Urban Transportation Planning

1
Urban Transportation Planning

• Introduction to Metropolitan Transportation
  Planning

2
Definition of Transportation Planning

• Transportation planning provides the information,
  tools, and public involvement needed for
  improving transportation system performance
• Transportation planning is a continuous process
  that requires monitoring of the systems
  performance and condition

3
Transportation Planning Affects

• Policies
• Choices among alternative strategies
• Priorities
• Funding allocations

4
More than Transportation

• Land Use
• Clean Air Act / Air Quality Standards
• National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
• Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Title VI / Environmental Justice

5
Types of Plans

• Long-Range
• Strategic
• Project/Facility
• Implementation
• Improvement (program)
• Comprehensive
• Site (TIAs)
• Statewide

6
Legislation SAFETEA-LU

• Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient
  Transportation Equity Act A Legacy for Users
• Plan Requirements
• Institutional Structures
• Funding
• Conformity

7
Metropolitan Planning Factors I

• (A) Support the economic vitality of the
  metropolitan area, especially by enabling global
  competitiveness, productivity, and efficiency
• (B) Increase the safety of the transportation
  system for motorized and nonmotorized users
• (C) Increase the security of the transportation
  system for motorized and nonmotorized users

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Metropolitan Planning Factors II

• (D) Increase the accessibility and mobility of
  people and for freight
• (E) Protect and enhance the environment, promote
  energy conservation, improve the quality of life,
  and promote consistency between transportation
  improvements and State and local planned growth
  and economic development patterns

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Metropolitan Planning Factors III

• (F) Enhance the integration and connectivity of
  the transportation system, across and between
  modes, for people and freight
• (G) Promote efficient system management and
  operation
• (H) emphasize the preservation of the existing
  transportation system

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Metropolitan Planning OrganizationMPO

• Has the authority of Federal law (SAFETEA-LU)
• Is a representative group of local stakeholders
• Leads the transportation planning process for the
  metropolitan area
• Is the regions policymaking organization
  responsible for prioritizing transportation
  initiatives
• Carries out the urban transportation planning
  process in cooperation with the State DOT(s) and
  transit operators

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MPO Structure

• Policy Board (Planning Commission)
• Sets regional long-term transportation policy and
  approves plans
• Prioritizes and programs specific transportation
  initiatives for funding
• Staff
• Advisory Committees
• Examples
• SEWRPC, DRCOG, PSRC, DVRPC, SCAG

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Metropolitan Planning 3 Cs

• Comprehensive
• Cooperative
• Continuing

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Scope of Work for MPOs

• A Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) or
  simplified statement of work
• Public involvement process/plan (PIP)
• Financial Plan

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Principal Products of MPOs

• A Long-Range Transportation Plan
• Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)
• Special Studies

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Simplified Statement of Work (Large MPOs)

• Planning tasks and studies to be conducted
• Any transportation-related air quality planning
  tasks
• All Federally funded studies
• State/local planning activities conducted without
  Federal funds
• Funding sources identified for each project
• Schedule of activities
• Agency responsible for each task or study

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Public Involvement Process

• Proactive
• Early and continuing
• Open and collaborative
• A formal Public Involvement Plan (PIP) is
  required of Large MPOs (TMAs, Transportation
  Management Areas)

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The Long-Range Transportation Plan

• Describes vision for the region, and policies,
  operational strategies, and projects to achieve
  it
• Covers at least the next 20 years
• Leads to an intermodal system
• Reflects public involvement
• Contains a financial plan and is fiscally
  constrained
• Is updated every 4-5 years

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Urban Transportation Planning Process
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Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning
Commission

• http//www.sewrpc.org/

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Holistic Approach
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Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)

• A staged, multi-year, intermodal program of
  prioritized transportation initiatives consistent
  with Plan
• Shows annual activity for a 3-year period
• Projects must be in the TIP for FHWA or FTA
  funding

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Key Issues

• Air Quality
• Freight Movement
• Land Use and Transportation
• Models and Their Use
• Performance Measures
• Project Development and the NEPA Process
• Public Involvement
• System Management and Operations (MO)
• Title V1/Environmental Justice
• Transportation Demand Management (TDM)

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Air Quality Conformity

• Plans must demonstrate consistency with the
  emissions budgets needed to satisfy the Clean Air
  Act
• Projects cannot move forward without conformity

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Air Quality I

• Sources
• Stationary sources
• Area sources
• Mobile sources
• Pollutants (NAAQS)
• Ozone precursors (VOCs, NOx)
• Carbon monoxide (CO)
• Particulates (PM-10 or PM-2.5)

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Air Quality II

• Nonattainment Areas by Pollutant
• Extreme
• Severe
• Serious
• Moderate
• Marginal
• Maintenance
• Milwaukee is Severe for Ozone

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Air Quality III

• Transportation plans, TIPs, and projects cannot
• Create new violations of the National Ambient Air
  Quality Standards (NAAQS)
• Increase the frequency or severity of existing
  violations of the standards
• Delay attainment of the standards.

