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FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
Best Planning Practices: Metropolitan Transportation Plans
(78 page PDF)
This report examines the critical role MTPs can play as the cornerstone of metropolitan area transportation planning processes linking regional visions to financially realistic plans for multimodal transportation systems, and providing strategic direction for the investment decisions in Transportation Improvement Programs.
MTPs can:
- establish the long-term transportation investment, service, and policy agenda for the region, and:
- be a critical document for demonstrating that the Federal planning regulations as well as locally expressed priorities, public involvement, and many other critical inputs to the planning process take explicit form in a single formal document.
The document provides an important opportunity for the planning agencies to communicate the priorities, critical choices, and general directions for the region to a broad audience, including planning partners, other stakeholders, elected officials, and the public.
Work Zone Mobility And Safety Self Assessment: 2011 National Report(36 page PDF)
To help States evaluate their work zone practices, and to help assess work zone practices nationally, the FHWA developed the Work Zone Mobility and Safety Self Assessment (WZ SA) tool. The WZ SA tool consists of a set of 46 questions designed to assist those with work zone management responsibilities in assessing their programs, policies, and procedures against many of the good work zone practices in use today.
The policies, strategies, processes, and tools identified in the WZ SA were gathered from the best practices currently in place in State DOTs, MPOs, and local municipalities. Many of the items can be found in the Work Zone Best Practices Guidebook by clicking here. |
PASSENGER RAIL
High-Speed Rail -- The First Three Years: Taking The Pulse Of China's Emerging Program
World Bank (8 page PDF)
High-speed rail services have now been operating in China for three years. How are they performing? What has happened to the conventional services they parallel? What has been the impact on the airlines?
Intercity Passenger Rail: Implications For Urban, Regional, And National Mobility
Texas Transportation Institute (102 page PDF)This research uses the Milwaukee-Chicago Hiawatha Service intercity passenger rail route as a case study. In addition to providing competitive travel times with automobile travel and frequent daily service, rail passengers can also seamlessly connect to airline service via a station at the Milwaukee airport.
Two data sources an on-board survey of Hiawatha Service passengers and a more detailed survey of air-rail transfer passengers at the Milwaukee airport were used to identify the mobility impacts of rail service.
The airport link allows for sustainable ground access to the Milwaukee airport and also extends the market area for the airport into the Chicago region, providing those residents with greater choices in air travel.
The findings of this project provide unique insight into the mobility impacts of intercity passenger rail and can be used by state DOT rail planners and other public agency staff to develop rail service plans and administer state passenger rail programs throughout the U.S.
Occupant Volume Integrity Evaluation In Passenger Rail Cars Federal Rail Administration (4 page PDF)
This research is intended to enable the growth of high-speed and intercity passenger rail transportation, was sponsored by the FRA - Office of Research and Development, as part of the train Occupant Protection Research Program.
Passenger Rail Moves Ahead - Meeting the Needs of the 21st Century
AASHTO (8 page PDF)
State DOTs, with the FRA, and the freight railroads have moved into high gear with the goal of creating a more integrated passenger rail system that will be more reliable, offer more frequent and faster service, generate economic activity and jobs, and create real travel options for a growing population
This report presents guidance to help transportation agencies recruit and retain qualified professional staff in the Systems Operation and Management (SOM) area. It is based on an analysis of SOM career paths, skill requirements, and training needs to identify successful programs, state-of-the-art initiatives, and best industry practices. This report will be useful for all transportation professionals working in the SOM area and the Human Resources staff who address their personnel requirements.
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TRANSIT REPORTS
Off-Board Fare Payment Using Proof-Of-Payment Verification Transit Cooperative Research Program (129 page PDF)
The objective of this synthesis was to document the state of the practice in terms of experiences related to the application of proof-of-payment (PoP) on transit systems in North America and internationally.
