Transportation Planning in Case Study Cities
All of the cities selected for case study in this class have had decades of experience
with transportation planning that is oriented towards improving the quality of life in
those cities.
What sets these cities apart from most others is that they have successfully
implemented a holistic approach to transportation planning and provision.
A major aspect of the project in this class is the characterization of the transportation
plan for your city. You will need to consider such questions relating to the plan as
•What were the goals?
•What are the main elements of the plan?
•How has the plan been implemented?
•Who are the parties that championed a new vision for planning in your city?
•Who are the parties in charge of implementing the plan?
•How is the plan different from conventional transportation planning?
•How successful has it been?
Today we will look at the elements and considerations that go into
making an effective transportation plan.
What is Transportation Planning?
To answer this question, I drew on the following discussion from
Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute
www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm50.htm#_Toc28050889
It provides a comprehensive context for understanding transportation planning issues
What is Transportation Planning?
Planning is the process of deciding what to do and how to do it.
Effective planning allows people’s needs, preferences and values to be reflected
in decisions.
Planning occurs at many different levels, from day-to-day decisions made by
individuals and families, to major decisions made by governments and
businesses that have comprehensive, long-term impacts on society.
A basic principle of good planning is that individual, short-term decisions are
coordinated in order to support strategic, long-term objectives.
Comprehensive planning should allow transportation, land use, economic
development and social planning decisions to be coordinated.
The overall goal of transportation planning should be to create a better,
more prosperous and more sustainable place.
Some Pitfalls to avoid in Effective Transportation Planning
(The Six Deadly No-Nos)
In most cases, contemporary transportation provision and planning work against the
broader goals of creating better places. Some common pitfalls in contemporary
transportation planning that contribute to this problem include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Confusion between goals and objectives
Confusion between development and growth
Overlooking the broader impacts of transportation plans
Planning based on projection of past trends
Focusing only on those issues that are easy to measure
Focusing on mobility and not access
1. Don’t Confuse Goals and Objectives
Goals are desired outcomes to be achieved, such as health, equity and
happiness.
Objectives are ways to achieve goals.
During a planning process it is helpful to ask regularly, “What are we trying
to achieve?”
The ‘what’ is the goal – we develop objectives to achieve this goal.
It is important not to confuse goals and objectives because
Goals are fundamental – we can’t just substitute one goal for another.
One the other hand, different objectives can be employed to achieve a given
goal. It is important to keep our options open and select the objective that is
best for the situation.
Goals are usually long term in nature – objectives have more short term
outcomes
Reducing Highway Congestion
Goal or Objective of Transportation Planning?
Reducing highway congestion is a very important issue but should it be
treated as a fundamental goal of transportation planning?
When highway congestion reduction is treated as the top line goal of
transportation planning, the risk is that almost any remedy is seen as
appropriate. For example, to reduce congestion many cities have taken
down buildings to widen roads. This makes it hard for walkers and bikers
and also increases the distances between destinations.
On the other hand, if we consider the goal of transportation planning to be
making it easier and cheaper for people to get to where they need to be,
then highway congestion reduction becomes just one tool for achieving this
goal. Also we will then not take steps to reduce congestion that make it
harder for people who walk, bike or use transit.
2. Plan for Development, not for Growth
Planners must make a distinction between growth (increased quantity) and
development (increased quality).
In other words, growth means getting bigger, while development means
getting better.
Transportation plans should contribute to the development of a place not
simply to its growth.
.
Zurich – The Little Big City
In Zurich in the 1970s, transportation planning was done with the explicit intent
that they wanted to develop but not necessarily to grow. Other places might be
willing to accommodate both development and growth. But the important
point is that development should be accorded the higher priority – not growth.
3. Don’t Overlook the Wider Impacts of Transportation Plans
Transportation plans always have wide ranging impacts, affecting not just
travel but also economic, social and environmental aspects of our lives.
These impacts may be short term or much longer term, and
they may extend across geographic and political boundaries.
If we don’t consider these wider impacts, our plans will likely lead to
unintended or undesirable consequences.
Understanding the Wider Impacts of Transportation Planning
Litman defines three levels of impact from transportation planning
First level – Direct impacts or changes in travel conditions and costs.
Second level – Current indirect impacts or changes in travel behavior,
tax revenue, and external impacts.
Third level – Long-term indirect impacts or changes in land use,
economic development.
Example of the Different Levels of Impact of a Transportation Plan
Increasing roadway capacity can have the first-level impacts of initially reducing traffic congestion
and increasing vehicle traffic speeds.
A second-level impact is that the increased traffic capacity may attract additional travel from other
routes and times (Rebound Effects), and it may create barriers to walking and cycling, forcing more
people to drive.
