Areas of Practice 4 Flashcards
Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)
Lists all projects for which federal funds are anticipated, along with non-federally funded projects that are regionally significant.
Represents transportation improvement priorities of a region and is required by law.
Shows estimated costs and schedules by project phase.
Average Annual Daily Traffic
Amount of traffic on a roadway in a 24 hour period, averaged over a year.
Grid Network
Invented by the ancient Greeks.
Advantages
Ease of laying out streets and lot lines.
Wayfinding.
Disadvantages
maximum number of four-way intersections, can create conflict.
Tangent standards are not always met.
Results in maximum pavement and utility line costs.
Can cause cut-through traffic during rush hours.
Can be monotonous and boring.
Safe Growth
Term for building environments that are safe for current and future generations, protecting buildings, infrastructure and the natural environment from damage.
Disaster Mitigation Act
2000
Amends the Stafford Act.
Requires local governments to prepare and adopt hazard mitigation plans. Focuses on prevention.
Transportation Demand Management
Covers all strategies to make transportation system more efficient.
TDM Strategies
- Car Sharing
- Flextime
- Guaranteed Ride Home
- Public Transit
- Park-and-Ride
- HOV Lanes
- Telecommuting
- Transit Oriented Development
- Commute Trip Reduction: incentives to reduce vehicle trips, particularly during peak commute hours.
Carrying Capacity
The maximum population size of a species that can be sustained indefinitely within the environment, given availability of resources.
Applied to planning, refers to the maximum population and employment that could be carried within a particular community. Could relate to amount of developable land available, infrastructure, capacity, etc.
First used in 1845 by the then US Secretary of State James Buchanan. Ian McHarg wrote about the concept of carrying capacity in his book Design with Nature.
Road Design history
The origin of most of our current roadway standards can be traced to Federal Highway Administration studies following World War II. Definitions of “good” standards were based on “new” subdivision designs. Through frequency and repetition, rather than by proven effectiveness, these guidelines evolved into our modern standards. In most cases, these standards are too wide for most local streets, and are most advantageous if there is a lot of traffic and no off-street parking.
Emergency
Defined as “any occasion or instance for which, in the determination of the president, Federal assistance is needed to supplement State and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and protect property and public health and safety, or lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in any part of the United States.” as defined in the Stafford Disaster Relief Act.
Trip Generation
Refers to the number of trips that a site is likely to generate.
Byproduct of land use and intensity of use.
Propensity to make trips is also dependent on characteristics of the journey, trip purpose, and demographics.
Concurrency
Practice that requires infrastructure to be in place and at a specified level of service before new development can occur.
Daylighting
Practice of placing windows, or other transparent media, and reflective surfaces so that natural light provides effective internal illumination during the day.
Also describes the conversion of an enclosed drainage system to a more natural and open system.
Resilience
Refers to the ability of a community to return to its original form after it has been changed. Often resiliency is used to refer to a community’s ability to recover from a natural hazard, economic shock, or other major event.
Seasonal Hour Volume
Peak hour volumes during different seasons.
Substantial Damage
Damage of any origin sustain by a structure whereby the cost restoring the structure to it before damage condition would equal or exceed 50 percent of the market value or replacement cost of the structure before the damage occurred
National Flood Insurance Act
1994.
Established the National Flood Insurance Program.
Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA)
1991
First act to provide funding for transit, pedestrian, and bicycle facilities in addition to highways.
Major Disaster
Defined as “any natural catastrophe (including any hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunamis, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought), or, regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, in any part of the United States, which in the determination of the President causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant major disaster assistance under the Stafford Disaster Relief Act.
Complete Streets
A complete street is a safe, accessible, and convenient street that everyone can use regardless of age, ability or mode of transportation. This means that motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit riders have sufficient infrastructure for safe access.
Street Gradients
Regarding street gradients, the minimum gradient in most areas is 0.5%. In areas with cold winters the maximum gradient is 5%; it is 8% for areas with mild winters.
Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21)
first long-term highway authorization enacted since 2005 (SAFETEA-LU)
Modal Split
AKA Mode Share
The percentage of travelers using a particular type of transportation or number of trips using said type (car, bike, walk, bus, etc.)
Federal-Aid Highway Act
1944.
Designated a 65,000-km national system of interstate highways. These highways were to be selected by the state highway departments. While this act authorized the highway system, it did not provide any funding.
1952
The Federal-Aid Highway Act authorized $25 million for the construction of interstate highways and another $175 million two years later.
1956
However, major funding did not come until the 1956 Federal-Aid Highway Act, which authorized $25 billion between 1957 and 1969.
1962
Federal-Aid Highway Act created federal mandate for urban transportation planning in the US. Urbanized areas with populations over 50,000 required to use urban transportation planning process of “continuing, comprehensive, cooperative” planning process.
Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT)
Measure of vehicular mobility obtained from travel inventories.
Function of many factors, including: topography, population density, travel distances, availability of transit.
Origin-Destination Survey
Method of determining trip generation
Handed out to motorists at roadblocks on major routes within the cordon area (imaginary line that denotes study area for a particular project).
Become less valid as data ages. When local surveys are unavailable due to time or monetary constraints, published rates are used to derive estimates.
Carrying Capacity
The maximum population size of a species that can be sustained indefinitely within the environment, given availability of resources.
Applied to planning, refers to the maximum population and employment that could be carried within a particular community. Could relate to amount of developable land available, infrastructure, capacity, etc.
