Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Kennedy, 60 Minutes, And Roger Rabbit: Understanding Conspiracy-Theory Explanations Of The Decline Of Urban Mass Transit, Martha J. Bianco

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

This paper will review the history of the GM Conspiracy Myth, as well as what legal theorists refer to as "the facts in the case." The legal explanation of what really happened goes only so far, though. The whole story about the decline of mass transit in the U.S. is a story about the failure of public policy and about conflict among competing constituencies in the transportation policy process. This paper will very briefly discuss this failure and this conflict and will then conclude with a consideration of - or at least a hypothesis for - the endurance of the …

The Politics Of Implementation: Oregon's Statewide Transportation Planning Rule - What's Been Accomplished, Martha J. Bianco, Sy Adler

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

This paper is a case study of the evolution of Oregon’s groundbreaking Transportation Planning Rule, from its adoption in 1991, up through present amendments. Our analysis is an assessment of how private- and public-sector investors grapple with the coproduction of the built environment under the constraints of a value system that emanates from the state, shepherded by litigious public interest groups. In this case, this value system is articulated in the Oregon administrative rule known as the Transportation Planning Rule. This Rule emphasizes a reduction in the reliance on automobiles and, among other things, requires a decrease in vehicle miles …

The Impact Of Congestion Pricing And Parking Taxes On Spatial Competition, Anthony M. Rufolo, Martha J. Bianco

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

Policymakers seeking to reduce reliance on single-occupant automobiles are giving serious consideration to methods to price roads during periods of congest ion and to increase the cost of parking. Such policies are intended to induce increases in carpooling and in the use of mass transit; however, they may have unintended consequences that counteract these goals in the long run. In particular, actual implementation of such policies may create differential price increases that affect the spatial competition for markets between firms located in the central city and those in the suburbs. Analyzing such policies using the spatial competition models of location …

Exurban Development, Transportation Infrastructure And Access Management, Philip J. Wuest

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

This paper explores the changing role of state highway corridors in an era of continued urban growth and decentralization. Its primary focus is on the impact of exurban development on state highway corridors and on the policy of access management to control or limit those impacts. The role of access management in distributing the benefits and costs of access to public facilities is outlined. As urban areas expand at the fringe, it is important to clarify to what extent the public good of roadways is diminished by direct corridor access by the private sector. This work is timely and relevant …

Challenges Confronting Metropolitan Portland's Transportation Decision-Making Regime, Sheldon Edner, Sy Adler, Peter B. Morris

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

In this paper we discuss the structure and dynamics of this consensus process through an exploration of a series of challenges to the regime. These challenges include: (1) cultivating new sources of project finance, as the federal government reduces its contribution; and (2) integrating transport projects with regional and local land use plans designed to manage urban growth; in the context of (3) intensifying competition between -business centers within the region, as rapidly growing suburban areas seek transport projects that will facilitate locally-oriented economic growth. We first discuss the institutional and normative elements of the regional consensus process in historical …

Analysis Of Westside Bypass Freeway Corridor Using Pcarc/Info And Idrisi Geographic Information Systems, Matt Newman

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

The purpose of this research project is to examine the functionality and interface of two Geographic Information Systems, and to perform a potential environmental assessment of the Westside Bypass Freeway corridor in suburban Portland. First is a discussion which describes elementary GIS concepts, data format and fundamental GIS operations. Next is a description of pcARC/INFO and IDRIS! and an analysis of their functionality. Following this, a description of the methodologies used to analyze the Westside Bypass Freeway corridor, is presented. The inventory of resource themes and conflicts with the freeway alignments is discussed next, emphasizing some of the more interesting …

Constructing The 1990 Public Transportation Study Process: Reflections Of The 1988 Research Team, Janice Dean, Sheldon Edner

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

The 1988 Oregon Public Transportation Study provided a solid foundation of information about Oregon’s transportation providers. In particular, it furnishes information on which revenue sources members of the industry are utilizing, expenditure patterns, capital and operating revenue needs, the protected increased demands for public transportation, and the ability of provides to makes use of available resources in their strategic planning. The study also substantiated that many members of the industry do not identify themselves as transportation providers, particularly the Special Need Transportation providers. The research process also revealed several additional factors about the process of collecting information that should be …

Proceedings Of A Workshop On Interactive Graphics For Transportation Planners, Kenneth Dueker, Ross Roberts

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

The workshop attracted transportation planners from transit and regional planning agencies, consulting firms, and local governments. It explored the use of interactive graphics coupled with multi-modal transportation planning.

Several key aspects of the use of interactive graphics were explored in panel discussions and demonstration workshop sessions. These aspects included the evolution of interactive graphics technology, the structured application of this technology in implementation, the operational environment, impacts on planning agencies and future applications of this technology.

The demonstration of applications was made possible by use of Metro's EMME/2 system. Metro is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Portland area. …

Shifts In Urban Transportation Issues And Policy: Are Educational Materials Keeping Pace, Kenneth Dueker, Sebastian Degens, Michael Hayakawa

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

The changing problem perceptions in urban transportation have pushed a succession of issues to the forefront in the last twenty years. Urban transportation policy has adjusted to this changing environment with both incremental and radical policy innovations. Transportation education should maintain a high degree of correspondence with contemporary issues in the field. The authors fear that the shifting transportation agenda may outdate transportation literature swiftly.

The article begins with a review of the policy innovations in urban transportation issues and major since 1956 . The second part of the study analyzes articles by a policy analyst, documents containing transportation planning …