Overview of Transportation Planning

1. Overview of Transportation Planning • What are the purposes of transportation infrastructure? • --Moving people --Shape land use patterns --Moving goods --Sense of place --Structure the city --Others? • Key Terminology --Trips, Origins, Destinations --Person trip vs Vehicle trip --Mode, Modal split • Types of Streets/Highways --A familiar hierarchical system • National Trends --Trips/VMT? --Number of vehicles? --Commute times? --Mass transit? --Other transportation modes (bikes, peds)?(Following slides from http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001/index.shtml)

3. Households are getting smaller with more vehicles…

4. More workers and more cars on the road…Millions of Workers commuting by POV—U.S. Census

5. A Real Shift to Longer Commutes… U.S. Census

6. Vehicles commutes by time of day… NHTS 2001

7. All Vehicles in Motion— The Changing Peak Period NHTS 2001

8. http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001/presentations/polzin/index.shtml

9. http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001/presentations/polzin/index.shtml

10. Learning from Transportation Planning A number of key infrastructure lessons can be gleaned from the planning profession’s experience in transportation planning. These include: • Qualitative and Quantitative LOS Standards

11. Reviewing the Levels of Service Concept • Level of Service (LOS) • A qualitative measure describing operational conditions within a traffic stream, generally in terms of such factors as speed and travel time, freedom to maneuver, traffic interruptions, comfort, and safety. (for roads/highways) • LOS goes from A through E (Best through Worst) • Volume-to-Capacity Ratio • The V/C Ratio provides a quantitative measure of service along a given stretch of road/highway. • The V/C Ratio is simply the actual volume of traffic flow divided by the calculated capacity for a given stretch of road.

12. Learning from Transportation Planning A number of key infrastructure lessons can be gleaned from the planning profession’s experience in transportation planning. These include: • Qualitative and Quantitative LOS Standards • The Failure of the Narrow Application of the Rational Model

13. “Old School” Transportation Planning • The Three C’s (Comprehensive, Coordinated, Continuing) • The “Rational Planning Process” applied to transportation, generally at the metropolitan level • Stages of Analysis 1) System Inventory/Inventory of Current Conditions 2) Selection and Calibration of Traffic Models 3) Test Alternatives 4) Select Capital Improvements • Limitations: -Assumption that you can build your way out of problems -An almost exclusively auto-oriented approach -Ineffective at solving modern transportation problems -Many urban areas are “built-out” -Approach is severely constrained by financial resources

14. Fundamental Problems with the “Old School” • There has been a predisposition for urban transport projects and studies to meet private motorized transport needs and to tackle related issues of traffic congestion, rather than addressing wider issues affecting the whole of society. • Typical Transportation Planning Oversights Include: • 1) A presumption that there is some kind of ‘obligation’ to accommodate traffic growth. • 2) A presumption that traffic problems and parking problems can be solved by engineering measures independent of meaningful land use control. • 3) A presumption that a very few well-funded transportation modes is better than more transportation modes, differentially funded.

15. Learning from Transportation Planning A number of key infrastructure lessons can be gleaned from the planning profession’s experience in transportation planning. These include: • Qualitative and Quantitative LOS Standards • The Failure of the Narrow Application of the Rational Model • Working within the Context of System Overload • The Limited Role of Technicians and the Essential Role of Planners

16. Modern Transportation Planning • TSM (Transportation Systems Management) • Still applies a rational planning approach, but recognizes alternatives and doesn’t focus as much on the traditional transportation planning approach • Advantages • Investigates a fuller range of alternatives • Looks to affect transportation demand as well as supply • Looks to both the public and private sector for implementation and financing • Considers the full range of travel modes (not just the automobile) • Considers other purposes of transportation in society

17. Transportation Demand Management (TDM) • TDM is a Systems Management approach that further recognizes the current constraints to transportation planning (costs of projects, funding availability, sunk costs). • Advantages • Emphasizes increased system efficiency; 1) reduce demand 2) redirect demand 3) expand capacity through minor improvements 4) increase occupancy • Looks even further to nontraditional supply approaches • New financial strategies (impact fees, development fees)

18. Learning from Transportation Planning A number of key infrastructure lessons can be gleaned from the planning profession’s experience in transportation planning. These include: • Qualitative and Quantitative LOS Standards • The Failure of the Narrow Application of the Rational Model • Working within the Context of System Overload • The Limited Role of Technicians and the Essential Role of Planners • The Importance of Maintenance of Existing Infrastructure

19. Transportation and Maintenance • Studies of transportation infrastructure have found that system elements that are not maintained tend to fail very quickly and costs for maintenance skyrocket without proper maintenance. • The cardinal rule of transportation infrastructure maintenance is knowing:whento carry out what type of maintenance or rehabilitation and then carrying out that maintenance on time. Failure to address “when, what, and on time” results in poorer and more expensive maintenance. • Proper System Maintenance Requires: • Inventory: An annually updated system inventory • Standards:Infrastructure standards/Replacement schedules • Maintenance Process:A process is needed to identify unscheduled, but needed repairs and to allocate money to immediate needs • Financing:A consistent and untouchable funding source and/or a financing mechanism is required