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Air Quality IV

• State Implementation Plan (SIP)
• Conformity
• CMAQ
• Transit improvements, shared-ride services,
  traffic flow improvements, pedestrian and bicycle
  programs, construction of high-occupancy vehicle
  (HOV) lanes, I/M programs, and transportation
  demand management strategies

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Freight I Process

• Define system elements that are critical for
  efficient movement of freight
• Identify ways to measure system performance in
  terms of freight movement
• Develop freight-oriented data collection and
  modeling
• Creating a freight movement advisory committee

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Freight II Policies and Projects

• Truck Restrictions
• Peak period bans, freeway section bans, route
  diversions
• Road Design and Construction
• Improved entry/exit ramps and merges, exclusive
  truck facilities
• Road Pricing
• Peak period permits and tolls, freeway permits
• Fleet Management
• Voluntary off-peak operations, automatic vehicle
  location/routing
• Traffic Engineering
• Wider lanes, Speed restrictions, Variable message
  signs
• Shipper/Receiver Actions
• Voluntary off-peak operations, mandatory off-peak
  operations
• Incident Management
• Automated detection, site and area
  surveillance/communications
• Inspection/Enforcement
• Automated surveillance
• Information Management
• Highway advisory radio, traffic information

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Land Use I Federal Regs

• Transportation planning process should consider
  "the likely effect of transportation policy
  decisions on land use and development and the
  consistency of transportation plans and programs
  with the provisions of all applicable short- and
  long-term land use and development plans...."

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Land Use II

• Transportation/Land Use Interaction
• Land use creates trips
• Transportation facilities create land use
• Smart Growthand Economic Development
• Models

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Travel Forecasting Models

• A travel forecasting model is the major analysis
  tool for evaluating urban transportation plans
  and conducting conformity analysis

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Travel Models Four Steps?

• (Activity Allocation)
• Trip Generation
• Trip Distribution
• Mode Split
• Traffic Assignment
• (Measures of Effectiveness)
• (Impact Models)

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Performance Measures I

• Accessibility
• Percent population within "x" minutes of "y"
  percent of employment sites
• Access by elderly
• Quality of ADA compliance
• Mobility
• Average travel time
• Change in average travel time
• Average trip length
• Percentage of trips per mode
• Time lost to congestion
• Percent on-time transit performance

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Performance Measures II

• Economic development
• Jobs created
• New housing starts
• Percent of region's unemployed who cite lack of
  transportation as principal barrier
• Economic cost of congestion
• Environmental quality of life
• Environmental and resource consumption
• Tons of pollution generated
• Fuel consumption

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Performance Measures III

• Sprawl
• Change in difference between urban and suburban
  household densities decrease in wetlands
  changes in air quality, land use, or mobility.
• Safety
• Number of crash incidents or economic costs of
  crashes

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National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA)

• It is the policy of the US government to protect
  the environment
• Environmental Impact Statements
• Environmental Assessments (FONSI)
• Categorical Exclusions
• Council on Environmental Quality

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Environmental Impact Assessment Process
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Public Involvement

• Early and continuous involvement
• Reasonable public availability of technical and
  other information
• Collaborative input on alternatives, evaluation
  criteria, and mitigation needs
• Open public meetings where matters related to
  transportation policies, programs, and projects
  are being considered
• Open access to the decision making process prior
  to closure

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Transportation System Management

• Metropolitan traffic management centers
• Traffic signal coordination
• Incident management programs
• Preferential treatment for transit/rideshares
• Special event traffic management
• Emergency management strategies
• Pricing of transportation services
• ITS applications for transit
• Traveler Information

