TCRP has released a report entitled Reinventing the Urban Interstate: A New Paradigm for Multimodal Corridors. The authors present a new design framework in which multimodal corridors can take one of three forms:
- Transit oriented multimodal corridors – designed to give transit a performance advantage over freeways for short and medium length trips, while the freeway has an advantage for long haul trips.
- Park-and-ride access multimodal corridors – designed to provide high levels of automobile access and high transit speeds within the corridor.
- Transit optimized/freeway-constrained multimodal corridors – designed to give transit a total performance advantage in the corridor by deliberately constraining freeway capacity.
The new paradigm focuses on the movement of people and freight instead of vehicles. Emphasis is placed on reliability, accessibility, business logistics and economic competitiveness.
The report also provides insights into how freeways and transit can be structured to effectively carve out travel market niches where modes can work together and thrive in a corridor. The full report can be found here.