Tufts University
Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning Transportation Planning UEP 0173-01 (Spring 2011)
Course Instructor Mark Chase, 617-290-3876 [email protected] Tuesday 6:00- 8:30 Location TBA
Office hours: By appointment only
Course Description
Transportation systems are a web made up of vehicles, networks and terminals. We will focus on the skills and tools needed to effectively plan transportation projects- both directly through planning skills and indirectly through managing consultants. These skills will be presented within the context of how transportation intersects with communities.
Course Objectives-- At the end of the course students will understand the profession of transportation planning including the institutions, professionals and citizen groups that impact transportation policy. The course will look at:
• Transportation from the perspective of economic and environmental efficiency
• Professional disciplines and sub-disciplines of transportation planning including walking, bicycling, transit, para-transit and cars.
• Transportation problems and solutions presented within the context of social change, technological advancement and environmental
constraints.
• Physical and institutional contexts of transportation planning including streetscape design, local zoning, and regional planning.
• Social contexts of transportation including: disadvantaged communities, affordable housing and livable streets
Within every session of the course we will be presenting specific planning tools that are used to determine how well transportation systems are working and what corrective measures are needed to improve the system. This is a survey course. We will be examining transportation broadly.
Students will be expected to research their own specialty and interest areas as part of two major projects in the course. For efficiencies sake you should
try to ascertain what areas you are interested in focusing on as early as possible in the course so that you can use your independent research to gain depth in this area (more on that below).
Structure of Course/ Assessment
Each class will cover a major theme of urban transportation planning. With some variation, the general format of each class will have three parts: The first hour will be a lecture/ slide show-overview of a major transportation topic. The second hour will involve a presentation by transportation professional. The final hour will focus on technical skills related to the subject area at hand.
Grades
Student grades will be based on class participation (15%), a neighborhood transportation survey (15%), a mid term exam (30%), and a final
presentation and paper(40%). These are described in more detail below: Class participation (15%): This is a intense/ condensed summer course. Each class is the equivalent of a full week in a normal Spring/ Fall semester class. Arrange your schedule so you can make it to ALL the classes. Be sure to do the readings and come prepared to participate in class
discussions. As you do the readings think about questions or provocative ideas that are brought up in the readings. Be prepared to talk about these in class. If you are a sit-back-and-watch student, you need to push yourself to participate in class discussion. Each class will begin with a small
presentation by one or two students in the class on items-in-the-news that are related to the class topic for that day. Please read over the syllabus and pick a few classes that you are interested in leading this discussion on.
Neighborhood Transportation Survey 15%
This exercise helps you to apply class concepts to a neighborhood or business district that you care about. Pick a geographic area to analyze that includes at least one intersection and a section of street (100 to 300 yards). Keep a journal on Google Docs that includes an analysis of the street (share this with me). For each class through class 6 (Streetscape Design) apply class concepts to this area. Consider the following concepts:
• Networks/ Nodes and Vehicles for each mode of transportation that we cover. What are the assets and deficiencies that you observe? • Social impacts--> young old and infirm? Opportunities for social
• Environmental impacts: noise, air pollution
• Aesthetics: is this area beautiful when considered from each modes viewpoint?
• What modes are missing? Is it a problem that they are missing or is the mode inappropriate for the segment that you are analyzing? Suggest Improvements and/or Solutions to deficits. Address the following:
• Costs?
• Political barriers to excellence? • Institutional barriers to excellence? • Financial Barriers?
• Prospects for change... political/ transportation strategies • Other issues and opportunities that you noticed
Note: You do not need to cover each of the above for every journal entry, but relevant areas should be touched on when appropriate.
Midterm exam (30%): This is a take home exam that is comprised of the following question: Tell me succinctly in (1000 to 1200 words) what
elements of transportation planning most directly impact a policy or planning issue that you are concerned about. Your challenge is to communicate clearly the nature of the problem, the most cost effective and important solutions and policies that can help remedy the situation, and political,
economic or social barriers to implementation. A key element here is writing an extremely tight paper. If you have concerns about your writing skills, be sure to get help editing from your good-writing-editing friends.
Final Project: Students will work in teams or alone towards a final presentation and paper that will highlight either a specific transportation mode, technology or problem, or focus on the intersection of transportation and their particular focus or interest area at UEPP. You must have a project outline to me by February 15th. Please contact me before February 8th if you are having trouble coming up with a project.