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Environmental Justice

• Avoiding, minimizing, or mitigating
  disproportionately high and adverse human health
  and environmental, social or economic effects on
  minority and low-income populations
• Ensuring the full and fair participation in the
  transportation decision making process by all
  potentially affected communities
• Preventing the denial of, reduction in, or
  significant delay in the receipt of benefits by
  minority and low-income populations

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Discussion Milwaukee Environmental Justice

• Are these strategies environmentally just?
• Locating Miller Park at old County Stadium site
• Widening all Milwaukee freeways by 1 lane
• Eliminating the park-n-ride lot a Bayshore Mall

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Transportation Demand Management

• Offering commuters alternative transportation
  modes and/or services
• Providing incentives to travel on these modes or
  at non-congested hours
• Providing opportunities to link or "chain" trips
  together
• Incorporating growth management or traffic impact
  policies into local development decisions
• See www.vtpi.org

44
Transportation Decision Making

• Vision
• What do you want your transportation system to be
  in 20 years?
• Coordinate with land use vision
• Identify current strengths and weaknesses
• Identify opportunities and threats

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Vision Metropolitan Washington DC

• In the 21st Century, the Washington metropolitan
  region remains a vibrant world capital, with a
  transportation system that provides efficient
  movement of people and goods. This system
  promotes the region's economy and environmental
  quality, and operates in an attractive and safe
  setting--it is a system that serves everyone. The
  system is fiscally sustainable, promotes areas of
  concentrated growth, manages both demand and
  capacity, employs the best technology, and joins
  rail, roadway, bus, air, water, pedestrian and
  bicycle facilities into a fully interconnected
  network.

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Goals and Objectives

• Goals
• Broad
• General
• Intangible
• Abstract
• Few
• Improve transportation safety

• Objectives
• Narrow
• Precise
• Tangible
• Concrete
• Many
• Reduce the number of traffic conflict points

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Criteria and Standards

• Criteria
• Specific numerical expression of an objective
• Number of conflict points

• Standards
• Desired level of achievement through plan
  implementation
• 10 reduction in conflict points

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Operational Strategies

• The how
• Linked to objectives
• Identify intersections with poor crash
  experience introduce channelization, better
  signalization and coordination.

The one thing we need to do to solve our
transportation problems is to stop thinking that
there is one thing we can do to solve our
transportation problems. -Robert Liberty,
Executive Director, 1000 Friends of Oregon
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Example Ann Arbor Goals

• 1. Provide appropriate access and mobility, with
  minimal negative impacts, for all people and
  goods
• 2. Protect and enhance the natural environment
  and the human, residential and built environment.
• 3. Promote a safe and secure transportation
  system.
• 4. Invest in transportation infrastructure in a
  manner consistent with other goals.

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Example Ann Arbor Objectives I

• First Goal Provide appropriate access and
  mobility, with minimal negative impacts, for all
  people and goods.
• Objective A Minimize vehicle miles and vehicle
  hours spent traveling.
• Objective B Increase the occupancy rate for
  motorized modes.
• Objective C Reduce barriers to the use of the
  transportation system, especially its
  non-motorized components by facilitating
  pedestrian and bicycle access on public
  rights-of-way.
• Objective D Improve bicycle access on public
  roads.

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Example Ann Arbor Objectives II

• Objective E Increase the number of bus centers
  and commuter lots and improve their distribution
  and efficiency throughout the SEMCOG region.
• Objective F Increase the contiguity among public
  transportation services and non-motorized
  transportation modes.
• Objective G Implement travel demand management
  plans to reduce commuter traffic and congestion.
• Objective H Increase mode choices and their
  coordination for the movement of goods and
  people.
• Objective I Encourage the development of
  commuter rail services, particularly the
  Detroit/Ann Arbor/Lansing proposal, on the
  Norfolk Southern and Ann Arbor Railroads.

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Inventory and Data

• Role of GIS
• See Course Reader for an long list of items for
  an inventory

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Alternatives/Scenarios

• Alternative
• A unified set of projects, policies and
  operational strategies that will meet the
  community's goals and achieve the vision
• Scenario
• A future state of the urban area, independent of
  any alternatives
• Futures forecasting/Delphi

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Delphi

• In what year will the following happen?
• Gasoline prices reach 5 per gallon
• Nuclear fusion becomes commercially viable for
  electric power generation
• First mag lev system in the US in commercial
  service

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Additional Reading

• Edward Weiner, Urban Transportation Planning In
  the United States An Historical Overview Fifth
  Edition, 1997, http//tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/clearingh
  ouse/docs/utp/