Transportation planning

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1948 San Francisco roadway plan which inspired the Freeway Revolt 1948 San Francisco trafficways plan.jpg
1948 San Francisco roadway plan which inspired the Freeway Revolt

Transportation planning is the process of defining future policies, goals, investments, and spatial planning designs to prepare for future needs to move people and goods to destinations. As practiced today, it is a collaborative process that incorporates the input of many stakeholders including various government agencies, the public and private businesses. Transportation planners apply a multi-modal and/or comprehensive approach to analyzing the wide range of alternatives and impacts on the transportation system to influence beneficial outcomes.

Contents

Transportation planning is also commonly referred to as transport planning internationally, and is involved with the evaluation, assessment, design, and siting of transport facilities (generally streets, highways, bike lanes, and public transport lines).

Models and sustainability

Chicago Transit Authority Chicago 'L' trains use elevated tracks for a portion of the system, known as the Loop, which is in the Chicago Loop community area. It is an example of the siting of transportation facilities that results from transportation planning. CTA tracks.jpg
Chicago Transit Authority Chicago 'L' trains use elevated tracks for a portion of the system, known as the Loop, which is in the Chicago Loop community area. It is an example of the siting of transportation facilities that results from transportation planning.
A bypass the Old Town in Szczecin, Poland Mk Stettin Hafen2.jpg
A bypass the Old Town in Szczecin, Poland

Transportation planning, or transport planning, has historically followed the rational planning model of defining goals and objectives, identifying problems, generating alternatives, evaluating alternatives, and developing plans. Other models for planning include rational actor, transit oriented development, satisficing, incremental planning, organizational process, collaborative planning, and political bargaining.

Planners are increasingly expected to adopt a multidisciplinary approach, especially due to the rising importance of environmentalism. For example, the use of behavioural psychology to persuade drivers to abandon their automobiles and use public transport instead. The role of the transport planner is shifting from technical analysis to promoting sustainability through integrated transport policies. [1] For example, in Hanoi, the increasing number of motorcycles is responsible for not only environmental damage but also slowing down economic growth. In the long run, the plan is to reduce traffic through a change in urban planning. Through economic incentives and attractive alternatives experts hope to lighten traffic in the short run. [2]

While quantitative methods of observing transport patterns are considered foundation in transport planning, the role of qualitative and mixed-methods analysis and the use of critical analytical frameworks [3] has increasingly been recognized as a key aspect of transport planning practice which integrates multiple planning criteria in generating, evaluating, and selection policy and project options.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, transport planning has traditionally been a branch of civil engineering.[ citation needed ] In the 1950s and the 1960s, it was generally believed that the motor car was an important element in the future of transport as economic growth spurred on car ownership figures. The role of the transport planner was to match motorway and rural road capacity against the demands of economic growth. Urban areas would need to be redesigned for the motor vehicle or impose traffic containment and demand management to mitigate congestion and environmental impacts. The policies were popularised in a 1963 government publication, Traffic in Towns . The contemporary Smeed Report on congestion pricing was initially promoted to manage demand but was deemed politically unacceptable. In more recent times, the approach has been caricatured as "predict and provide" to predict future transport demand and provide the network for it, usually by building more roads.

The publication of Planning Policy Guidance 13 in 1994 (revised in 2001), [4] followed by A New Deal for Transport [5] in 1998 and the white paper Transport Ten Year Plan 2000 [6] again indicated an acceptance that unrestrained growth in road traffic was neither desirable nor feasible. The worries were threefold: concerns about congestion, concerns about the effect of road traffic on the environment (both natural and built) and concerns that an emphasis on road transport discriminates against vulnerable groups in society such as the poor, the elderly and the disabled.

These documents reiterated the emphasis on integration:

This attempt to reverse decades of underinvestment in the transport system has resulted in a severe shortage of transport planners. It was estimated in 2003 that 2,000 new planners would be required by 2010 to avoid jeopardizing the success of the Transport Ten Year Plan.

