Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

A Gravity Model Integrating Land-Use And Transportation Policies For Sustainable Development: Case Study Of Fresno, California, Chih-Hao Wang, Na Chen

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

The idea of urban compaction has been long proposed and promoted to address the problem of urban sprawl in many American cities. However, there are still rare successful cases of such implementation in the United States. This study uses a classic gravity model, TELEM (Transpiration, Economic, and Land-Use Model) to examine to what extent a land-use or transportation policy must be regulated to make the urban compaction occur in a typical auto-dependent city—Fresno, California. Five scenarios are considered (BL, L1, L2, T1, and T2), in which the baseline (BL) is a natural growth scenario. Without any policy interventions, the city …

Impacts Of City-Level Parking Cash-Out And Commuter Benefits Ordinances, Gabriella Abou-Zeid, Allen Greenberg

PSU Transportation Seminars

For many workers, the decision to drive to work is an economically rational one that minimizes their commute costs. The vast majority of employers offer free workplace parking, with few in comparison offering benefits for transit, walking, biking, or other means of commuting. In effect, employers are incentivizing a behavior that increases roadway congestion, reduces physical activity, and increases emissions. Moreover, since lower-income households are less likely to own and have access to a private vehicle than moderate and higher-income households, free parking is a financial benefit that many lower-income employees cannot access.

Researchers from ICF and the Federal Highway …

Opportunities And Challenges For Deploying Connected And Automated Vehicles To Address Transportation Disparities In Urban Areas, Erika Shepard, Kimberly Napoline, Frank Douma, Adeel Lari

Journal of Law and Mobility

As the development and testing of connected and automated vehicles (CAV) accelerates, it is important for government stakeholders, planners, and policymakers to have a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities CAVs will bring to infrastructure, communities, and lifestyles. There is general consensus among scholars and transportation practitioners that CAV will “disrupt” transportation systems, land use patterns, and socioeconomic power structures as they exist today.The implications of CAV on transportation infrastructure have been the subject of numerous academic and professional studies, suggesting both positive and negative effects may occur. Furthermore, in an American context, transportation planning has historically contributed to …

Reimagining China’S Transportation Funding Investments In Africa In The Context Of Covid-1, Clovia Hamilton, Sira Maliphol

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

Africa has not invested enough in its healthcare system, and China has been investing in and financing much of Africa’s transportation system. Many African countries’ fragile health and transportation systems have been further weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic. This literature review confirms the interdependence of the key functional areas of comprehensive development planning and the importance of building and maintaining a sound transportation infrastructure. With respect to partnerships with China, African nations need to strengthen government functional areas more comprehensively, considering all of the areas of development planning including trade as well as transportation and aid issues. It is all …

Characterizing The Trip Generation Profiles Of Multifamily Housing, Kelly Clifton, Kristina M. Currans

TREC Final Reports

Cities are increasingly wanting to assess the impacts new development has on all modes in the transportation system. Many communities are requiring site-level transportation impact analysis to examine travel outcomes. The historical focus on developing data and methods exclusively for the automobile, such as the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Handbook, has left planners with little guidance for these new challenges. This study aims to examine the limitations in the dominant approaches to understand how they may misguide the planning process for multifamily housing development. Specifically, we aim to examine the vehicle and person trip generation rates associated …

Steering Clear Of Single-Occupancy Vehicles: Campus Transportation Demand Management Strategies For The University Of South Carolina, Reaghan Kelly Murphy

Senior Theses

Institutions of higher education increasingly serve as fundamental sources of creativity, economic growth, and innovation. As these institutions continue to employ and enroll ever-increasing populations, however, they also become primary contributors to congestion, transportation inefficiencies, and carbon emissions. It is imperative, therefore, that universities implement better, more sustainable planning techniques, especially within the context of transportation. This thesis explores the history and nuances of sustainable transportation planning on college campuses before delving into a detailed case study of the University of South Carolina’s transportation demand management strategies. To inform the resulting analysis, an in-depth review is conducted of eight comparable …

Transportation Behavior Change...Now With Science!, Jessica Roberts

PSU Transportation Seminars

How can we encourage people to make use of the transportation systems in place - to improve transit ridership and, in turn, to improve the health and happiness of our societies?

