UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Order to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations ( 4 pg pdf) ( Website) USOT Order 5610.2(a) sets forth the DOT policy to consider environmental justice principles in all DOT programs, policies, and activities. It describes how the objectives of environmental justice will be integrated into planning and programming, rulemaking, and policy formulation. The Order sets forth steps to prevent disproportionately high and adverse effects to minority or low-income populations through Title VI analyses and environmental justice analyses conducted as part of Federal transportation planning and NEPA provisions.
It also describes the specific measures to be taken to address instances of disproportionately high and adverse effects and sets forth relevant definitions. This updated Order clarifies certain aspects of the original Order, including the definitions of "minority'' populations.
The revisions clarify the distinction between a Title VI analysis and an environmental justice analysis conducted as part of a NEPA review, and affirm the importance of considering environmental justice principles as part of early planning activities in order to avoid disproportionately high and adverse effects.
Click HERE to read NARC's summary highlighting the key points. Spring 2012 Transportation Planning Update ( 15 pg pdf)
In the Spring Issue: Operations, Environment, Air Quality, Finance, Transit, News From Our Partners, Freight, TMIP Updates, FHWA Planning Discipline Activities, Staff Updates, Workshops & Training Updates, National Transit Institute Training, National Highway Institute Courses and Calendar of Events. Trends in Statewide Long Range Transportation Plans: Core and Emerging Topics ( 61 pg pdf) This report was produced at the USDOT's Volpe Center. The study also produced an online, searchable companion database with detailed information on important characteristics and attributes of 51 statewide plans. This report and the companion database are available on the FHWA-FTA Transportation Capacity Building website by clicking HERE. |
FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
Applying a Regional ITS Architecture to Support Planning for Operations (100 pg pdf)
Effectively integrating management and operations (M&O) into the metropolitan and statewide transportation planning processes requires significant inter-agency collaboration and a regional view of the area's multimodal transportation system. Because many M&O strategies are underpinned by intelligent transportation systems (ITS), the coordination of planning for ITS among agencies at the institutional and technical level is an essential element to planning for operations. The regional ITS architecture, with a focus on integrating transportation services supported by ITS, presents a significant opportunity to support the needs for effective planning for operations.
This primer offers transportation planners and operations managers a menu of opportunities for applying the regional ITS architecture to enhance planning for operations. It provides specific entry points for leveraging the regional ITS architecture in integrating operations into the planning process. This primer focuses on the use of an "objectives-driven, performance-based" approach to planning for operations; an approach that increases the potential support from the regional ITS architecture given the approach's emphasis on data and performance measures. Additionally, the primer leads planners and operators through techniques to make a regional ITS architecture relevant and easy-to-use in planning for operations.
Click HERE for the FHWA webpage which outlines the report.
Considering Security and Emergency Management in the Planning of Transportation Projects (39 pg pdf) This guide has been developed to increase the awareness of the transportation infrastructure project community, especially those individuals working for a State DOTs or MPOs about security and emergency management.
The intended primary audience is those individuals - planners of new projects - responsible for developing new highway-related infrastructure projects. For the purpose of this guide, a "planner of new transportation projects" may be someone responsible for: * Developing the project's initial concept. * Designing the project. * Reviewing the project specifications. * Simply assisting with the project development. The principles discussed herein, while provided for project planners as described above, can certainly be used by any transportation planner, whether that person is: * Conducting long term or strategic planning. * Looking at specific TIPs. * Conducting regional and corridor planning, with municipality, other regional, MPO and/or State project planners. * Developing plans for retrofitting or replacing existing infrastructure. Creating An Effective Program To Advance Transportation System Management And Operations: Primer ( 18 pg pdf) The purpose of this Primer is to raise awareness of the opportunities for improving the effectiveness of State and local Transportation System Management and Operations (TSM&O) activities. The Primer provides high-level guidance focused on key program, process, and organizational capabilities that are essential to the development of more effective TSM&O strategy applications. It is aimed at program and activity-level managers responsible for TSM&O related activities in State, regional, and local transportation agencies. |
FEDERAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY
Peer-to-Peer Information Exchange on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Bus Priority Best Practices (109 pg pdf)
The purpose of this effort has been to foster a dialogue among peers at transportation and planning agencies about their experiences with promoting public transit, and in particular, the challenges they face related to bus rapid transit (BRT) projects, as well as the solutions that they have developed in response. Agencies from dozens of large cities around the United States participated in three peer-to-peer exchanges in New York City, Los Angeles, and Cleveland. The workshops focused on three major themes: Network, Route and Street Design; Traffic Operations; and Building Political, Interagency and Stakeholder Support -- BRT as a Driver of Economic Development. The results of the workshops make clear that better transportation in general and BRT in particular can be cost-effective and useful tools for improving transportation, the environment and for restoring the livability of America's large cities.