In 2006, the Transport Planning Society defined the key purpose of transport planning as:

to plan, design, deliver, manage and review transport, balancing the needs of society, the economy and the environment. [7]

The following key roles must be performed by transport planners:

The UK Treasury recognises and has published guidance on the systematic tendency for project appraisers to be overly optimistic in their initial estimates. [8]

United States

A Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) map of the planned route of a parkway. During the 1930s, the CCC was actively involved in creating and improving roads throughout rural areas and parks Texas Park Road 4 CCC Map 1 edit.jpg
A Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) map of the planned route of a parkway. During the 1930s, the CCC was actively involved in creating and improving roads throughout rural areas and parks

Transportation planning in the United States is in the midst of a shift similar to that taking place in the United Kingdom, away from the single goal of moving vehicular traffic and towards an approach that takes into consideration the communities and lands through which streets, roads, and highways pass ("the context"). More so, it places a greater emphasis on passenger rail networks, which had been neglected until recently. This new approach, known as Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS), seeks to balance the need to move people efficiently and safely with other desirable outcomes, including historic preservation, environmental sustainability, and the creation of vital public spaces.

The initial guiding principles of CSS came out of the 1998 "Thinking Beyond the Pavement" conference [9] as a means to describe and foster transportation projects that preserve and enhance the natural and built environments, as well as the economic and social assets of the neighborhoods they pass through. CSS principles have since been adopted as guidelines for highway design in federal legislation. [10] Also, in 2003, the Federal Highway Administration announced that under one of its three Vital Few Objectives (Environmental Stewardship and Streamlining) they set the target of achieving CSS integration within all state Departments of Transportation by September 2007. [11]

In recent years, there has been a movement to provide "complete" transportation corridors under the "complete streets" movement. In response to auto-centric design of transportation networks, complete streets encompass all users and modes of transportation in a more equitable manner. [12] The complete streets movement entails many of the CSS principles as well as pedestrian, bicycle and older adult movements to improve transportation in the United States. [12]

These recent pushes for changes to the profession of transportation planning has led to the development of a professional certification program by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the Professional Transportation Planner in 2007. In response an advanced form of certification - the Advanced Specialty Certification in Transportation Planning was developed by the American Planning Association thereafter in 2011. The Certified Transportation Planner credential is only available for those professional planners (AICP members) who have at a minimum of eight years of transportation planning experience.

Technical process

Most regional transport planners employ what is called the rational model of planning. The model views planning as a logical and technical process that uses the analysis of quantitative data to decide how to best invest resources in new and existing transport infrastructure. [13]

Since World War II, this attitude in planning has resulted in the widespread use of travel modelling as a key component of regional transport planning. The models' rise in popularity can also be attributed to a rapid increase in the number of automobiles on the road, widespread suburbanization and a large increase in federal or national government spending upon transport in urban areas. All of these phenomena dominated the planning culture in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Regional transport planning was needed because increasingly cities were not just cities anymore, but parts of a complex regional system. [14]

The US process, according to Johnston (2004) and the FHWA and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) (2007), generally follows a pattern which can be divided into three different stages. Over the course of each of three phases, the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) is also supposed to consider air quality and environmental issues, look at planning questions in a fiscally constrained way and involve the public. In the first stage, called preanalysis, the MPO considers what problems and issues the region faces and what goals and objectives it can set to help address those issues. During this phase the MPO also collects data on wide variety of regional characteristics, develops a set of different alternatives that will be explored as part of the planning process and creates a list of measurable outcomes that will be used to see whether goals and objectives have been achieved. Johnston notes that many MPOs perform weakly in this area, and though many of these activities seem like the "soft" aspects of planning that are not really necessary, they are absolutely essential to ensuring that the models used in second phase are accurate and complete . [14]

The second phase is technical analysis. The process involves much technical maneuvering, but basically the development of the models can be broken down as follows. Before beginning, the MPO collects enormous amounts of data. This data can be thought of as falling into two categories: data about the transport system and data about adjacent land use. The best MPOs are constantly collecting this data. [14]

The actual analysis tool used in the US is called the Urban Transportation Modeling System (UTMS), though it is often referred to as the four-step process. As its nickname suggestions, UTMS has four steps: trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice and trip/route assignment. In trip generation, the region is subdivided into a large number of smaller units of analysis called traffic analysis zones (TAZs). Based on the number and characteristics of the households in each zone, a certain number of trips is generated. In the second step, trip distribution, trips are separated out into categories based on their origin and purpose: generally, these categories are home-based work, home-based other and non-home based. In each of three categories, trips are matched to origin and destination zones using the data that has been collected.