The report involves related subjects such as inspection rates, enforcement techniques, duties of fare inspection personnel, adjudication processes, and the kinds of penalties involved for evasion. In addition, there is the need for acquiring capital equipment and, perhaps, handheld verification devices if smartcards are used.
PoP fare collection has evolved to where it can be found on bus rapid transit, regular bus service, heavy rail transit, streetcars, passenger ferries, and commuter rail. |
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD
Guidelines for Providing Access to Public Transportation Stations Transit Cooperative Research Program Report 153 (146 page PDF)
This report is intended to aid in the planning, developing, and improving of access to high capacity commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail, bus rapid transit, and ferry stations. The report includes guidelines for arranging and integrating various station design elements.
The print version of TCRP Report 153 is accompanied by a CD-ROM that includes a station access planning spreadsheet tool that allows trade-off analyses among the various access modes: automobile, transit, bicycle, pedestrian, and transit-oriented development for different station types. The appendices to TCRP Report 153 as well as additional items are on the website link above.
Extent of Highway Capacity Manual Use in Planning
National Cooperative Highway Research Program Project 20-5 (61 page PDF)
This report assesses how state DOTs, small and large MPOs, and local governments are using or might use the Highway Capacity Manual for planning analyses, or more specifically, for performance monitoring, problem identification, project prioritization, programming, and decision-making processes.
There is information on nearly every subject of concern to highway administrators and engineers. Much of it derives from research or from the work of practitioners faced with problems in their day-to-day work.
Improved Models for Better Decisions Planning Models, Traffic Operations Models, and Activity-Based Models
(4 page PDF)
Decisions about spending public funds for transportation improvements often are informed by estimates and forecasts developed through mathematical models. The more closely these models represent reality and include important influencing factors, the more confidence we can have in spending decisions.
Models that can provide a better basis for predicting how highway improvements affect congestion, for example, or that reflect the differences in forecasting freight demand and passenger transportation will provide a more reliable picture of future needs. This project brief describes five projects from the SHRP 2 Capacity and Reliability focus areas that are working to improve existing planning models, operations models, and activity-based models.
Integration of Analysis Methods and Development of Analysis Plan
Project S02 had two primary objectives: 1) to identify and prioritize critical research issues related to driver safety (Phase I); and 2) to determine the key research elements (e.g., methods, data, and questions) that will need to be addressed in analytical plans developed to explore these critical issues (Phase II).
This report identifies a proposed set of high-priority research issues and presents a framework for developing work plans that include considerations related to data sampling and analysis. Five example work plans are provided.
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TRAVEL REPORTS
The Emergence of the "Super-Commuter"
Center for Transportation New York University
Rudin Wagner School of Public Service(17 page PDF)
This study classified any individual who lives beyond the census-defined Combined Statistical Area of their workplace as a "super-commuter." Using the U.S. Census Longitudinal Employer- Household Dynamics OnTheMap data tool3, the study analyzed home destination data for all workers in the central counties of the ten largest metropolitan regions in the United States by workforce size.
The Center has found that super-commuting is a growing trend in major United States regions, with growth in eight of the ten largest metropolitan areas.The Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City Combined Statistical Area can be found on page 11.Super-commuter is defined as a person who works in the central county of a given metropolitan area, but lives beyond the boundaries of that metropolitan area, commuting long distance by air, rail, car, bus, or a combination of modes.
The super-commuter typically travels once or twice weekly for work, and is a rapidly growing part of our workforce. The changing structure of the workplace, advances in telecommunications, and the global pattern of economic life have made the super-commuter a new force in transportation.
Multimodal And Corridor Applications Of Travel Time Reliability
Florida Department Of Transportation - FDOT (75 page PDF)
Five previous FDOT's research projects on travel time reliability developed tools for predicting travel time reliability for freeways, to assist in the project prioritization and selection process.
However, there is also a need to use these tools for annual reporting to the Legislature. To accomplish this, the tools should be able to provide all performance measures related to travel time reliability that are of interest for these purposes.