A third-level impact may be that over the long run, land use patterns become more dispersed and
automobile dependent (Land Use Impacts). This is one source of so called 'induced traffic' traffic over and above what one would expect from just extrapolating from the past rate of growth.
Induced Traffic
Traffic Volume
Actual Traffic
Induced Traffic
Predicted Traffic
Date of Widening
Years
This concept also applies to parking
Click above to link to Washington Post article about UConn Research on induced traffic
The Different Geographic Scales of Planning
Planning also occurs at many different geographic scales. Some geographic scales reflect
natural areas and boundaries and others just reflect political jurisdictions (see table below).
In your project you need to be careful in understanding at which level of geography you are
working. This can be very confusing - sometimes plans apply to overlapping levels of
geography.
Also, the impact of transportation planning often extends beyond the boundary of the
jurisdiction for which the plan was developed.
Federal
Switzerland Rail Network
The Region
Zurich S-Bahn Network
Canton Shaffhausen
Germany
Canton Aargau
Canton Thurgau
Canton Zurich
Canton St. Gallen
Canton Zug
Canton Schwyz
The City
City of Zurich
The City
Zurich Tram Network
In this class our focus will be on the CITY level of government.
But the influence of transportation rarely stops at the city line.
So you will need to investigate and understand how the city interacts with
i) neighboring cities,
ii) the region (and regional government, if there is one),
iii) the state,
iv) with the feds, and even, with
other countries
4. Do Not Base Plans Simply on Predicting Past Trends
Contemporary transportation planning is often based on using past trends
to predict future vehicle traffic. This predicted traffic volume is then used
to determine the size of new transportation facilities. One problem with
this approach is that it assumes that the factors that led traffic volume to
increase in the past will continue into the future.
We also have to consider the long term impact of widening roads, for
example – as we discussed earlier - because they change the conditions,
they can lead to induced traffic, which in turn makes the prediction useless.
The approach of basing planning on past trends is derisively referred to as
‘predict and provide’ planning by some.
Kingston, Jamaica
is an example
of a place which has
experienced induced traffic
Road Widening Resulting from "Predict and Provide" Planning in Kingston, Jamaica
(source: Garrick, Half-way-Tree Rd, Kingston 2004)
5. Do not focus just on those issue that can be easily measured
Vehicle traffic is relatively easy to measure, so transportation system quality
tends to be evaluated based largely on automobile travel conditions (e.g.,
average traffic speeds, roadway Level-of-Service, vehicle congestion delay,
vehicle operating costs, parking supply).
Many other transportation impacts, including impacts on transit service
quality, non-motorized transport and land use accessibility, are often harder
to measure and tend to be ignored.
This approach tends to favor automobile-oriented solutions, and
undervalues alternative solutions to transportation problems
There is an excellent article in the
Journal of the Institute for Transportation
Engineers discussing some of the biases
associated with into the types of measures
that are typically used in transportation
planning.
For example, the article states that the use
of LOS (level of service) presumes that
personal vehicles are all that matters in
transportation planning. And that a number
of cities are eliminating the use of this
measure.
Click here for a link to the article
6. Focus on Access not Mobility
In order to understand this issue we need distinguish between traffic, mobility and
access as follows:
Vehicle Traffic
Conventional transportation often reflects the assumption that transportation means motor
vehicle traffic.
In this approach all vehicles are treated the same
Personal Mobility
A more comprehensive approach reflects the assumption that transportation means personal
mobility, measured in terms of person-trips and person-kilometers.
In this approach transit is given priority over cars, walking and biking is considered
Access
The most comprehensive definition of transportation is Accessibility, the ability to reach
desired goods, services and activities. This is the ultimate goal of transportation, and so is the
best definition to use in transportation planning.
In this approach we consider land use issues as well as travel options
Why we need distinguish between Vehicular Traffic and Personal Mobility
Access not Mobility
The only way to fully consider ACCESS in planning is to treat transportation
and land use as an integrated system.
You can’t plan one without the other.
“Love and marriage, love and marriage
Go together like a horse and carriage
This I tell you brother
You can't have one without the other”
Understanding the Difference between Accessibility and Mobility
I will illustrate other aspects of access versus mobility using seven slides
provided courtesy of
Ian Lockwood and Paul Moore
Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, Inc.
Do these two places provide the same level of Access? Mobility?
Detroit 1949 Street Network
Which is emphasized here? Access or Mobility
Detroit Existing Street Network
Which is emphasized here? Access or Mobility
Viewpoint in next slide
What are the physical differences between these two places?
Access versus Mobility
Which of these two places
•provide more access with less mobility?
•would you expect more congestion?
•would you expect more people walking?
Before
Chattanooga, TN
After
Mobility or Access?
Why?
Chattanooga, TN