In mode choice, trips are assigned to a mode (usually auto or transit) based on what's available in a particular zone, the characteristics of the household within that zone and the cost of the mode for each mode in terms of money and time. Since most trips by bicycle or walking are generally shorter, they are assumed to have stayed within one zone and are not included in the analysis. Finally, in route assignment, trips are assigned to the network. As particular parts of the network are assigned trips, the vehicle speed slows down, so some trips are assigned to alternate routes in such a way that all trip times are equal. This is important because the ultimate goal is system-wide optimization, not optimization for any one individual. The finished product is traffic flows and speeds for each link in the network. [14]

Ideally, these models would include all the different behaviours that are associated with transport, including complex policy questions which are more qualitative in nature. Because of the complexity of transport issues, this is often not possible in practice. This results in models which may estimate future traffic conditions well, but are ultimately based on assumptions made on the part of the planner. Some planners carry out additional sub-system modelling on things like automobile ownership, time of travel, location of land development, location and firms and location of households to help to fill these knowledge gaps, but what are created are nevertheless models, and models always include some level of uncertainty. [14]

The post-analysis phase involves plan evaluation, programme implementation and monitoring of the results. Johnston notes that for evaluation to be meaningful it should be as comprehensive as possible. For example, rather than just looking at decreases in congestion, MPOs should consider economic, equity and environmental issues. [14]

Intersection with politics

Although a transportation planning process may appear to be a rational process based on standard and objective methodologies, it is often influenced by political processes. Transportation planning is closely interrelated to the public nature of government works projects. As a result, transportation planners play both a technical and a coordinating role. Politicians often have vastly differing perspectives, goals and policy desires. Transportation planners help by providing information to decision makers, such as politicians, in a manner that produces beneficial outcomes. This role is similar to transportation engineers, who are often equally influenced by politics in the technical process of transportation engineering design.

Integration with urban planning

Transport isochrone maps are a measure of accessibility which can be used by urban planners to evaluate sites. [15] [16] [17] [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transportation engineering</span> Academic discipline and occupational field

Transportation engineering or transport engineering is the application of technology and scientific principles to the planning, functional design, operation and management of facilities for any mode of transportation in order to provide for the safe, efficient, rapid, comfortable, convenient, economical, and environmentally compatible movement of people and goods transport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transport economics</span> Branch of economics

Transport economics is a branch of economics founded in 1959 by American economist John R. Meyer that deals with the allocation of resources within the transport sector. It has strong links to civil engineering. Transport economics differs from some other branches of economics in that the assumption of a spaceless, instantaneous economy does not hold. People and goods flow over networks at certain speeds. Demands peak. Advance ticket purchase is often induced by lower fares. The networks themselves may or may not be competitive. A single trip may require the bundling of services provided by several firms, agencies and modes.

In economics, induced demand – related to latent demand and generated demand – is the phenomenon whereby an increase in supply results in a decline in price and an increase in consumption. In other words, as a good or service becomes more readily available and mass produced, its price goes down and consumers are more likely to buy it, meaning that the quantity demanded subsequently increases. This is consistent with the economic model of supply and demand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable transport</span> Sustainable transport in the senses of social, environmental and climate impacts

Sustainable transport refers to ways of transportation that are sustainable in terms of their social and environmental impacts. Components for evaluating sustainability include the particular vehicles used for road, water or air transport; the source of energy; and the infrastructure used to accommodate the transport. Transport operations and logistics as well as transit-oriented development are also involved in evaluation. Transportation sustainability is largely being measured by transportation system effectiveness and efficiency as well as the environmental and climate impacts of the system. Transport systems have significant impacts on the environment, accounting for between 20% and 25% of world energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. The majority of the emissions, almost 97%, came from direct burning of fossil fuels. In 2019, about 95% of the fuel came from fossil sources. The main source of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union is transportation. In 2019 it contributes to about 31% of global emissions and 24% of emissions in the EU. In addition, up to the COVID-19 pandemic, emissions have only increased in this one sector. Greenhouse gas emissions from transport are increasing at a faster rate than any other energy using sector. Road transport is also a major contributor to local air pollution and smog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trip distribution</span>

Trip distribution is the second component in the traditional four-step transportation forecasting model. This step matches tripmakers’ origins and destinations to develop a “trip table”, a matrix that displays the number of trips going from each origin to each destination. Historically, this component has been the least developed component of the transportation planning model.

