaster Pike
Built in 1793. - First turnpike in the US. - Provided convenient transportation between Philadelphia and Lancaster
Ring Roads
Circular roads around cities or villages. - Along with limited access bypasses, they have gained in popularity as a way to relieve traffic congestion in downtowns, increase traffic speeds and service growing suburban areas. - These can open huge amounts of rural land to low-density residential development and commercial strips. - Close to existing development, it can destroy neighborhoods and displace residents. - Often impacts low income people to a greater extent.
Transportation System Management (TSM)
Created by Federal Highway Act of 1973. - Attempts to match an area's travel demands to its transportation infrastructure (supply) by extracting more efficiency and effectiveness from existing highway and transit systems. - Measures include HOV lanes, park and ride facilities, and metered light on freeway ramps.
Metropolitan Planning Organizations
Created by Federal Highway Act of 1973. These are policy bodies for transportation planning in metropolitan areas. - 1990 Clean Air Act requires that each adopt a transportation planning process (embodied in a transportation plan) that will maintain the region's air quality or move the region toward attainment of federal air quality standards, every 3 years. - Must include the following: 20-year Regional Transportation Plan (RTP); Three-year Transportation Improvement Plan; and Individual Transportation Projects.
Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs)
Created by ISTEA. Each state and MPO is supposed to 1. Establish priorities among local projects using federal and other funds, and 2. Identify funding sources for each involved project. - Thus, TIPs were to be financially constrained, which was supposed to keep down questionable highway spending.
MPOs were requried to prepare 3 major documents between 1965 and 1983
1. A comprehensive long-range plan for transit and highway improvements. 2. A 3-5 year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) that was to be based on a subset of the 20 year plan. 3. Annual one-year program of activities.
How to improve LOS
1. Build left turn bays 2. Allow right turns on red 3. Allow adequate space for traffic weaving 4. Expand transit service 5. Promote Transportation Demand Management (TDM) 6. Road and street capacity expansion
Next steps in the land use forecasts matches land use patterns to the generation and distribution of future travel by
1. Estimating the number of trips generated by new residential and commercial activity. 2. Determining the distribution of those trips. 3. Determining the mode that would be used to make those trips.
Regional transportation process must include these elements
1. Future land use and economic projections. 2. Estimations of travel demand. 3. Ways to match demand to the capacity and service characteristics of supply alternatives. 4. Estimations of costs and benefits of potential alternatives for the community as a whole and for various subgoups in the population. 5. Procedures for mediating conflicts between interest groups and between the findings of different planning agencies and the community.
Technical transportation planning process at the regional level consist of 3 activities
1. Gauging the demand for transportation services and facilities. 2. Matching cost-effective supply options to that demand. 3. Considering the impact of supply alternatives on the social, economic, and environmental characteristics of the community.
Which residential uses generate the most parking spaces
- Condo - Low/mid-rise apartment
Metro Areas 3 Alternatives to Building More Roads
1. Intermodal networks can combine motor vehicle use with a variety of mass-transit systems and expanded bicycle and pedestrian traffic. 2. Mass transit in the form of light rail and buses can move a greater volume of passengers through the transit corridor more quickly than cars. 3. Travel management seeks to smooth out traffic flow to increase efficiency of the systems. C - Can be achieved by raising the price of driving through tolls at rush hours and increasing parking costs.
Factors affecting parking demand
1. Land and building use 2. Socioeconomic characteristics of users 3. Alt modes available 4. Parking space availability 5. Cost of parking 6. Accessibility 7. Peak and periodic use factors 8. Employee, visitor and patron parkers
Transportation performance measures
1. Mobility - ease of people to move 2. Accessibility - ease desired activities can be reached from any location 3. Livability - puts the auto in its right places as one of many options 4. Sustainability
Difficulties transporation planners face in matching supply to demand
1. Must estimate the costs of various supply options in the face of unknowns. 2. Providing supply may change demand in ways that demand cant be predicted. 3. The effects of highways and transit systems are not always easy to measure in dollars or minutes.