First used in 1845 by the then US Secretary of State James Buchanan. Ian McHarg wrote about the concept of carrying capacity in his book Design with Nature.
Community Rating System
1990.
Established incentives for improving local floodplain management. The CRS program encourages communities to integrates land use practices to minimize flood loss.
CRS offers incentives, in forms of premium reduction to policyholders, for communities to perform a series of point-garnering activates that are assumed to strengthen local floodplain management. Under the floodplain management-planning category, Communities can receive points for:
· Organizing and preparing a plan
· Involving the public
· Coordination with other agencies
· Assessing the hazard
· Assessing the problem
· Setting goals
· Reviewing possible activities
· Drafting an action plan
· Adopting the plan and implementing, evaluating and revising the plan
Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO)
Allows local governments to deny or delay new developments if existing services (water, sewer, roads, schools, fire, and police) cannot support it.
Ensures that public services are not overburdened. Places burden on developers instead.
Used to manage the pace of growth in conjunction with other tools, such as a capital improvements program.
Adaptation
The adjustment of human and natural systems in response to actual or expected effects of climate change.
Design Hour Volume (DHV)
Roadway capacity
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21)
1998
Authorized the Federal surface transportation programs for highways, highway safety, and transit for the 6-year period 1998-2003.
Followed by Transportation Equity Act 3 (TEA3)
Followed by Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA)
Traffic Calming
According to the Institute of Transportation Engineers, traffic calming “involves changes in street alignment, installation of barriers, and other physical measures to reduce traffic speeds and/or cut-through volumes, in the interest of street safety, livability, and other public purposes.”
Typical Trip Generation Rates
- 11 daily trip ends for each 1,000 square feet of general office space
- 9.6 daily trip ends per single family residential dwelling
- 6.6 daily trip ends per apartment unit
- 43 daily trip ends per 1,000 square feet of shopping center space
- 7 daily trip ends per 1,000 square feet of light industrial development
Traffic Assignment
Uses network models to predict the distribution of traffic for each roadway by the hour. Compares peak volumes to DHV to see if roads are over-capacity.
Metropolitan Planning Organizations
Work on regional transportation planning issues.
Created due to requirements from the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962.
In 1965, the Bureau of Public Roads (now FHWA) required creation of planning agencies to carry out the required transportation planning process.
Cross Tabulation Models
Method of estimating trip generation
Based on land use, purpose, or socioeconomic characteristics.
Triple Bottom Line
First coined in 1994 by John Elkington, his argument was that companies should be preparing three different bottom lines, corporate profit, people, and planet. These three P’s aim to measure the financial, social and environmental performance of the corporation over a period of time.
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act
1988
Constitutes the authority of the federal government, FEMA, to respond post disaster.
The Stafford Act outlines four primary components of a state hazard mitigation plan, outlined in section of 409 or the act:
· An evaluation of the natural hazard in the designated area
· A description and analysis of the state and local hazard management policies, programs, and capabilities to mitigate the hazards in the area
· Hazard mitigation goals and objective and proposed strategies, programs, and actions to reduce or avoid long-term vulnerability to hazard
· A method of implementing monitoring, evaluating, and updating the mitigation plan, such evaluation is to occur at least on an annual basis to ensure that implementation occurs as planned, and ensure that the plan remains current
Hazard Mitigation
Defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as “any action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and property from natural hazards.”
Parking Requirements
The Dimensions of Parking, published by the Urban Land Institute and National Parking Association, provides estimates on parking requirements for different land uses.
A standard parking stall is 9 feet by 18 feet.
Blue Infrastructure
Refers to water based infrastructure. Includes stormwater management.
Sustainable Development
Balancing the fulfillment of human needs with the protection of the natural environment so that the present and future population’s needs can be met. Includes environmental, social, and economic components.
Peak Hour Volume
Hourly traffic during the peak period.
Green Infrastructure
Originated in US in mid-1990s and highlights the importance of the natural environment in decisions about land use planning.
Removing harmful pollutants from air and water.
Reducing heat urban heat island effects.
Improve property values.
Reduce grey infrastructure costs.
Promote healthy lifestyles and environmental justice.
Substantial Improvement
Any reconstruction, rehabilitation addition, or other improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the start of construction of the improvement.
Highway Capacity Manual
Published by Transportation Research Board (TRB).
Provides concepts, guidelines, and procedures for computing highway capacity and quality of service based on road type.
Public Roads Administration (PRA)
Responsible for implementing the highway system.
In 1947, the PRA designated 60,640 km of interstate highways.
Street Gradients
Regarding street gradients, the minimum gradient in most areas is 0.5%. In areas with cold winters the maximum gradient is 5%; it is 8% for areas with mild winters.
Gravity Model
Rather simple tool that attempts to quantify the rather complex trip generation relationships. It provides trip estimates based directly on the proportional attractiveness of the zone and inversely proportional to the trip length.
Trip Distribution
Examines where people are going.
A region is divided in Traffic Analysis Zones.
Trip distribution provides information on how many trips occur between zones.
Also provides information on trip distances, time and cost, the nature of the trip, socioeconomic characteristics, and the nature of the transportation system.
Level of Service
A: free flow B: reasonably free flow C: stable flow, at or near free flow D: approaching unstable flow E: unstable flow, operating at capacity F: forced or breakdown flow
