Week 3 - Evolution of Transportation Systems Flashcards
What are planning interventions?
- TP focuses on gathering data on the system at diff scales
- all components part of system including land uses that make up city
- forecasting important data (indicators) about that system to the future
- will the future state of system will perform consistently with desired state? if not, then must plan, design, and implement appropriate intervention to bring performance to desired state
What are common interventions made by transp planners and engineers?
Physical interventions: changes to system that influences capacity in the system
- land use & supply management
- ex. new bike/car lanes, restrict parking supply
Operational interventions: changes to system that increase capacity without new infrastructure
- demand management
- ex. more buses, controlled ramp access
Policy interventions: changes to legal framework under which transportation systems are operated (aimed at motivating travellers to behave differently)
- ex. regulatory changes: tolls to dissuade auto travel
- demand management: shifting travellers from one road to another, to a diff mode, or to travel at diff times by economic or other incentives
Provide a brief history of TP
- not much in literature prior to 1945 b/c not formally recognized until post-WWII
- role of fed govt has been central to evolution of local TP (CAN used to have fed dept of urban affairs, but roads not under fed control; currently, fuel tax and stimulus spending provides cities with funding)
- there is an infrastructure gap b/w current state and whats needed in terms of quality and performance (ex. TTC subway not built on for 2 decades)
What were the major eras in US TP?
- Early highway planning (1930s)
- Beginnings of urban TP (1950s)
- Coming of age (1960s)
- Beginning of multimodal urban TP (1970s)
- Decentralization and private sector involvement (1980s)
- Strategic planning (early 1990s)
- Sustainable development (mid 1990s)
- Post 911 (2000s)
Explain early highway planning (1930s)
- need for engineering standards in road design to accommodate automobile
- first highway capacity manual created (basically bible for transp engineers)`
Explain beginnings of urban TP (1950s)
- tied to housing legislation
- dawn of analytical methods (logistics planning)
Explain coming of age (1960s)
- US Federal Highways Ac: funding approach tied to planning
- manual published on highway planning
- formalization of urban travel forecasting process (4 step model introduced)
Explain beginning of multimodal urban TP (1970s)
- increased focus on mass transp (transit LRT)
- computerization integrated big scale planning efforts
- shock of energy crisis forced more short term planning
- early clean air act in US
Explain decentralization and private sector involvement (1980s)
- new planning regulations for local levels (move away from heavy upper hand)
- privatization/more private sector involvement in provision and operation of transp systems and subsequent plans
- growth of demand management (signal transition from build to manage mindset)
Explain strategic planning (early 1990s)
- the advent of big bills in US
- ISTEA (intermodal surface transp efficiency act)
- birth of intelligent transp systems (ITS)
- adoption of GIS
Explain sustainable development (mid 1990s)
- travel model improvements to reflect broader goals (liveable communities)
- air quality conformity regulations in US (new infrastructure only funded if air quality impacts accounted for)
- focus on energy and environment
- TEA-21 (Transp Equity Act)
Explain post 911 (2000s)
- SAFETEA-LU (safe accountable flexible efficient transp equity act - a legacy for users)
- blend of sustainable with strategic
- security influence on regional, strategic planning
What does TP usually reflecy?
the policy concerns and issues of the times in which it occurs
- reactive & responsive to societal goals
Why should we care about transp (meyer & miller)?
- argue that city’s economic and social health depends to a large extent on performance of transp system
- short term: provides mobility for people and goods (day to day modes, but differs b/w places)
- long term: influences patterns of growth and level of economic activity (how do we make location decisions) - major shift in TP
- traditional TP system (1970s) was efficiency driven and technocratic
- decision-oriented approach (1990s) focuses on sustainability - starting point is recognition of a multimodal perspective
- combo of diff modes, system users, stakeholders, system providers, and land uses
What are the key points from the meyer and miller triangle diagram?
- the core is community goals, not transp system goals
- about management of systems since they are, for the most part, well established and in place
- traditional focus on supply side, but we can’t build our way out of congestion
- more recent focus on demand (change choices we make on when to travel and by what mode) and land use (intensification, density, mixed use, compact and reduce the need to travel, especially by car)
- no single solution, so the issues are tackled from a combo of perspectives (supply, demand, land use)