Streets and roads two functions
1. Provide mobility 2. Facilitate land access - The transportation network balances these two functions. \
Vehicle trips per housing unit
1. Single family : 9.1 to 10.2 2. Planned Unit Developments: 7.9 3.. Duplexes/townhomes: 7 4. Apartments: 6 5. Condos: 5.9 6. Mobile homes: 5.5 7. Retirement homes: 3.5
Stall sizes for parking spaces in parking structures
1. Smaller cars: Width of 7.5 feet, length of15-16 feet for small cars at a 90degree angle 2. Larger/standard cars: Width of 9 feet, length of 18-20 feet at a 70 degree angle.
Assumptions of the Transporation Planning Process from the early 1940s
1. Transportation planning would take place as part of a comprehensive process in which community goals and objectives would be set. 2. Community goals and objectives were already known - fostered the assumption that planners were to reduce congestion and increase travel speeds using the most effective methods.
Four basic models for estimating demand
1. Trip-generation. 2. Trip Generation. 3. Modal-split. 4. Traffic Assignment.
Factors that influence transit capacity of urban streets
1. Vehicle characteristics 2. Right-of-way characteristics 3. Stop characteristics. 4. Operating characteristics. 5. Passenger traffic characteristics. 6. Method of headway control
Average Vehicle Occupancy Rate
1.4 person in the US. - This rate usually goes down during rush hour. - Raising the rate to 2 persons/vehicle would reduce congestion more than tripling transit use.
Transportation-related GHG emissions, oil consumption, and air pollution
1/3 of GHG emissions; 2/3 of oil consumption; and 1/2 of urban air pollution.
Percentage of US GNP that goes to transportation
15-18% (compared to 9% in japan)
Lincoln Highway
1913. First national coast-to-coast highway. - Part of a larger system of "named" highways which formed the basis for the numbered route systems in place today. - Present day Route US-30
Highway Beautification Act
1978 amendment ties the hands of local governments that want to remove nonconforming billboards along Federal highways. - It requires local governments to pay billboard owners before a nonconforming billboard can be removed. - The Fed govt is supposed to meet 75% of the cost of billboard removal, but Congress has not appropriated funds since 1982. - This is a major obstacle to billboard regulation because the removal of nonconforming billboards is essential to an effective billboard control program.
When did transit ridership peak?
At 23.4 billion trips in 1946 (35% of daily commuters) - From 1900 to just after WWII, mass transit in the form of buses, trolley;s and railroads was the dominant mode of transportation. - Today, transit carries about 5% of daily commuters
Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA)
1991. Provision authorizing federal funding to states for projects to humanize the trans system and improve environmental quality. - Mission is to improve air quality, mitigate the adverse impacts of trans construction, improve coordination and cooperative planning among all stakeholders, coordinating the use of all modes, promoting intermodal transfers, etc. - Prior to its passage, federal transportation money was spent mostly on highway construction, but this allowed federal gas tax funding to be spend on projects not related to transportation for the first time. - It also combined new highway construction, mass transit, and intermodal projects as a solution to both traffic issues and air pollution. - Focused on the state to initiate and facilitate these activities. - Required MPOs and DOTs to create an ongoing series of 3-year Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs) and 20-year Long Range Plans, upon which the TIPs were based. - Created the Surface Transportation Program. - Intended to shift the balance of power from USDOT to MPOs and DOTs.
