Geography/Planning 379: Urban Growth & Development Lecture 17: Urban Transportation Problems & Policy

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Geography/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

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1. 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)
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2. 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
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2. 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
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3. 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)

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Traffic 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
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Traffic 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
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The 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)
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4. 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

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4. 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

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4. 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

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5. 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)
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Non-Transportation Transportation Solutions

• Alternative work schedules
• Telecommuting e-shopping
• Better urban design

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POP 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