Land-use forecasting undertakes to project the distribution and intensity of trip generating activities in the urban area. In practice, land-use models are demand-driven, using as inputs the aggregate information on growth produced by an aggregate economic forecasting activity. Land-use estimates are inputs to the transportation planning process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan planning organization</span> Transportation committees

A Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is a federally mandated and federally funded transportation policy-making organization in the United States that is made up of representatives from local government and governmental transportation authorities. They were created to ensure regional cooperation in transportation planning. MPOs were introduced by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962, which required the formation of an MPO for any urbanized area (UZA) with a population greater than 50,000. Federal funding for transportation projects and programs are channeled through this planning process. Congress created MPOs in order to ensure that existing and future expenditures of governmental funds for transportation projects and programs are based on a continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive ("3-C") planning process. Statewide and metropolitan transportation planning processes are governed by federal law. Transparency through public access to participation in the planning process and electronic publication of plans now is required by federal law. As of 2015, there are 408 MPOs in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transportation forecasting</span>

Transportation forecasting is the attempt of estimating the number of vehicles or people that will use a specific transportation facility in the future. For instance, a forecast may estimate the number of vehicles on a planned road or bridge, the ridership on a railway line, the number of passengers visiting an airport, or the number of ships calling on a seaport. Traffic forecasting begins with the collection of data on current traffic. This traffic data is combined with other known data, such as population, employment, trip rates, travel costs, etc., to develop a traffic demand model for the current situation. Feeding it with predicted data for population, employment, etc. results in estimates of future traffic, typically estimated for each segment of the transportation infrastructure in question, e.g., for each roadway segment or railway station. The current technologies facilitate the access to dynamic data, big data, etc., providing the opportunity to develop new algorithms to improve greatly the predictability and accuracy of the current estimations.

Context-sensitive solutions (CSS) is a theoretical and practical approach to transportation decision-making and design that takes into consideration the communities and lands through which streets, roads, and highways pass. The term is closely related to but distinguishable from context-sensitive design in that it asserts that all decisions in transportation planning, project development, operations, and maintenance should be responsive to the context in which these activities occur, not simply the design process. CSS seeks to balance the need to move vehicles efficiently and safely with other desirable outcomes, including historic preservation, environmental sustainability, and the creation of vital public spaces. In transit projects, CSS generally refers to context sensitive planning, design, and development around transit stations, also known as transit-oriented development.

The rational planning model is a model of the planning process involving a number of rational actions or steps. Taylor (1998) outlines five steps, as follows:

TRANSIMS is an integrated set of tools developed to conduct regional transportation system analyses. With the goal of establishing TRANSIMS as an ongoing public resource available to the transportation community, TRANSIMS is made available under the NASA Open Source Agreement Version 1.3

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Site plan</span> Drawing of an areas existing & proposed conditions

A site plan or a plot plan is a type of drawing used by architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and engineers which shows existing and proposed conditions for a given area, typically a parcel of land which is to be modified. Sites plan typically show buildings, roads, sidewalks and paths/trails, parking, drainage facilities, sanitary sewer lines, water lines, lighting, and landscaping and garden elements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco congestion pricing</span> Proposed fee for congested areas

San Francisco congestion pricing is a proposed traffic congestion user fee for vehicles traveling into the most congested areas of the city of San Francisco at certain periods of peak demand. The charge would be combined with other traffic reduction projects. The proposed congestion pricing charge is part of a mobility and pricing study being carried out by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) to reduce congestion at and near central locations and to reduce its associated environmental impacts, including cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The funds raised through the charge will be used for public transit improvement projects, and for pedestrian and bike infrastructure and enhancements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter B. Hook</span>

Walter B. Hook is an urban planner and expert in the field of sustainable transportation policy and practice. Since 2015, Dr. Hook has been a Principal at BRT Planning International, LLC, a boutique BRT planning firm. From 1993 until 2014, Hook worked as the Chief Executive Officer for the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), a nonprofit agency that promotes environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation policies and projects in the developing world. Under the auspices of ITDP, Hook worked on the design and implementation of numerous bus rapid transit (BRT) systems in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and is considered a leading expert on BRT design and policy. He collaborated extensively with Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, and creator of the TransMilenio, one of the world's premier BRT systems. Additionally, Hook has campaigned for sustainable transport and urban planning practices in the U.S.

The Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, also known as Senate Bill 375 or SB 375, is a State of California law targeting greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles. The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 sets goals for the reduction of statewide greenhouse gas emissions. Passenger vehicles are the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions statewide, accounting for 30% of total emissions. SB 375 therefore provides key support to achieve the goals of AB 32.