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21)
1997. Continuation of policies established in ISTEA. - TIPs are to be regional, based on current demographics, coordinated with local and regional planning, public consideration, environmental, etc. - Reduced the number of mandatory planning factors to be considered in preparing a TIP. - Established the Transportation and Community and System Preservation Pilot Program (TCSP) and Access to Jobs Program. 54% decrease in funding for new highway construction. - But like ISTEA, most of the funds have gone to highway repair and construction projects
Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)
2005. Largest surface transportation allocation in US history. - Created the Highway Safety Improvement Program. - Balanced federal allocation of transportation monies across states. - Encouraged public-private partnerships. - Opened up federal highways to "road pricing" to combat congestion
Transportation Mobility
A critical element to maximize the flow of dollars through the economy supply and demand meet. - But we need to think of access in terms of good transit service to connect our regions, downtowns, major activity centers, and housing; and direct, safe, and comfortable pedestrian and bicycle facilities to help people get to work.
Transportation Demand Management (TDM)
A set of specific strategies that influence travel behavior by mode, frequency, time, route, or trip length in order to reduce the number of vehicles during peak travel hours. - Alternatives include: carpooling, transit, walking/bicycling, peak spreading (flex time), telecommuting
National Road
AKA Cumberland Road. Completed 1818. - Federal project to open the Appalachian Frontier. - It connected eastern population centers and the Ohio Valley via the Appalachian Mountains with a well-established and maintained roadway. - Present day US-40
Supply Analysis
Alternative means of meeting the region's future travel demands are evaluated by studying the costs and benefits that each alternative will bring to various groups.
Regional Blueprint Planning
An effective means of looking at a region in a comprehensive manner. - Moves development in a more sustainable direction by examining scenarios and outcomes. - In CA, funds for these programs have been provided to MPOs. It recognizes the importance of developing long-range regional transportation plans in the context of land use, environmental, economic, and social factors on a regional scale.
Mass Transportation - Intra-City (transit)
Any travel that begins and ends within the same urban area. - Includes on-demand services such as dial-a-ride buses and taxis. - Bus systems are popular because they are flexible in routing and responding to unexpected circumstances on route. - Rail systems have advantage of exclusive right-of-way, preemptive passage, and limited stops. However, if something blocks the rails, the system is crippled. - need development and population density to be successful.
Mass Transportation - Inter-City (bus, ship, air, and rail)
Any travel that moves between two urban areas. - Long term trends indicate an increase in air transport with declines in ship, bus, and rail.
Consequences of the Interstate Highway System
Approved in 1956, it transformed the urban and suburban landscape. - Allowed a more dispersed settlement pattern, enabling people to live farther from work and shopping. - From 1970 to 1999, America's population grew by 31%, however, the developed land in metropolitan areas grew by 74% and the VMT increased by 93%. - It also marked a major shift in public transportation investment policy in favor of the private car and reliance on cheap gas.
Traffic Assignment Models
Assign an actual route to each trip estimated above and are used to evaluate the relative efficiency of each alternative. - Both existing and proposed infrastructures (supply) are addressed, as are financing alternatives.
Surface Transportation Program
Created by ISTEA. Provided $24 billion in flexible funds for development of highway alternatives. - However, 10% had to be spend on safety improvements, and 10% had to be for aesthetic enhancements.
Highway Safety Improvement Program
Created by SAFETEA-LU. - Designed to keep up with repair and reconstruction of aging infrastructure.
Average Annual delay per person in 1982 and 1999
Delay increased form 11 hours to 36 hours
US Department of Transportation (USDOT)
Divided into modal administrations (ie the Federal Highway Administration; the Federal Transit Administration). - This division more easily leads to competition, rather than cooperation, and a focus on narrower project and programmatic outcomes.
Transportation Improvement Plan
Each Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is responsible for drafting a short-range plan (projects to be implemented over a 3-5 year period), that must include major investment studies in transportation corridors, environmental justice issues, and air quality impacts as well as transportation alternatives. - Required under ISTEA
Ecological Impacts of Transportation
Ecological impact of road avoidance, especially due to traffic noise, is greater than that of roadkill. - Road extensions can lead to fragmentation of wildlife corridors, and removal of core habitat areas. - Planners should develop mitigation strategies that can lead to long-term reservation of important resources through development and implementation of habitat conservation plans.
