Geography/Planning 379: “Urban Growth & Development” Lecture 17: Urban Transportation Problems & Policy

1. Geography/Planning 379: “Urban Growth & Development”Lecture 17: Urban Transportation Problems & Policy 1.Congestion • The ‘Black Hole’ Theory of Highway Investment • Traffic Management Options • Auto-restraint • Road-pricing 4. Mass Transit Options 5. Para-transit Options 6. Non-Transportation Transportation Solutions Reading Optional: Plane (“Policy Alternatives) Black (“Recent Popularity of LRT”) “Of all the disciplines, geography is the one that has caught the vision of the earth as a total system, and it has strong claims to be the queen of the human sciences.” –Kenneth E. Boulding, The Impact of the Social Sciences

2. 1. Congestion: …Hitting the Wall • We’ve become fixated on automobile traffic congestion • Not the only transportation issue… • What are some other key ones? Carrying Capacity What happens when one congested link backs up another? Eventually we get… “GRIDLOCK” Travel Time over a Link “Free flow” Volume Traffic Volumes (# of vehicles)

3. 2. The ‘Black Hole’ Theory of Highway Investment • Street networks must be built for peak period loads • When congestion occurs, what’s natural response? …Build more lanes! • But transportation/land use systems are dynamic • If you make it easier to travel, people will travel longer distances • Cities like drug addicts! • Concept of “Latent Demand” Congestion Build MoreCapacity

4. 2. The ‘Black Hole’ Theory of Highway Investment • Negative side effects of autos • Arab oil embargo of 1973 led to some creative thinking about new policy alternatives • Today’s situation: another good time to think about transportation strategies? Congestion Build MoreCapacity

5. 3. Traffic Management Options • Low cost “solutions” to improve efficiency of existing infrastructure • Suicide (Reversible) Lanes • Turn restrictions at intersections • One-way streets • Better signing, signalization • Traffic-light pacing systems • Stricter traffic enforcement • Delivery and truck bans • Ramp metering on freeways • Bus pullouts • ISTEA: Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act • Charges MPOs with developing Transportation System Management (TSM) plans • ISTEA is carrot; stick is CAAA (Clean Air Act Amendments)

6. Traffic Management Options: Auto Restraint Policies • Different approach: Make auto travel harder, not easier → encourage use of alternative modes • Downtown strategies: • Eliminate parking • Mandate paid parking • Close off streets • Pleasant pedestrian environment may actually increase retail sales Göteborg, SwedenCBD Access Plan Ring Road for bypassing traffic

7. Traffic Management Options: Auto-Restraint Policies • Neighborhood Strategies:Traffic “Calming” • Speed humps • Traffic islands • Frequent stop signs • One-way streets • One-lane streets • Gitanes • Bollards • Road Pricing Berkeley, California: Bollard Slalom Arterial Street: Through Traffic Arterial Street: Through Traffic

8. The Problem with Traffic Management Options • They are only short term “patches” • Can only squeeze out a little more capacity until we hit the wall again Carrying Capacity Travel Time over a Link “Free flow” Volume Traffic Volumes (# of vehicles)

9. 4. Mass Transit Options • Three main types: • Buses • Rapid Rail Transit (RRT) • Light Rail Transit (LRT) Buses: • Carry 70% of U.S. Transit Riders • Inferior Good • Bad image; provision for equity • Don’t provide demand-responsive, door-to-door service like auto • Bus lanes

10. 4. Mass Transit Options • Three main types: • Buses • Rapid Rail Transit (RRT) • Light Rail Transit (LRT) Rapid Rail Transit: • Biggest advantage: High capacity • Disadvantages: Inflexible, high capital cost • Three comprehensive metro-wide systems in 70s: • Washington, DC: METRO system • San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit: BART system • Atlanta: MARTA (Metro. Atlanta Transit Authority) system • Park-and-Ride • Kiss-and-Ride • More recently most new systems have been light rail

11. 4. Mass Transit Options • Three main types: • Buses • Rapid Rail Transit (RRT) • Light Rail Transit (LRT) Light Rail Transit: • Our old friend the electric streetcar • May run at least partly on exclusive rights-of-way • Can hook up cars in center of metro area, fan them out when in suburbs • Combines advantages of buses (uses street right-of-ways) and RRT (better quality ride, faster) • Also has disadvantages of RRT; slower with lower capacity • Tucson and Phoenix entries into LRT…

12. 5. Para-transit Options • Hybrid modes between personal and mass transit • Door-to-door, demand-responsive • Examples • Taxis • Carpools • Van services • Dial-a-buses • Jitneys • PRT: Personal Rapid Transit “People Movers” A Philippines’ “Jeepney” (Wikipedia photo) ULTRa, Heathrow Airport, London (Wikipedia Photo)

13. Non-Transportation Transportation Solutions • Alternative work schedules • Telecommuting; e-shopping • Better urban design

14. POP QUIZName ______________ • Match each option on the left with its policy category on the right: • _C_ CarpoolingA. Mass Transit • _A_ Light Rail (LRT) B. Traffic Management • _B_ Freeway Ramp Metering C. Para-Transit • _D_TelecommutingD. Non-Transportation Transportation Solutions