20. Learning from Transportation Planning A number of key infrastructure lessons can be gleaned from the planning profession’s experience in transportation planning. These include: • Qualitative and Quantitative LOS Standards • The Failure of the Narrow Application of the Rational Model • Working within the Context of System Overload • The Limited Role of Technicians and the Essential Role of Planners • The Importance of Maintenance of Existing Infrastructure • A Regional Approach to Planning (MPOs)

21. Regional Transportation Planning • The Federal Government requires states to establish Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), which are planning bodies whose primary responsibility is to review and approve transportation plans and investments within a metropolitan area. • These bodies bring together public officials from affected local governments to discuss and review proposed improvements or additions to the transportation system. (In Tally: 7 Leon Co. Comms, 5 Tallahassee City Comms, and a School Board Rep) • Regional Approach: MPOs approach transportation infrastructure from a regional perspective. • Long-Term Planning: MPOs are required to develop a transportation plan for the entire region (with a 20 year planning horizon) that acts as the primary guide to infrastructure investments. • Short-Term Implementation: The Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) is the implementation document for the longer-term plan. Effectively it is the capital budget (CIP).

22. Learning from Transportation Planning A number of key infrastructure lessons can be gleaned from the planning profession’s experience in transportation planning. These include: • Qualitative and Quantitative LOS Standards • The Failure of the Narrow Application of the Rational Model • Working within the Context of System Overload • The Limited Role of Technicians and the Essential Role of Planners • The Importance of Maintenance of Existing Infrastructure • A Regional Approach to Planning (MPOs) • A Dedicated Funding Source for Infrastructure and a Dedicated Funding Source for the Planning of Infrastructure

23. Financing Transportation Infrastructure • How are transportation infrastructure projects financed in the United States?--Bonds --Impact Fees--Tolls --State/Federal Appropriations--Federal/State Formula-Based Funds--Federal State Need-Based Funds--Federal/State Transportation Trust Funds • The basis for much of the above funding are the Federal and State Gas Taxes. • Florida has a variable rate gas tax that reflects changes in consumer price index. • The funding for transportation infrastructure must go to both improvements/additions and to the planning of improvements/additions.

24. Learning from Transportation Planning A number of key infrastructure lessons can be gleaned from the planning profession’s experience in transportation planning. These include: • Qualitative and Quantitative LOS Standards • The Failure of the Narrow Application of the Rational Model • Working within the Context of System Overload • The Limited Role of Technicians and the Essential Role of Planners • The Importance of Maintenance of Existing Infrastructure • A Regional Approach to Planning (MPOs) • A Dedicated Funding Source for Infrastructure and a Dedicated Funding Source for the Planning of Infrastructure • The Infrastructure-Land Use Connection

25. Land Use and Transportation • Cervero states that although land use practices are the “second best” solution to the problems of sprawl, the best solution (pricing practices) is politically and culturally infeasible. • The time is ripe to renew the linkage between land use and infrastructure. Planners can and should influence: --what is built --where it is built --the density of development --the timing of development.“Planners must seize the opportunity to shape land development while powerful macro-changes continue to unfold. Otherwise, in this era of LULUs and NIMBYs, growth moratoria are apt to be the principal land use tools in dealing with such nuisances as traffic congestion.” • The Problem for Cervero  Increasing Traffic Congestion --Temporally: not just rush hours anymore --Spatially: not just downtowns anymore (the suburbanization of congestion)

26. Cervero’s LU Strategies to Preserve Mobility Densification“Density is the single most important land use factor that affects mode choice in the suburbs.”-Zoning is the typical tool used to promote development. What about incentives for increased density? What about regional impact fees? Mixed-Use Development“Zoning should promote fusion and not exclusion.”-Benefits include: 1) More walking trips, 2) Distribution of trips throughout day, 3) Shared parking, 4) Increased ride-sharing Jobs-Housing Balance“Jobs-housing balance would help rationalize commuting patterns and reduce clashes between through and local traffic.”-Does not require a major economic shift-Can use incentives to promote this. Site PlanningThis aims to promote “a level playing field by providing nonmotorists with the same level of convenience enjoyed by motorists.

27. Obstacles to Cervero’s Strategies 1) Institutional Mismatches for dealing with problems--Pressure for linking land use and transportation must come from the top (as in Florida) 2) Land Use Planning does not precede and guide transportation planning--Comprehensive planning should guide transportation investments, not the other way around.--Regions should develop land use plans that reflect residents’ tastes. Then, transportation systems should be designed to fit this vision. 3) Political Competition impedes regional land use planning--Local competition for tax base and tax revenues hinders regional land use planning efforts. 4) Land use initiatives are long-term propositions/solutions--Land use efforts take a very long time to provide benefits, which makes them politically unpopular. 5) NIMBYs and LULUs (and BANANA’s and NOPE’s) --Even when political will and institutional lethargy are overcome, convincing citizens to accept more density and mixed-use development has been problematic.