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MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
A Decision-Support Framework for Using Value Capture to Fund Public Transit: Lessons from Project-Specific Analysis
(216 pg pdf)
Local and state governments provide 75 % of transit funds in the United States. With all levels of governments under significant fiscal stress, any new transit funding mechanism is welcome. Value capture (VC) is one such mechanism. Based on the "benefits received" principle, VC involves the identification and capture of public infrastructure-led increase in land value.
While the literature has extensively demonstrated the property-value impacts of transit investments and has empirically simulated the potential magnitude of VC revenues for financing transit facilities, very little research has examined the suitability of VC mechanisms for specific transit projects. This report aims to fill this research gap by examining five VC mechanisms in depth: tax- increment financing (TIF), special assessment districts (SADs), transit impact fees, joint developments, and air rights.
The report is intended to assist practitioners in gauging the legal, financial, and administrative suitability of VC mechanisms for meeting project-specific funding requirements.
A Framework For Developing And Integrating Effective Routing Strategies Within The Emergency Management Decision-Support System (132 pg pdf)
This report describes the modeling, calibration, and validation of a VISSIM traffic-flow simulation of the San José, California, downtown network and examines various evacuation scenarios and first-responder routings to assess strategies that would be effective in the event of a no-notice disaster.
The modeled network required a large amount of data on network geometry, signal timings, signal coordination schemes, and turning-movement volumes. Turning-movement counts at intersections were used to validate the network with the empirical formula-based measure known as the GEH statistic. Once the base network was tested and validated, various scenarios were modeled to estimate evacuation and emergency vehicle arrival times. Based on these scenarios, a variety of emergency plans for San José's downtown traffic circulation were tested and validated. The model could be used to evaluate scenarios in other communities by entering their community-specific data.
Cost Estimate Modeling of Transportation Management Plans for Highway Projects (68 pg pdf)
This report that explores development of a strategic selection and cost estimate model for transportation management plans (TMPs) Using well-developed TMPs strategies, work zone safety and mobility can be enhanced while road user costs can be minimized. The cost of a TMP for a road project is generally considered a high- cost item and, therefore, must be quantified. However, no tools or systematic modeling methods are available to assist agency engineers with TMP cost estimating. This research reviews TMP reports for recent Caltrans projects regarding state-of-the-art TMP practices and input from the district TMP traffic engineers. Authors of the this research project recommend that a more detailed step-by-step TMP strategy selection and cost estimate process be included in the TMP guidelines to improve the accuracy of TMP cost estimates.
Ecodriving and Carbon Footprinting: Understanding How Public Education Can Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Use(184 page PDF)
Ecodriving is a collection of changes to driving behavior and vehicle maintenance designed to impact fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in existing vehicles. Because of its promise to improve fuel economy within the existing fleet, ecodriving has gained increased attention in North America.
One strategy to improve ecodriving is through public education with information on how to ecodrive. This report provides a review and study of ecodriving from several angles. The report offers a literature review of previous work and programs in ecodriving across the world.
In addition, researchers completed interviews with experts in the field of public relations and public message campaigns to ascertain best practices for public campaigns. Further, the study also completed a set of focus groups evaluating consumer response to a series of websites that displayed ecodriving information. Finally, researchers conducted a set of surveys, including a controlled stated-response study conducted with approximately 100 University of California, Berkeley faculty, staff, and students, assessing the effectiveness of static ecodriving web-based information as well as an intercept clipboard survey in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The stated-response study consisted of a comparison of the experimental and control groups. It found that exposure to ecodriving information influenced people's driving behavior and some maintenance practices. The experimental group's distributional shift was statistically significant, particularly for key practices including: lower highway cruising speed, driving behavior adjustment, and proper tire inflation. Within the experimental group (N = 51), fewer respondents significantly changed their maintenance practices (16%) than the majority that altered some driving practices (71%).
This suggests intentionally altering driving behavior is easier than planning better maintenance practices. While it was evident that not everyone modifies their behavior as a result of reviewing the ecodriving website, even small shifts in behavior due to inexpensive information dissemination could be deemed cost effective in reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
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TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD
Estimating Life Expectancies of Highway Assets, Volume 1
(150 pg pdf)
This guidebook addresses how to apply a methodology for estimating the life expectancies of major types of highway system assets. The methodology is designed for use in lifecycle cost analyses that support management decision making.
Estimating Life Expectancies of Highway Assets, Volume 2
(242 pg pdf)
The Final Report describes the technical issues and data needs associated with estimating asset life expectancies and the practices used in a number of fields-such as the energy and financial industries-to make such estimates.
Geotechnical Information Practices in Design-Build Projects (124 pg pdf)
This report addresses how states use geotechnical information in solicitation documents and contracts for design-build highway projects. It examines current practices regarding the allocation of geotechnical risk and the level of geotechnical information provided with bid documents, the scope of geotechnical information required after contract award, geotechnical-related performance testing during construction, and contract provisions related to geotechnical design and construction.
Summary of Research Findings: Assessing and Comparing Environmental Performance of Major Transit Investments ( 24 pg pdf)
TCRP Project H-41 addresses the need for new measures of the environmental benefits of transit investments. The objective of this research is to present, evaluate, and demonstrate criteria, metrics, and methods for assessing and comparing the environ- mental performance of major transit investments.
