Transportation_revised Flashcards
(37 cards)
- establish a setting: establish and manage a fair and impartial setting for effective** regional decision-making** in the metropolitan urbanizing area (UZA)
- **evaluate alternatives: **evaluate transportation alternatives, scaled to the size and complexity of the region, to the nature of its transportation issues, and to the realistically available options
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maintain a regional metropolitan transportation plan (RTP or MTP; 20 to 30 year horizon): develop and update a fiscally constrained long-range transportation plan for the UZA covering a planning horizon of at least twenty years that fosters
o mobility and access for people and goods,
o efficient system performance and preservation, and
o quality of life - develop a transportation improvement program (TIP; lists all transportation projects an MPO is funding on 4 year horizon): develop a fiscally constrained program based on the long-range transportation plan ; TIP more focused on project implementation
- involve the public: involve the general public and all the significantly affected sub- groups in the four essential functions listed above.
If the metropolitan area is designated as an air quality non-attainment or maintenance area, then
6. protect air quality: transportation plans, programs, and projects must conform with the air quality plan, known as the** “state implementation plan” (SIP)**, for the state within which the UZA lies.
Presently, most MPOs have no authority to raise revenues such as to levy taxes on their own, rather, they are designed to allow local officials to decide collaboratively how to spend available federal and other governmental transportation funds in their urbanized areas. The funding for the operations of an MPO comes from a combination of federal transportation funds and required matching funds from state and local government
Five Core Functions of an MPO
the study of traffic flow and behavior to understand current conditions, predict future needs, and inform planning and design decisions. It involves collecting data on various aspects like traffic volume, speed, and direction, and then analyzing this data to identify patterns and trends. This analysis helps in making informed decisions about transportation infrastructure, traffic management, and land use planning
Traffic analysis
the demand forecasting procedure for future year analysis and includes the design year, interim years, and opening year for traffic analysis. Traditionally, an approach known as the “four-step process” has been used for regional transportation planning analysis.
Travel demand model
Four basic phases of Travel demand model/proximity distribution assessment
- Trip generation (the number of trips to be made);
- Trip distribution (where those trips go);
- Mode choice/split (how the trips will be divided among the available modes of travel); and
- Trip assignment (predicting the route trips will take).
basic geographic unit for inventorying demographic data and land use within a study area. The zones represent the origins and destinations of travel activity within the region
.Traffic Analysis Zones (TAZs)
The Seven Demands of Transit Riders
- It takes me where I want to go.
- It takes me when I want to go.
- It is a good use of my time.
- It is a good use of my money.
- It respects me in the level of safety, comfort, and amenity it provides.
- I can trust it.
- It gives me freedom to change my plans.
- Changing One-Way Streets into Two-Way
- Widening Sidewalks/Narrowing Streets and Traffic Lanes
- The inclusion of Bulb-Outs, Chokers or Neckdowns (roadway design that enhances ped/bike mobility and serves to slow traffic)
- Chicanes (Sidewalk extensions that causes roadway lanes to meander)
- Round-Abouts and Traffic Circles
- Raised Medians/Landscaped Medians
- Tight Corner Curbs or reduced radii turning movements
- Diverters or physical barriers for traffic movements
- Road Humps and Speed Tables
- Rumble Strips and Variable Surface Treatments (Color/Texture)
examples of traffic calming
Sample of rough trip
Sample of rough parking space requirements
What are the 3 Cs of an MPO when developing transportation plans?
**Continuing: **Maintains planning as an ongoing activity that addresses both
short-term needs and long-term vision for region
** Cooperative**: Involves a wide variety of interested parties through a publicparticipation process
** Comprehensive**: Covers all transportation modes and is consistent with
regional and local land use plans
➢ May have authority to plan and regulate
enforced restrictions on the size, spacing, and lighting of roadside billboards, allowed the masking of junkyards or garbage dumps to preserve roadside beauty, and the authorization of use of the Highway Trust Fund for landscaping and recreation services within the right-of-way.[6]
Signed into law by President Johnson October 22, 1965.