Intermodal Transportation Concept
Encourages metro areas to link different transportation network so that people and goods move more smoothly. - However, if travel is to be successfully split among different modes, settlement patterns need to incorporate a mix of housing, store, and offices at a fairly high density. = Need *7 to 8 units per acre* to make mass transit feasible.
AMTRAK
Established in 1971 in response to railroad's collective desire to exit the passenger business.
Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ)
Established under Clean Air Act Amend of 1990. - Gave funding for HOV lanes, ridesharing systems, and transit improvements. - It was the incentive for congestion mitigation and air quality projects.
Transit Oriented Development (TOD)
Features a core area of about 1/4 mile radius and a secondary area that extends and additional 1/4 mile out. - Within this bounded area, development occurs at a fairly high density, focused on an easily accessible town center at the transit hub. - Have the biggest influences on reducing non-work, shopping trips
Light Rail
Generally runs on grade on the same level as cars and pedestrian. Gives a smooth ride, can make frequent stops, and can operate at speeds of up to 55 miles per hour. - Installation typically requires the acquisition of rights-of-way, and the cost is higher than for bus systems.
Heavy Rail
Has exclusive right-of-way with a 3rd rail power source. Ex: BART
Economic Development in Transportation
Historically has meant providing good highway access and facilitating the optimum movement of people and goods. - While access remains the primary objective of transportation, in the 21st century, it also means providing access to jobs and using transportation to promote a clean energy economy. - Transportation should also be used to create places that attract and retain not only workers, but people who want to live, work, shop and play in proximity to their other needs and destinations.
Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS)
Inagurated the use of sophisticated, large-scale transportation network and land use modeling methodology.
Minor arterials
Interconnect the principal arterials, provide less mobility and slight more land access, and distribute travel to smaller geographic areas than principal arterials.
Pedestrian Transportation
LOS measurement are the same as for cars, but more feet on the street means the better the system is functioning. -Needs to consider the natural, or logical, pathways that people will walk. - Feet will take the shortest path even if a paved walkway lies within 10 feet and the shortcut is a wet lawn. - Walkways need to be at least *4 feet wide*, and 5 is preferable. - Separation from street traffic is desired.
Primary function of local roads and streets
Land access to residences and farms
Transportation and Community System Preservation Pilot (TCSP) program
Launched by DOT in 2000. - Makes grants to states, local governments, and MPS to stimulate planning that would improve transportation efficiency and also reduce the environment impacts of transportation systems, ensure efficient access to hobs, avoid costly future public infrastructure investment and encourage private investment to support these goals.
3-C Process
Legislated by Section 134 of the Federal highway Act of 1962. - Continuing, comprehensive planning process carried out cooperatively - Process is usually composed of the following steps: 1. Region's current travel and system conditions are inventoried. 2. Demographic, economic, and land use projects are performed. 3. Region's future travel demands are estimated using the following: trip generation; trip distribution; modal split; supply analysis; traffic assignment models. - Had huge impact on the organization arrangements developed at the local level to carry out highway and all transportation planning. - Set the planning scale at the regional or metropolitan level. - Cooperation requirement brought the creation of planning agencies or organization arrangements designed to ensure communication and cooperation between all parties.
Access controls
Main functions: 1. Maintain the arterial design and function 2. Improve safety by reducing vehicle conflicts (50% to 65% fewer accidents) 3. Reduce travel time loss 4. Avoid problems from collector type of access on principal arterial streets
Primary function of interstate highways and freeways
Mobility
Trip Generation
Model for estimating demand. - Using current land use maps, future land use maps, and land use-specific trip generation rates, the number of trips that will be generated by each current and future land use is estimated.
Trip Distribution
Model for estimating demand. - Estimate where in the city the trips will go. - The designations of the trips generated in Trip Generation are estimated using gravity models.