Survey of State Funding for Public Transportation-Ways to Improve It (37 pg pdf)
This report offers a unique source of information on state-level public transportation funding, the source of funds, the potential use of funds and method of funds distribution for each transit program. There is no other existing resource available that provides the level of detail contained in this report. The preparation of this report is based on data provided by representatives within each state DOT and the approach to data collection and report preparation has remained unchanged for a number of years.
Transportation Project Impact Case Studies (50 pg pdf)
T-PICS a project brief covering T-PICS usefulness in the planning process. A web-based tool designed to allow for economic impacts to more easily be considered during community visioning for transportation, or during public and stakeholder involvement for long-range system planning or corridor planning. Travel Demand Forecasting: Parameters and Techniques
(62 page pdf)
The report provides guidelines on travel demand forecasting procedures for solving common transportation problems. It presents a range of approaches that are designed to allow users to determine the level of detail and sophistication in selecting modeling and analysis techniques based on their situations. The report addresses techniques, optional use of default parameters, and includes references to other more sophisticated techniques. Use Of Social Media In Public Transportation (66 pg pdf) The report explores the use of social media among transit agencies and documents successful practices in the United States and Canada. For the purposes of the report, social media are defined as a group of web-based applications that encourage users to interact with one another, such as blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Foursquare, and MySpace. |
VARIOUS REPORTS
2012 National Preparedness Report (20 pg pdf)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has released its annual preparedness report that summarizes how prepared the nation is in terms of emergency and security protection, mitigation, response, and recovery. The report identifies areas where significant progress has been made, acknowledges remaining opportunities for improvement, and reinforces the principles of national preparedness.Accessibility Review Of Transit-Related Applications
(Website link - 9 pg pdf)
The Carl & Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH (NCAM) and the National Center for Accessible Transportation at Oregon State University are researching accessibility gaps within communication technologies used in transportation hubs and are identifying opportunities for universal and accessible design considerations to enhance the usability of travel-related information for all travelers.
Since late 2010, NCAM has followed the development of transit-related applications ("apps") that provide travelers with information to aid their trips. This report shares our reviews of a broad sampling of apps to determine their accessibility capabilities for people with sensory disabilities, including travelers with visual impairments who rely on the use of screen readers.
Banking Green: How Green Infrastructure Saves Municipalities Money and Provides Economic Benefits Community-Wide
(44 pg pdf)
This report was released by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), American Rivers, the Water Environment Federation (WEF), and ECONorthwest.
This report looks at the most cost-effective options for managing polluted runoff and protecting clean water and finds that green infrastructure solutions save taxpayer money and provide community benefits by managing stormwater where it falls.
Development of a Regional Public Transportation GIS Architecture and Data Model ( website) ( 49 pg pdf) Florida DOT District 7 (D7) has identified the need to obtain and view spatial data from many public transportation agencies within FDOT D7 and across the West Central Florida region. This ability will greatly increase the efficiency of FDOT D7 employees that use public transportation information in their workflows. Furthermore, it will assist the regional public transportation planning efforts in FDOT D7. Challenges encountered in this project included working with proprietary Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) software that has limited examples and documentation and coordinating with transit agencies that are in various stages of collecting and maintaining their bus stop inventory data. Next steps for this project are the deployment of the system to FDOT D7 staff as well as replication of this system to other districts, such as FDOT District 1. Tools exist to assist transit agencies in developing an accurate bus stop inventory and in creating and maintaining GTFS datasets. Increasing the awareness and expertise of agencies in the use of these tools will be useful for deploying this system with data from additional agencies.
Putting Transit To Work In Main Street America: How Smaller Cities And Rural Places Are Using Transit And Mobility Investments To Strengthen Their Economies And Communities (37 pg pdf) (slide show)
Produced by Reconnect America. In this report, researchers have explored how smaller cities, towns, and rural places are integrating transit into their communities. This report seeks to elevate the emerging best practices in smaller cities and rural places where transit investments are helping to set the stage for a robust future. This report is intended to help local planners, elected leaders, and policymakers understand the strategies, partnerships, resources, and plans being enacted in comparable communities across the country.
Traffic Safety On Bus Corridors: Guidelines For Integrating Pedestrian And Traffic Safety Into The Planning, Design, And Operation Of BRT, Busways And Bus Lanes ( 84 pg pdf) Produced by EMBARQ
The purpose of this guidebook is to provide bus agencies, local jurisdictions, as well as regional and international organizations with a set of suggested design, planning, and operational criteria that should be considered in the planning and design of new bus systems.
The information contain recommended criteria and general guidance which, in conjunction with engineering judgment and a thorough analysis of existing conditions on the corridors, should help develop final designs. Moreover, these are global guidelines representing general concepts and are not site or country specific, and they may not always be adapted to local design and signalization standards. The applicable local standards for signalization and markings should always be checked before applying the recommendations set forth in these guidelines.
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