Urban freight distribution is the system and process by which goods are collected, transported, and distributed within urban environments. The urban freight system can include seaports, airports, manufacturing facilities, and warehouse/distribution centers that are connected by a network of railroads, rail yards, pipelines, highways, and roadways that enable goods to get to their destinations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urban planning</span> Technical and political process concerned with the use of land and design of the urban environment

Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning in specific contexts, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks and their accessibility. Traditionally, urban planning followed a top-down approach in master planning the physical layout of human settlements. The primary concern was the public welfare, which included considerations of efficiency, sanitation, protection and use of the environment, as well as effects of the master plans on the social and economic activities. Over time, urban planning has adopted a focus on the social and environmental bottom lines that focus on planning as a tool to improve the health and well-being of people while maintaining sustainability standards. Sustainable development was added as one of the main goals of all planning endeavors in the late 20th century when the detrimental economic and the environmental impacts of the previous models of planning had become apparent. Similarly, in the early 21st century, Jane Jacobs's writings on legal and political perspectives to emphasize the interests of residents, businesses and communities effectively influenced urban planners to take into broader consideration of resident experiences and needs while planning.

Mobility as a service (MaaS) is a type of service that, through a joint digital channel, enables users to plan, book, and pay for multiple types of mobility services. The concept describes a shift away from personally-owned modes of transportation and towards mobility provided as a service. This is enabled by combining transportation services from public and private transportation providers through a unified gateway that creates and manages the trip, which users can pay for with a single account. Users can pay per trip or a monthly fee for a limited distance. The key concept behind MaaS is to offer travelers mobility solutions based on their travel needs.

A Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) is a planning concept applied by local and regional authorities for strategic mobility planning. It encourages a shift towards more sustainable transport modes and supports the integration and balanced development of all modes. A SUMP is instrumental in solving urban transport problems and reaching local and higher-level environmental, social, and economic objectives. Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans are defined as "a strategic plan designed to satisfy the mobility needs of people and businesses in cities and their surroundings for a better quality of life. It builds on existing planning practices and takes due consideration of integration, participation, and evaluation principles.”

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to transportation planning.

References

  1. ↑ Southern, A. (2006), Modern-day transport planners need to be both technically proficient and politically astute, Local Transport Today, no. 448, 27 July 2006.
  2. ↑ Hans-Heinrich Bass, Than Trung Nguyen (April 2013). "Imminent Gridlock". dandc.eu.
  3. ↑ McLeod, Sam; Schapper, Jake H.M.; Curtis, Carey; Graham, Giles (February 2019). "Conceptualizing freight generation for transport and land use planning: A review and synthesis of the literature". Transport Policy. 74: 24–34. doi:10.1016/j.tranpol.2018.11.007. hdl: 20.500.11937/71069 . S2CID   158794278.
  4. ↑ Department for Communities and Local Government (2001), Planning Policy Guidance 13
  5. ↑ Department for Transport (1998), A New Deal for Transport
  6. ↑ Department for Transport (2000), Transport Ten Year Plan 2000
  7. 1 2 Transport Planning Society (2006), Draft National Occupational Standards for Transport Plan Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ "Green Book supplementary guidance: optimism bias". HM Treasury. 21 April 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  9. ↑ State of Maryland (1998), Summary of Thinking Beyond the Pavement conference Archived 21 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ U.S. Senate (2005), Senate Report 109-053 - Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act OF 2005 Archived 15 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ Federal Highway Administration (2003) FHWA's Vital Few Goals — Environmental Stewardship and Streamlining Archived 30 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine
  12. 1 2 "National Complete Streets Coalition".
  13. ↑ Levy, J. M. (2011). Contemporary Urban Planning. Boston: Longman.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Johnston, R. A. (2004). The Urban Transportation Planning Process. In S. Hansen, & G. Guliano (Eds.), The Geography of Urban Transportation (pp. 115-138). The Guilford Press.
  15. ↑ "Planning for Town Centres; Practice guidance on need, impact and the sequential approach" (PDF). Department for Communities and Local Government. December 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  16. ↑ "Transport Assessment; Guidelines for Development Proposals in Northern Ireland" (PDF). Department for Regional Development. 9 November 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  17. ↑ "Technical Guidance on Accessibility Planning in Local Transport Plans" (PDF). Local Transport Planning Network. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 November 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  18. ↑ Barker, Kate (December 2006). "Barker Review of Land Use Planning" (PDF). Retrieved 26 March 2012.

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