Modal-split
Model for estimating demand. - Estimate which trips will use transit and which will use private auto. - usually using probit or logit models
Billboard Controls
Necessary to protect and preserve the beauty, character, economic, and aesthetic value of land and to protect the safety, welfare, and public health of their citizens. - Yet many communities find it impossible to enforce billboard ordinances along highly-visible transportation routes because of special-interest provisions in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, successor to the Federal Highway Beautification Act.
Federal Highway Act of 1973
New concern for environmental and social issues. Also created the following: - Metropolitan planning organizations. - Transportation Improvement Programs. - Transportation System Management
Transportation Management Associations (TMA)
Nonprofit organizations designed to facilitate private involvement in resolving transportation issues. - Hope to affect areawide impacts by consolidating resources. Services include: - rideshare matching - preferential.subsidized parking - Transit subsidy program
Issues with Trying to Reduce Peak Hour Traffic Congestion
Once it has appeared in a region, it cannot be eliminated or even substantially reduced. So ring roads and bypasses do not provide a solution to traffic. - Building highways to relieve congestion may be short lived in areas where population is projected to grow substantially. - Building more HOV lanes or roads to increase speeds can also increase air pollution
Bicycle Transportation
Parking for bicycles should be set at a level reflecting local need. - If bicycling is new concept, a ratio of one bike space for every 10 car spaces is appropriate. - Should be provided separate facilities for parking and riding.
Peak Hours and Transportation Modes
Peak hours make transportation modes inefficient. - Problem can be remedied by reducing peak demands, redirecting peak demands, expanding capacities, and/or increasing vehicle occupancy rates.
Interstate Highway Act of 1956
Provided for a defense highway construction program (the Highway Trust Fund) consisting of over 40,000 miles of limited-access highways linking every major city in the nation. - Typically, a inner belt freeway was built around the commercial core with radial freeways leading to suburban areas. - The largest public works program every undertaken. - Served as the impetus for transportation planning and comprehensive regional land use planning.
Federal Aid-Highway Act 1916 and 1921
Provided the basis for the federal highway program as it exists today. - Before 1916, roads were mostly the concerns of local government. - 1916 law requires each state to create a DOT.
Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)
Publishes and updates a manual that gives ranges in the number of trips generated by and attracted to ten major types of land uses and several hundred subcategories of those land uses.
Terms that describe freeways and limited access highways
Represent reasonable ranges in three critical dimensions: 1. Average travel speed. 2. Density 3. Flow rate
Land Use Forescasts
Require 3 interrelated steps: 1. Determining future population growth. 2. Determining future economic activity. 3. Determining future land use patterns (where foretasted population growth and economic activity will occur)
Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990
Requires USDOT to restrict transportation funds to non-attainment air quality control regions. - To get these fund, MPOs and DOTs in these regions had to submit a TIP that included measures to reduce automobile emissions.
Commuter Rail
Runs on rights-of-way that are separate from roads and streets. - Is diesel powered and takes longer trips than light rail, allowing passengers to travel intra and inter-state. - Can serve lower suburban densities.
Federal-Aid Highway Act 1934
Said that states may use up to 1.5% of a highways project's federal construction funds for planning.
Principal arterials
Serve longer trips, carry the highest traffic volumes, carry a large % of the VMT on mileage, and provide minimal land access
One-way streets
Serve several purposes: - Increases capacity in the corridor by drawing traffic from local streets onto major streets. - Makes travel thru a neighborhood difficult - Makes narrow street more navigable or provides parking lane - improves intersection capacity - Increases speed on major street rather than local street
Stall sizes for parking spaces in surface lots
Standard stall widths are from 8 - 9 feet
Single-mode Transportation Funding
Streams currently use a single-mode to finance transportation. - There has been an over-reliance on the stagnant gas tax. - Also, a formula-driven approach to funding that rewards states for miles driven, which runs counter to the broader foals for transportation, location efficiency, clean energy, and sustainable economic growth. - This funding mode reduces flexibility in meeting the needs of states, metro areas, and rural communities. - The equity in funding approaches between highways and transit display and ingrained institutional bias that favors solutions that are often inconsistent with community plans.
