November 2, 2016
DOTs have very limited resources available to explore projects falling outside of their core responsibility of providing safe and efficient transportation facilities. Learning from the experiences of those DOTs that have already worked through issues associated with renewable energy facilities in the ROW can enable agencies embarking on these projects to save time and money, and avoid potential pitfalls. In this webinar, you can hear from Allison Hamilton, the Oregon Solar Highway Program Manager; and Lily Oliver, Solar Photovoltaic Energy Program Manager at MassDOT about their states’ experiences with solar energy along highways. FHWA staff will also join us to answer questions about federal resources and support for these programs.
Webinar
A guide for complete transportation: Arizona’s new HDM
September 20,2016
In May 2016, Arizona DOT issued their long-awaited Complete Transportation Guidebook, which they view as a conversation about sustainable transportation. It includes tools for local partners to work and plan with ADOT on flexibility in speed and other roadway design elements, interacting with other modes of transportation, and more emphasis on complete streets than had been previously present in their official publications. This guidebook recognizes that lane widths and other design standards should be different in dense urban settings than in rural areas with little development. But their “main lines” often become “main streets” when they come into cities and towns, so the same road be built differently to meet the community context.
Revolution in project selection: Virginia DOT SMART Scale
July 20, 2016
The first round of Virginia’s groundbreaking project-selection process, SmartScale, has just concluded. It was not only a technical success in ranking projects across modes and regions, but was also a political success, satisfying critical stakeholders including legislators. Even before any of the projects were awarded, the process resulted in creative thinking and right-sizing that saved millions of dollars. After a few improvements, including a platform for assessing accessibility that will be available to practitioners across the state, SmartScale’s second round is scheduled to begin later this year.
Big data and transportation solutions in Northern Virginia
May 25, 2016
Anonymous GPS data can now let planners and transportation providers better understanding trip-making patterns without relying on surveys, traffic counts, or travel demand models. Join us to learn how SSTI used the data to find opportunities for managing demand and improving connectivity through relatively small investments in Northern Virginia.
Measuring accessible and connected communities
January 27, 2016
Policy-makers, planners, and project developers have long known that speed of traffic on road segments is a crude measure of success in getting people and goods to their destinations. A better measure would be accessibility, which takes into account the distance of trips as well as travel speed. However, until recently use of this metric has been mainly relegated to research. New tools now make it readily available to practitioners. SSTI will demonstrate some types of analyses that can improve investment decisions. As part of their move towards a performance-based planning framework, USDOT has also been moving beyond road conditions and travel speed since those measures fail to adequately measure how well the system provides access to jobs, schools, healthcare, shopping, friends, and critical destinations. USDOT is calling this ability to access to essential services and destinations affordably and efficiently connectivity, and they are supporting a significant body of research in order to improve the state of practice in understanding how to measure connectivity.
Hear from the states: Multimodal Development and Delivery
December 17, 2015
M2D2 is a technical assistance approach that helps transportation agencies meet changing demands on their systems by building internal capacity to plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain context-sensitive transportation networks that work for all modes of travel. Through a series of workshops, agencies can identify ways to update documents and decision-making approaches to meet and balance the needs of motorists, freight handlers, bicyclists, pedestrians, transit riders, and other travelers in a variety of contexts.
FHWA efforts to make safer, more livable streets easier to build: Myths and proposed changes
November 2, 2015
Since launching the Safer People, Safer Streets Initiative in 2014, USDOT has engaged safety experts, existing and new stakeholders, local officials, and the public on a range of targeted strategies to encourage safety for bicyclists and pedestrians on and around our streets, including bus stops, transit stations, and other multimodal connections.
Equity and Transportation
July 15, 2015
Join us for a discussion of equity and transportation. How can we measure the equity impacts of transportation investments? And how can we ensure that walking and biking investments meaningfully address the mobility and safety needs of urban and rural disadvantaged communities while not directly or indirectly leading to the displacement of low-income residents?
Operations: Improving DOT performance is more than building roads
March 24, 2015
DOT stakeholders often devote the bulk of their attention — and budget — to capital projects. But with mature highway and transit systems in many places, operations is becoming increasingly critical to DOTs’ ability to provide access to destinations. Improving DOTs’ performance in this area is the topic for SSTI’s March webinar.
Driving in America: Emerging Trends and Policies
February 27, 2015The recent decline in automobile use has left many transportation agencies facing revenue shortfalls and speculating as to whether an economic recovery will trigger a return to “normal.” Meanwhile, demographic trends, cultural shifts and new technologies suggest lower automobile use may be the “new normal.” This would have major implications for transportation investment decisions, land development, greenhouse gas and other air emissions, energy use and other issues.