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.
Webinar
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.
The Innovative DOT 2015: An updated handbook for transportation officials
January 27, 2015
SSTI and Smart Growth America continue to track strategies for improving safety, alleviating congestion, improving system reliability, accelerating project delivery, preserving valuable assets, enhancing economic opportunities, reducing environmental impacts, and helping to create healthier, more livable neighborhoods. Panelists from Tennessee DOT, Texas State University, and SSTI will highlight updated content from the 2015 edition of the handbook and demonstrate how transportation professionals have applied the manual since its original release in 2012.
Accessibility: Towards a new multimodal system performance metric
December 3, 2014
For years, transportation agencies have relied primarily on measures of traffic congestion and delay to evaluate system performance. Many are now looking toward measures of accessibility, which can potentially reveal more about how a transportation system meets people’s needs, while taking additional modes into account. In this upcoming webinar, SSTI highlights noteworthy examples including work underway in Maryland DOT and metrics being developed for widespread use throughout the U.S.