State officials across the country are facing the same challenges. Revenues are falling and budgets are shrinking while transportation demands grow. Most state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) have ambitious goals: improve safety, reduce congestion, enhance economic opportunity, improve reliability, preserve system assets, accelerate project delivery, and help to create healthier, more livable neighborhoods, just to name a few.
The handbook provides 31 recommendations transportation officials can use as they position their agencies for success in the new economy. The handbook documents many of the innovative approaches state leaders are using to make systems more efficient, government more effective and constituents better satisfied.
planning
Land Use and Transportation Scenario Analysis and Microsimulation (LUTSAM) Tool (SSTI and DelDOT, 2012)
With SSTI assistance, Delaware DOT has developed its four-step demand model for scenario planning, using off-the-shelf GIS and simulation software. The tool, called Land Use and Transportation Scenario Analysis and Microsimulation (LUTSAM), enables DelDOT to quickly model and display development scenarios, providing communities and developers with analysis on traffic, congestion, emissions and other outcomes. LUTSAM will dramatically demonstrate, in real-world cases, the cost and environmental advantages of well-connected, compact and mixed use development. It is currently being used in a variety of settings around the state. Because it is built around standard software, it is adaptable for other states, MPOs and cities seeking to improve their land use and transportation planning.
New Chicago plan aims for zero traffic deaths in ten years
In a new transportation plan Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and DOT Commissioner Gabe Klein laid out their vision of no traffic fatalities within ten years. While the safety goals received much of the recent press, abitious performance measures for sustainability, transportation choice, customer service, and economic development are also part of the plan.
The Onion features special transportation issue
The Onion provided a few laughs last week when it ran a series of stories from the archives for a special Transit Issue.
The Onion features special transportation issue
The Onion provided a few laughs last week when it ran a series of stories from the archives for a special Transit Issue.
Going the Distance Together: A Citizen’s Guide to Context Sensitive Solutions for Better Transportation (National Cooperative Highway Research Program, 2012)
This guide is designed to help people ask the right questions at the right time during the transportation planning process in order to help ensure that transportation projects fit the context of their community. Download …
Going the Distance Together: A Citizen’s Guide to Context Sensitive Solutions for Better Transportation (National Cooperative Highway Research Program, 2012)
This guide is designed to help people ask the right questions at the right time during the transportation planning process in order to help ensure that transportation projects fit the context of their community. Download …
Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations (TRB, 2012)
This report provides a process and spreadsheet-based tool for effectively planning for access to high capacity transit stations, including commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail, bus rapid transit (BRT), and ferry, including trade-off analyses among …
The Nature of Context-Sensitive Solutions, Stakeholder Involvement and Critical Issues in the Urban Context (Mineta Transportation Institute, 2011)
Many transportation and planning agencies experience conflicting demands emerging from the need to develop projects in an expeditious manner while at the same time involving stakeholders in the decision-making process. This study examines the issue in the …
Metropolitan Planning Organization Reform
Overview Since the early 1990s, federal law has increased the authority of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), and pending federal legislation is likely to give them additional spending powers and responsibilities. Yet, as important arms of local government, MPOs are …