Please submit all work electronically (no paper please!). Class Schedule
Class 1 (January 25) INTRODUCTORY CLASS
The wonderful world of transportation-- student interests and what this class will cover.
Mind map of class mates interests in transportation
Speaker: Jackie Douglas, Program Manager, Livable Streets Alliance Walk Score
Class 2 (February 1) PEDESTRIAN PLANNING BASICS Walking: the oldest and most important mode of transportation.
Speaker-- Rosa Carson, Program Coordinator, WalkBoston: the nexus
between the pedestrian environment, multi-modal transportation and quality of life.
Readings
Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Safe Routes to Transit (Pedestrian section) for Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
Dumbaugh, Eric. 2005. Safe Streets Livable Streets. Journal of the American Planning Association. Vol 71(3) pp 283-300.
Jacobsen, P.L. 2003. Safety in Numbers: more walkers and bicyclists, safer walking and bicycling. Injury Prevention Vol. 9. pp 205-209
Hamilton-Baillie, Benjamin. Home Zones - Reconciling People, Places and Transport
Pucher, John and Lewis Dijkstra. 2003. Promoting Safe Walking and Cycling to Improve Public Health: Lessons from the Netherlands and Germany. American Journal of Public Health. Vol. 93(9) Use the following link: http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/full/93/9/1509
Class 3 (2/8) BICYCLE PLANNING
Please contact me by today if you are having any trouble designing your final project.
The worlds most efficient transportation: Climate Change/ Energy A world tour
Guest Speaker: Kathleen Ziegenfuss, City of Somerville
Technical Skills-- Analyzing a section of street and intersection to design bicycle accommodations
Readings
"A lot can happen between the lines: Completing NYC streets," Transportation Alternatives Magazine, Fall 2007.
http://www.transalt.org/files/newsroom/magazine/2007/fall/10-13.pdf "Building a Better Bike Lane," (Bike-friendly cities in Europe are
launching a new attack on car culture. Can the U.S. catch up?) by Nancy Keates, The Wall Street Journal, May 4 2007.
http://livablestreets.info/files/wsj_4may07_bikes.pdf Thunderhead benchmarking report
http://peoplepoweredmovement.org/pdf/benchmarking2007.pdf World Transport Policy and Practice, Volume 15, Number 1, April 2009--> Read only Pages 47- 63
http://www.eco-logica.co.uk/pdf/wtpp15.1.pdf
FHWA "University Course on Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation", http://www.tfhrc.gov/safety/pedbike/pubs/05085/toc.htm#toc In the guide read only the following sections:
Sections: 3.6 (bike section),
Lesson 13: Selecting Bicycle Facility Types Lesson 15: Bicycle Lanes
MUTCD Shared Lane Markings Guidance:
http://members.cox.net/ncutcdbtc/sls/slmtoncjan07.pdf Cambridge Massachusetts Bicycle Parking Guidelines:
http://www.cambridgema.gov/CityOfCambridge_Content/documents/ tpat_BikeParkingBrochure.pdf
Class 4 (2/15) NOTE: Your final project outline/ proposal is due today!
TRANSIT PLANNING I
BRT Expert & Consultant, Paul Schimek TransSystems
Readings
Making Transit Work: TCRP Special Report 257: Skim pages 1-59 Better Public Transit Systems, Eric Bruun, pp 9-23, 45-72 (skip examples) & 111-120.