Highway Beautification Act 1965
also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, authorized the construction of a 41,000-mile network of interstate highways. It was a landmark piece of legislation that revolutionized transportation in the United States, connecting the nation and fostering economic growth (Eisenhower)
1956 - Federal-Aid Highway Act
➢ Transportation Enhancements (TE) Program
(transportation-related activities that are designed to strengthen the cultural, aesthetic, historic, and environmental aspects of our transportation infrastructure like new sidewalks, bike paths)
➢ Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Program
➢ Required “fiscally constrained planning” by MPOs
➢ Social equity - equal emphasis to all modes of transportation, including public transit, biking and walking
➢ funded scenic byways and historic preservation
1991 - Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA-91)
- providing users access to a wide range of transportation options, making personal vehicle usage less necessary
- integrates various transportation modes—including public transit, ride sharing, and bike/scooter sharing—into a unified digital platform.
- This integration enables users to efficiently plan, book, and pay for their journeys through a single interface, offering options like single-charge end-to-end trips or monthly subscriptions
Mobility as a Service
- 20-year minimum planning horizon vision document that reflects the application of programmatic transportation goals to project prioritization.
- include financial components that demonstrate how the recommended transportation plan can be implemented, identify the public and private resources expected to be available to carry out the plan, and recommend any additional financing strategies for needed projects and programs.
- demonstrats that there are sufficient funds to pay for projects inlcded in the plan; must include project ocsts for the year of expenditure and total cost of the project
- The Financial Plan mst demonstrate that this Plan is fiscally constrianed over 20 years
Long Range Transportation Plan/Metropolitan Transportation Plan
MPO financing structure
Federal Funding:
FHWA Planning Funds (PL) :
These funds support metropolitan transportation planning activities, including long-range planning, transportation improvement programs, and traffic operation studies.
FTA Metropolitan Transit Planning Funds (5305)
These funds are used for transit planning, including short-range and long-range planning, capital projects, and operations.
Flexed Funding: MPOs can utilize funds from other federal transportation programs, such as Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBG) and CMAQ, for metropolitan planning activities.
Matching Funds:
State and Local Governments: State and local governments provide the required matching funds to supplement federal funding. The specific allocation between state and local funds can vary.
Other Funding Sources:
Public-Private Partnerships: MPOs may also seek funding from public-private partnerships.
Transportation Agencies: Funding from transportation agencies, like transit authorities, may be used for specific projects.
look very similar to Interstates, with directional travel lanes usually separated by some type of physical barrier, and their access and egress points are limited to on- and off-ramp locations or a very limited number of at-grade intersections
broader term for any high-speed, controlled-access highway
Arterials - freeways
A technically integrated coordinated transportation system with features such as freeway management systems, advanced traffic surveillance, signal control systems, ramp metering, etc.
everage information and communication technologies, such as computers, electronics, and sensing technologies, to improve how people and goods move.
Intelligent Transportation System
Provide long-distance “trunk line” continuous routes wthin adn between ruban reas. Typically but with some important exceptions, they carry high volumes of traffic at high speeds. Freeways, inlcuding interstates, are —-
Principal Arterials
Backbone of urban street network, they are continous routes through urban areas
* frequently designed as touring (U.S. or state-numbered) routes
* account for only 10 percent fo street mileage but carry mroe than half of all vehicle miles of travel
* contain most of a city’s commercial and institutional uses
* attractive for businesses
Minor Arterials
continuity over short segments, minor tributaries that gather traffic from numerous smaller streets adn deliver it to minor arterials
* usually county and city streets adn bordred by properties with driveays to the street (both residential and commercial)
Collector Streets
incude all streets not on higher system, comprising 90 percent of street mileage but carrying less than 10 percent of total vehicle miles of travel
* short in length with frequent interuptions, for homes and professional office, small industrial and church uses
Local Streets
- funds surface transportation programs over 105B.
- ** fund community-led planning for neighborhood revitalization around transit lines**.
- Major increase in federal loans like TIFIA and help regions rais either own transportation funds and stretch those dollars farther and a new passenger ferry facilities
- RTPOs are bodies similar to, and inspired by the model of MPOs, but organized for rural areas. Though RTPOs existed for decades, they were only formally recognized by on a federal level by this piece of legislation
MAP-21 legislation (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Ac)
As a result of the** Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962** the then, Bureau of Public Roads (predecessor to the Federal Highway Administration) required the creation of planning agencies or organizational arrangements that would be capable of carrying out the required planning process.
Agencies are required for areas with more than 50,000 residents.
METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION (MPO)