Furthermore, they need to provide travel time reliability measures for the arterial portion of the Strategic Intermodal System (SIS) and also consider reliability across all modes (including the auto, rail, transit, etc.)
Therefore, this research project made improvements in the freeway travel time reliability method, developed a new arterial travel time reliability method, and proposed a framework for considering travel time reliability in a multimodal context.
Improvements in the freeway travel time method include the inclusion of two additional performance measures, the Travel Time Index (TTI) and the Planning Time Index (PTI) to estimate reliability.
Also, an improved method for evaluating weather effects was developed and incorporated into the calculations. Arterial travel time estimation models were developed using the simulation program CORSIM, considering a total of 1200 scenarios. A spreadsheet similar to that previously developed for freeway sections was developed to obtain travel time reliability measures along arterials, based on the results of the developed travel time estimation models. Lastly, a conceptual framework for conducting multimodal travel time reliability analysis was developed considering single mode travel and multiple mode travel.
A Wider Look At How Travelers Value The Quality And Quantity Of Travel Time New Zealand Transport Agency (128 page PDF)The purpose of this research project was to explore the 'utility' of travel time when commuting to work or tertiary study, for a variety of modes including driving a motor vehicle, walking, cycling and public transport. It involved a review of international literature and experience, and practical fieldwork (an online survey of about 500 commuters) to validate/verify the composition of any travel time utility and distribution of travel time saving valuations. The commute trip to work/study was chosen because it is a common, regular trip for many people and appears to be the most susceptible to encouragements to change mode use. The research was exploratory and the resources were limited: hence, some choice to limit the focus had to be made. |
VARIOUS REPORTS
Active Transportation Beyond Urban Centers: Walking And Bicycling In Small Towns And Rural America
Rails To Trails Conservancy (28 page PDF)
Figures were tabulated for five different types of rural communities identified by researchers at the University of Washington in an adaptation of the Rural urban Commuting area (RuCa) classifications, which the USDA Economic Research service developed to chart rural transportation patterns. The RuCa classification improves on other urban-rural typologies by incorporating both population and travel behavior to identify urbanized areas and distinguish between areas within an adjacent city's area of "influence" and local rural areas.
The five rural community types (condensed from the RuCa's original seven) are:- Large Rural Core towns of 10,000 to 50,000, often regional centers.
- Outer large Rural smaller communities from which many people travel to large Rural Core towns for work, shopping, services or school
- Small Rural Core towns of 2,500 to 10,000, often county seats.
- Outer small Rural smaller communities from which many travel to small Rural Core towns for work, shopping, services or school.
- Isolated Rural Communities without strong economic and social links to a town of more than 2,500.
As a means of comparison, the urban categories in the adapted version of RuCa classifications are as follows: - Urban Core Cities and close-in suburbs of metropolitan regions with a center city of more than 50,000.
- Outer Urban outlying suburbs of metropolitan regions with a center city of more than 50,000.
Keeping Baby Boomers Mobile: Preserving The Mobility And Safety Of Older Americans
TRIP / AASHTO (25 page PDF)
This report explores mobility and safety issues for older Americans and presents a set of recommendations for implementing a transportation system that can better serve the safety and mobility needs of older Americans and the population at large.
The New Language Of Mobility: Talking Transportation In A Post-Recession World
AASHTO (40 page PDF)
This report is the second volume of a two-part study (NCHRP 20-24(62)A) that considered three recent transportation revenue increases and analyzed the strategies and messages that led to their successes.
In Volume 1, the Parsons Brinckerhoff team reports on the strategies and messages from the perspective of participants who were close to these successful initiatives and who recounted the story through a series of in-depth interviews.
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Marta Elena PeralesMPO Statewide Coordinator Illinois MPO Advisory Council233 S Wacker Suite 800Chicago IL 60606marta@ilmpo.orgwww.ilmpo.org |
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