Peruse the Embarq website with special attention the the Bus Rapid Transit secitons: http://www.embarq.org/
Latin American Busways: Moving People Rather than Cars: http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/111/1/
Latin_American_Busways,_Lloyd_Wright,_Natural_Resources_Forum,_May_2001.pdf
World Resources Institute/ Embarq: How We Move: Sustainable
Transport Around the World, Dr. Nancy Kete and Dr. Dario Hidalgo --visit all the cities on the map and click through to the links. Some of the more important links are also listed below. http://www.embarq.org/en/ news/08/06/25/how-we-move-sustainable-transport-around-world
Curitiba's urban experiment/ Frontline: Be sure to read through all the pages of this nifty website! It's a little confusing to navigate, but spend some time on it. http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/
fellows/brazil1203/ Key Transportation page:
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/fellows/brazil1203/ solutions.html
NYTimes Article on Curitiba: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/ fullpage.html?res=9C04EED91231F933A15756C0A9619C8B63 International Herald Tribune, December 28, 2007:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/28/business/wbspot29.php An interesting article on the politics of transportation and how ideas need to survive political adminsitrations:
http://www.drclas.harvard.edu/revista/articles/view/561
Transit, National Bus Rapid Transit Institute Critque of the Silver Line Phase 1: Boston:
http://www.sierraclubmass.org/issues/conservation/silverline/ slreport.pdf
Critique of TranSantiago: http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/ y2008/Mungerbus.html
Supplemental BRT Resources
BRT in Developing Countries: http://www.itdp.org/index.php/ program_areas/detail/
developing_high_quality_low_cost_mass_transit/
Bus Rapid Transit Policy Center: http://www.gobrt.org/
Class 5 (3/1) NOTE: Mid Term is Due Today! TRANSIT PLANNING II
Financing Transit & the Politics of Transit Funding
Speaker: Brian Kane, Budget and Policy Analyst, MBTA Advisory Board Technical skills: Introduction to transit planning/ bus service concepts
Readings
Born Broke, Brian Kane, 2009, MBTA Advisory Board
MBTA Advisory Board Proposed Budget: http://www.mbtaadvisoryboard.org/Reports/ FY10_Budget-Report.pdf
Eric Bruun, Better Public Transit Systems, Analyzing Investments and Performance (PAGES TBA)
March 15: Final Project Proposal Due Designing streets for all modes (not just cars)
Technical Presentation: Brian Postlewaite, Civil Engineer, Sims Maini & McKee Associates-- Understanding the world of traffic engineers and the complexities of designing intersections/ roads for multiple modes and users Readings
Reclaiming City Streets for People: European Commission, Directorate General for the Environment: Disappearing traffic in Europe:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/pubs/pdf/streets_people.pdf
"Rethinking the Urban Speedway," (For decades, highway engineers focused on designing wider, straighter, faster roads. Now, moving traffic quickly is no longer the sole goal), Governing Magazine, October 2005. http://livablestreets.info/files/governing_oct2005_engineeringspeed.pdf Disappearing Traffic? The Story So Far: Just skim this article for data on traffic recuctions:
http://www.contextsensitivesolutions.org/content/reading/disappearing-traffic/
ITE Context Sensitive Solutions. This is a big document:
Skim Chapters 1-4 paying particular attention to the following sections: "Introduction to CSS" from bottom of page 4 through page 6 (using the numbering in the document/ not the pdf page number). Although we're focusing on the design components of CSS be sure to understand Tables 1.1 and 1.2.
Read Chapters 5-9 and understand all Terms in Glossary on page 216.
New York City Street Design Manual
Read carefully through page 39. Skim the rest of the manual.
Compare the content and format of this manual with the ITE Street Design Manual
Washington Post Article on VA efforts to limit cul de sacs:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/21/ AR2009032102248.html
Classes 8 & 9 (3/29 & 4/5) CARS AND THEIR ROLE IN SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION
Planning for the Car:Techniques for reducing auto dependence
Transportation Demand Management: Why getting people out of cars is always cheaper than expanding auto-based facilities/ cost benefits
Using management techniques to pay for transportation goods and services we want.
Technical Skills: Parking management techniques that support sustainable transportation
Speaker: Stephanie Groll, Parking and Transportation Demand Management Planning Officer, City of Cambridge
Readings
Skim this page: Why manage transportation demand? http://www.vtpi.org/ tdm/tdm51.htm
Browse Cambridge PTDM Program Summary http://www.cambridgema.gov/ CDD/et/tdm/index.html
Donald Shoup: High Cost of Free Parking (PDF on Blackboard) Donald Shoup: Cruising article (PDF on Blackboard)
Congestion pricing primer on FHWA website: http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/ publications/congestionpricing/index.htm
Equity Impacts of Congestion Pricing: http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/ publications/fhwahop08040/fhwahop08040.pdf
Todd Litman, London Congestion Pricing: Implications for Other Cities Shobhakar Dhakal, April 2004, Appendix A: , Urban Transportation and Environmental Management in Singapore
Key abbreviations in Singapore Article as they are not immediately
apparent--ARF: Additional Registration Fee (essentially a tax you pay when you license your car)
ALS: Area Licensing System (pay to enter an area of the city) ERP: Electronic Road Pricing
MRT: Subway system... Optional Reading:
Technologies to enable Congestion Pricing (Skim this article: has some good nuggets): http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop08042/
fhwahop08042.pdf
Class 10-- (4/12) MPO PROCESS & FUNDING
NOTE: Neighborhood Transportation Survey must be complete for grading today.
