Title: Geography/Planning 379: Urban Growth & Development Lecture 17: Urban Transportation Problems & Policy
1Geography/Planning 379 Urban Growth
DevelopmentLecture 17 Urban Transportation
Problems Policy
- 1. Congestion
- The Black Hole Theory of Highway Investment
- Traffic Management Options
- Auto-restraint
- Road-pricing
- 4. Mass Transit Options
- 5. Para-transit Options
- 6. Non-Transportation Transportation Solutions
- Reading
- Optional Plane (Policy Alternatives)
- Black (Recent Popularity of
LRT) - Of all the disciplines, geography is the one
that has caught the vision of the earth as a
total system, and it has strong claims to be the
queen of the human sciences. - Kenneth E. Boulding, The Impact of the Social
Sciences
21. Congestion Hitting the Wall
- Weve become fixated on automobile traffic
congestion - Not the only transportation issue
- What are some other key ones?
Carrying Capacity
What happens when one congested link backs up
another? Eventually we get GRIDLOCK
Travel Time over a Link
Free flow Volume
Traffic Volumes ( of vehicles)
32. The Black Hole Theory of Highway Investment
- Street networks must be built for peak period
loads - When congestion occurs, whats natural response?
- Build more lanes!
- But transportation/land use systems are dynamic
- If you make it easier to travel, people will
travel longer distances - Cities like drug addicts!
- Concept of Latent Demand
Congestion
Build MoreCapacity
42. The Black Hole Theory of Highway Investment
- Negative side effects of autos
- Arab oil embargo of 1973 led to some creative
thinking about new policy alternatives - Todays situation another good time to think
about transportation strategies?
Congestion
Build MoreCapacity
53. Traffic Management Options
- Low cost solutions to improve efficiency of
existing infrastructure - Suicide (Reversible) Lanes
- Turn restrictions at intersections
- One-way streets
- Better signing, signalization
- Traffic-light pacing systems
- Stricter traffic enforcement
- Delivery and truck bans
- Ramp metering on freeways
- Bus pullouts
- ISTEA Intermodal Surface Transportation
Efficiency Act - Charges MPOs with developing Transportation
System Management (TSM) plans - ISTEA is carrot stick is CAAA (Clean Air Act
Amendments)
6Traffic Management Options Auto Restraint
Policies
- Different approach Make auto travel harder, not
easier ? encourage use of alternative modes - Downtown strategies
- Eliminate parking
- Mandate paid parking
- Close off streets
- Pleasant pedestrian environment may actually
increase retail sales
Göteborg, SwedenCBD Access Plan
Ring Road for bypassing traffic
7Traffic Management Options Auto-Restraint
Policies
- Neighborhood StrategiesTraffic Calming
- Speed humps
- Traffic islands
- Frequent stop signs
- One-way streets
- One-lane streets
- Gitanes
- Bollards
- Road Pricing
Berkeley, California Bollard Slalom
Arterial Street Through Traffic
Arterial Street Through Traffic
8The Problem with Traffic Management Options
- They are only short term patches
- Can only squeeze out a little more capacity until
we hit the wall again
Carrying Capacity
Travel Time over a Link
Free flow Volume
Traffic Volumes ( of vehicles)
94. Mass Transit Options
- Three main types
- Buses
- Rapid Rail Transit (RRT)
- Light Rail Transit (LRT)
- Buses
- Carry 70 of U.S. Transit Riders
- Inferior Good
- Bad image provision for equity
- Dont provide demand-responsive, door-to-door
service like auto - Bus lanes
104. Mass Transit Options
- Three main types
- Buses
- Rapid Rail Transit (RRT)
- Light Rail Transit (LRT)
- Rapid Rail Transit
- Biggest advantage High capacity
- Disadvantages Inflexible, high capital cost
- Three comprehensive metro-wide systems in 70s
- Washington, DC METRO system
- San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit BART system
- Atlanta MARTA (Metro. Atlanta Transit Authority)
system - Park-and-Ride
- Kiss-and-Ride
- More recently most new systems have been light
rail
114. Mass Transit Options
- Three main types
- Buses
- Rapid Rail Transit (RRT)
- Light Rail Transit (LRT)
- Light Rail Transit
- Our old friend the electric streetcar
- May run at least partly on exclusive
rights-of-way - Can hook up cars in center of metro area, fan
them out when in suburbs - Combines advantages of buses (uses street
right-of-ways) and RRT (better quality ride,
faster) - Also has disadvantages of RRT slower with lower
capacity - Tucson and Phoenix entries into LRT
125. Para-transit Options
- Hybrid modes between personal and mass transit
- Door-to-door, demand-responsive
- Examples
- Taxis
- Carpools
- Van services
- Dial-a-buses
- Jitneys
- PRT Personal Rapid Transit People Movers
A Philippines Jeepney (Wikipedia photo)
ULTRa, Heathrow Airport, London (Wikipedia Photo)
13Non-Transportation Transportation Solutions
- Alternative work schedules
- Telecommuting e-shopping
- Better urban design
14POP QUIZ Name ______________
- Match each option on the left with its policy
category on the right - _C_ Carpooling A. Mass Transit
- _A_ Light Rail (LRT) B. Traffic Management
- _B_ Freeway Ramp Metering C. Para-Transit
- _D_Telecommuting D. Non-Transportation
Transportation Solutions