Transportation Planning Flashcards
Accessibility
Ensuring a transportation option is available for each person, without discriminating against any physical or mental disability
Mobility
Refers to one’s ability to move around their neighborhood, community, city, and region. Also covers accessibility but focuses broadly on the ease and comfort each person has to walk, bike, drive, use transit, etc.
Americans with Disabilities Act
Governs accessibility. Requires all public facilities, like buildings, roads, and sidewalks, to be navigable for people in wheelchairs or those who use other assistive devices.
Transportation disadvantaged
Used to describe accessibility planning and programs, a reference to the name of the federal transportation program that oversees paratransit and related activities
Parking
refers to the amount of space dedicated to storing vehicles when they are not in use. Broad range of strategies planners can implement to effectively plan and manage the space designated to be used for parking. Strategies include regulations, pricing, financial incentives, and providing real-time information.
Parking policies
Often applied at the local government level and established through development regulations. Commonly, these regulations enforce parking minimums, which require a certain number of parking spots per new residential unit of square foot of commercial or retail space.
Freight
Catchall term for the goods that we buy, sell, and manufacture
Goods movement
How freight moves through ports, roads, and hubs as they go from origin to destination. This requires a significant amount of planning, particularly at the local and regional level.
Seaports
Harbors for cargo and container ships to load and unload products for international trade
Inland ports
A maritime facility on an inland waterway, or a drylands facility that supports a seaport’s operations through warehousing space and other industrial uses
Distribution centers
large warehouse facilities zoned for industrial land use that support goods movement by allowing items to be stored while waiting to go to their next destination. These centers make it easier to transfer good from one type of transport vehicle to another
5 main modes of transportation
Car, bicycle, walking, transit, air
Car/highway planning
primarily concerns the planning and development of roads and highways, such as limited access roads or arterials
bicycle planning
focuses on bike lanes and other types of urban bicycle infrastructure, greenways, and trails
pedestrian planning
primarily focuses on the experience of people who walk and the planning and development of sidewalks and other infrastructure that makes it easier to travel on foot
transit planning
the practice of planning for mass transit systems, like bus, bus rapid transit, and rail
aviation planning
Refers to the planning and development of airports and services related to the movement of people via air
intermodal stations or hubs
Where people will transfer from one mode of transportation to another
multimodal transportation planning
bicycling and pedestrian is often the main focus
Complete street
One that is planned, designed, and maintained to support safe travel for each person and each mode . Governments develop guidelines and funding programs that apply Complete Streets standards to the planning and design phases of a project
Level of Service (LOS)
a scale of A - F that describes the efficiency of vehicular traffic flow on a street or road segment. Local governments and state DOTs establish the LOS of each road. Levels C-E are the most commonly applied
LOS A
the free flow of traffic for individual cars. The road’s capacity dramatically exceeds the number of cars using the road
LOS B
a stable flow of traffic, allowing cars to travel mostly unimpeded by others. A road’s capacity often exceeds the number of cars on the road
LOS C
a stable, but slightly restricted traffic flow. More cars are on the road and affect an individual driver’s comfort and convenience