Highway Capacity Manual (HCM)
The authority of highway standards. - Includes the six levels of service (LOS) that describe and define congestion and service characteristics.
Level of Service (LOS)
The current standard used in traffic impact studies for determining the capacity of a road intersection compared to its current level of use. - Is a letter grade assigned according to the numerical ratio of volume over capacity. Regarding highway links: LOS A: free flow, no delays LOS B: state flow, speed somewhat restricted, short delays LOS C: stable flow, moderate delays LOS D: unstable flow with long delays, LOS E: unstable flow, near capacity, very long delays LOS F: over capacity, very low speeds, frequent stopages
Parking
The goal should be to provide the least amount of parking necessary to meet a community's overall goals. - Communities should allow the market to dictate the value of a space. - Meter rates should be set at the lowest price necessary to achieve 85% occupancy (the rate that represents the best balance between making it easy to find a space while maximizing utilization).
Functional classification
The process of grouping streets and roads into classes or systems according to the function they are intended to provide. - Due to differences in land use, separate classifications are used for urban and rural areas. - Only a limited & of total road/street miles and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) are allowed in each group or category. Urban road facilities are grouped into the following 4 categories based on LOS and function 1. Expressway 2. Arterial 3. Collector 4. Local
Sketch Planning
These types of models can be used to rapidly evaluate alternatives under consideration. Allow for the rapid input of land uses and produce rough estimates of changes for the area being analyzed. - Can range in complexity from a basic spreadsheet to a transportation model modified to run quickly. - Thought to be appropriate for cities with populations from 100,000 to 3 million that have one or more concentrated travel corridors.
Off-street Parking Requirements
Traditionally been established to avoid spill-over parking from people driving to specific land uses and crowding out spaced use by local residents. - Most minimum requirements have been set high enough to protect against excess demand at any point. - With the absence of excess demand, there is no market for these spaces, so this valuable land and financial resource is provided for free. -Free parking offers no incentive not to drive, and requires non-drivers to share in the cost of providing the service. -Municipalities should eliminate all minimum parking requirements, and recommend that municipalities establish parking standards that meet their community goals. - Cost of parking should also be separated from the cost of real estate lease or purchase.
Paratransit
Transit systems that combine public and private components. - Includes private/public carpooling and subscription bus/taxi services. - Defined by its service characteristics and by the vehicles it employs.
Rural transportation issues
Urban employment opportunities have attracted rural residents as farm mechanization has also displaced them. This has left fewer rural residents to support the freight and tourists routes that were vital to their livelihood. - Rural areas need federal involvement to: 1. Mitigate the impact of interstate freight traffic 2. Facilitate the collection and distribution of raw and processed products 3. Support tourism and recreation
Traffic Calming Devices
Used to control the speed of traffic or to reroute traffic, and are not meant for major arterial roads where moving large volumes of traffic at high speed is the goal. - On collector and local streets, speed control devices include speed bumps, humps, a rumple strips, raised intersections, textured crosswalks, planters, etc.
Transportation Systems Management (TSM)
Used to make better use of facilities or increase effective capacity by: 1. Reducing overall demand 2. Redirecting demand to lower usage periods 3. Expanding capacity through minor physical road and transit improvements 4. Increasing occupancy in the vehicles that use the system during peak periods. Methods include: - HOV lanes/ramps - Congestion pricing - Signal coordination - Ramp metering
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
Ways to make existing and future transportation networks operate more efficiently and safely, and with better information for users. - These technologies can be used to provide real-time traffic information, performance characteristics of vehicles, actual vehicle locations and speeds, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, driver performance, etc. - These tools allow transportation operators to adjust traffic flow or reschedule transit vehicles in real time, and to be more responsive to incidents. - They also provide users with much better information to make more choices than they had in the past.
