Repair Priorities 2014 (Smart Growth America and Taxpayers for Common Sense, 2014)

How much would your state need to repair its roads? Most likely the answer to that question is “a lot.” In some cases, state DOTs could spend their entire annual budget on repair and maintenance and still have work left to do. So why are many states making the problem even worse by continuing to spend scarce transportation dollars expanding their road networks? This report, and update of the Repair Priorities 2011, includes ideas for how DOT officials as well as state and federal policymakers can prioritize repair spending, and help drivers and taxpayers at the same time.

Lifting the Veil on Bicycle & Pedestrian Spending (Advocacy Advance, 2014)

This report benchmarked planned bicycling and walking project spending in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program and breaks down how state Departments of Transportation can become more transparent and responsive to community needs. Both stand-alone bicycle-pedestrian projects and also road projects that have a bicycle-pedestrian accommodation or component were included.

Effectiveness of a Safe Routes to School Program in Preventing School-Aged Pedestrian Injury (DiMaggio and Li, PEDIATRICS, 2014)

This study provides important evidence to support the effectiveness of Safe Routes to School programs in New York City. The program is intended to “improve safety on walking and bicycling routes to school and to encourage children and families to travel between home and school using these modes.” While studies have looked at behaviors and attitudes toward journey to school transportation, few have examined whether SRTS programs are effective in reducing pedestrian injury.

Civil rights guidance and equity analysis methods for regional transportation plans: a critical review of literature and practice (Journal of Transportation Geography, 2013)

In this critical review, the authors examine the law, regulatory guidance, academic research, and agency practice pertinent to equity analysis of MPO regional transportation plans. They find that equity recommendations are extensive but generally lack specificity and are rarely enforceable. The current methodology is not appropriate for the analysis of transportation investment benefits. Newer travel demand modeling paradigms are capable of sidestepping methodological problems, and legacy models can be adapted and improved.

Philadelphia Complete Streets Design Handbook (Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities, 2013)

The Philadelphia Complete Streets Design Handbook has ideas to make local streets accommodate all users. It includes checklists at the end for different components of the street. The city intends to update it as comments come in and the document is used by planners and city staff.

Perceptions of Bicycle-Friendly Policy Impacts on Accessibility to Transit Services: The First and Last Mile Bridge (Mineta Transportation Institute, 2014)

The coordination of bicycle and transit mode has been presumed to enlarge the transit catchment area, however, geographic changes in the size of catchment areas have not been effectively documented. This research concludes that transit catchment areas are complex for those that integrate the two modes, and policy-makers may wish the further strengthen bicycle-transit integration through the implementation of a set of proactive measures.

Statewide Pedestrian Master Plan (Hawaii Department of Transportation, 2013)

HDOT’s Pedestrian Master Plan provides a comprehensive approach to improving pedestrian safety, evaluates ways to enhance mobility for pedestrians, and helps build a more multi-modal transportation system across Hawaii. HDOT’s plan also prioritizes various pedestrian projects for improvement, identifies and promotes the Complete Streets vision for Hawaii, and meets federal requirements for multimodal planning.

The Bike-share Planning Guide (ITDP, 2013)

Cities around the world are developing bike sharing programs. This guide evaluates international best practice in bike-share, helps to bridge the divide between developing and developed countries’ experiences to provide guidance on planning and implementing a successful bike-share system regardless of the location, size, or density of your city. Amid the droves of information on history, bike share’s benefits, business models, planning, implementation, and best practices, the document answers two important questions. First, what makes a bike share program “world-class”? Second, what programs are “world class”?

Transforming Community (Center for Transportation Studies, 2013)

University of Minnesota researchers are providing an objective analysis of data, public perceptions, and complex impacts resulting from transitway investments in the Twin Cities. This is a 24-page synthesis of their work. The synthesis pulls together findings from the Transitways Impact Research Program studies completed over the past seven years as well as findings from two related projects. It summarizes the actual and projected impacts of transitways on the Twin Cities region, offering lessons learned to help guide the build-out of the rest of the network most effectively. It concludes with a set of implications for policymakers.

Maintaining Diversity In America’s Transit-Rich Neighborhoods: Tools for Equitable Neighborhood Change (Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, 2013)

As communities across the country plan for and build transit-rich neighborhoods there is a growing need for planning and policy tools to guide this effort. This report provides a detailed analysis of how the introduction of high quality transit can spark neighborhood change, positive and negative. This change may have the unintended consequences of displacing existing residents or not meeting transit ridership goals. The report introduces an on-line tool kit to help planners and policy makers address these and other concerns.