Speaker: Hayes Morrison, Transportation Improvement Program Manager, Boston MPO
Technical Skills-- Understanding the Federal/ State/ MPO funding process and funding categories-- getting the green for your projects
Readings
The Metropolitan Planning Organization, Present and Future, TRB
Converence Proceedings 39, KATHERINE F. TURNBULL, August 27–29, 2006: http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/conf/CP39.pdf READ:
The Evolution of MPO's: Kevin Heanue Page 4-6 The State of the MPO: Jim McKenzie, 8-11 Boston MPO Brochure: Be Informed Be Involved:
http://www.bostonmpo.org/bostonmpo/4_resources/1_reports/1_studies/ 4_bicycle/be_informed.pdf
Boston MPO TIP Program Web Page: Review the links in the main body of this page http://www.bostonmpo.org/bostonmpo/3_programs/2_tip/ tip.html Pay special attention to this page:
http://www.bostonmpo.org/bostonmpo/3_programs/2_tip/ FFY_2007_2010_TIP.pdf
Skim this document: UPWP http://www.bostonmpo.org/bostonmpo/ 3_programs/3_upwp/Circulation_Draft_FFY_2010_UPWP.pdf
The Political Calculus of Congestion Pricing, 9/17/2007, UCLA/ Forthcoming in Access: David King, Michael Manville, and Donald Shoup
Class 11 (4/19) PARA TRANSIT& DISADVANTAGED POPULATIONS Para transit, jitneys and gypsy cabs-- serving the disabled/ private
transportation and informal transportation
Speaker-- Reed Cochran, Exec Director SCM Transportation: meeting the needs of elders today and tomorrow.
Readings
Boston Globe, Your Brain in Drive: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ ideas/articles/2009/07/26/your_brain_in_drive/?s_campaign=8315
Sacramento ADA Transit Plan, Nelson Nygaard, June 2008: You need only skim this document.
Read Chapter 1: Robert Cevero, Informal Transport in the Developing World: http://books.google.com/books?id=_4z7AI6XuH8C&printsec=frontcover Institute for Transportation & Development Policy: It's car vs Rickshaw... http://www.itdp.org/index.php/news_events/news_detail/
car_vs_rickshaw_delhi/
Nicole Stelle Garnett, The Road from Welfare to Work: Skim up to page 198. Read pp's 198 -229
http://www.eukn.org/binaries/eukn/eukn/research/2007/12/ ssrn-67-bijlage.pdf
Class 12 (4/26) SOCIAL JUSTICE & TRANSPORTATION (Wig ZAMORE)
Environmental Justice and Transportation: • Public participation
• Negative impacts • Poor service
Speaker: Wig Zamore, Community Organizer/ Urban Planner
Panel: Community members from East Boston, Chelsea, Roxbury and Somerville
Readings/ Class preparation
To prepare for class: You need to come up with three examples of
environmental justice issues that you know about or have seen. In thinking about this (or in your research) consider this basic definition of EJ in
transportation:
1. Are transportation needs and service levels disproportionately unmet in environmental justice populations?
2. Are environmental justice populations participating sufficiently in the transportation decisions that affect them?
3. Is the health of environmental justice populations unfairly burdened by impacts from regional transportation systems?
4. Do higher income or more privileged populations benefit from
disproportionate financial subsidies to the regional transportation systems that they use?
READINGS-- All on Blackboard Executive Order 12898
FHWA ACTIONS TO ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Marshall, Braeur and Frank on Healthy Neighborhoods, Walkability and Air Pollution
Brugge 2007 EHJ Near highway pollutants in motor vehicle exhaust a review of epidemiologic evidence of cardiac and pulmonary health effects
Lopez 2006 EHJ Obesity physical activity and the urban environment public health needs
Federal Disapprovals of Boston MPO Certification Process Boston Amended Regional Transportation Plan
Zamore Comments on Transportation Reform
T proponents say expansion is a matter of life or death Is Logan Airport Making People Sick
Crowd to MBTA Dont give us no stinking buses Skim the following:
Wig Zamore 01 23 08 Comment on ENF for Logan SWSA Redevelopment Wig Zamore 05 09 07 Assembly Square MUD MEPA Waiver Comment
CLASS 13 (5/10) PRESENTATIONS Student Presentations
Final paper due-- on research of significant transportation planning problem or community based planning project
Readings