New findings in behavioral science could unlock new, more effective ways to change transportation behavior...but only if we have a way to find and use that evidence. TransLink (Vancouver BC) undertook a groundbreaking research effort to use cognitive biases to explain why people drive today, and and to identify possible "nudge" strategies to shift those trips to transit and active modes. The resulting report includes brand-new ideas that area …

Webinar: Developing Practical Dynamic Evaluation Methods For Transportation Structures, Charles Riley

TREC Webinar Series

Deteriorating transportation infrastructure is constantly in the news. Government agencies at all levels are pursuing methods to monitor structural health, so that they can prioritize repairs. In Oregon, the Cascadia Subduction Zone megathrust earthquake looms as a significant natural hazard for which our transportation network is ill-prepared. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) estimates that it will take around $2.6 billion over seven years to repair or replace many of the existing bridges in the state’s network to maintain lifeline routes after a Cascadia event. Funding for the scenarios envisioned by ODOT is not forthcoming, and the project …

Assessing State Efforts To Integrate Transportation, Land Use And Climate, Rebecca Lewis, Robert Zako

TREC Final Reports

Climate change is increasingly recognized as a threat to life on earth. “Continued emission of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and long-lasting changes in all components of the climate system, increasing the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems. Limiting climate change would require substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions” (International Panel on Climate Change, 2014, 8).

The transportation sector accounts for almost one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the United States. Reducing GHG from transportation rests on the “three-legged stool” of improving vehicle efficiency, reducing the carbon content of fuels …

State Efforts To Fight Climate Change, Rebecca Lewis, Robert Zako

TREC Project Briefs

NITC Project Brief: A research project examines efforts in four states to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the transportation sector.

Travel Decisions & Their Implications For Urban Transportation: From Campus Transportation To Statewide Modeling, Gulsah Akar

PSU Transportation Seminars

The ability to forecast future transportation patterns under a particular land-use scenario or urban form is key to making informed decisions at the local and regional levels.

Although several researchers have explored the links between the built environment, socio-demographics and travel behavior, a consensus is not reached.

This talk highlights two recent projects. The first project focuses on individuals’ attitudes towards transportation, neighborhood characteristics and their effects on campus commuters’ transit use, and addresses the question whether attitudes, the built environment or a combination of both explains the resulting transit use better.

The second part presents the Regional Land Use …

Analytical Efficiencies Through The Integration Of Modeling And Simulation Tools, Steve Perone

PSU Transportation Seminars

Linking planning and operations is vital to improving transportation decision making and the overall effectiveness of transportation systems. In this seminar Steve will discuss data and modeling methods supported by the PTV Vision software suite to facilitate integrated planning for operations.

Neighborhood Crime And Travel Behavior: An Investigation Of The Influence Of Neighborhood Crime Rates On Mode Choice – Phase Ii, Christopher Ferrell, Shishir Mathur

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Neighborhood Crime And Travel Behavior: An Investigation Of The Influence Of Neighborhood Crime Rates On Mode Choice – Phase Ii, Christopher Ferrell, Shishir Mathur

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.

Roads: Leading Indicators Show Ramp-Up In Activity, Shishir Mathur, Kunal Katara

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Roads: Leading Indicators Show Ramp-Up In Activity, Shishir Mathur, Kunal Katara

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.

Neighborhood Crime And Non-Auto Mode Choice, Shishir Mathur, Christopher Ferrell, Emy Mendoza

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Neighborhood Crime And Non-Auto Mode Choice, Shishir Mathur, Christopher Ferrell, Emy Mendoza

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.

High-Speed Rail Projects In The United States: Identifying The Elements Of Success Part 2, Allison Decerreno, Shishir Mathur

Faculty Publications, Urban and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

High-Speed Rail Projects In The United States: Identifying The Elements Of Success Part 2, Allison Decerreno, Shishir Mathur

Shishir Mathur

No abstract provided.

Income Distribution, City Size, And The Role Of Public Transportation, Thomas W. Sanchez

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

This article presents an income inequality analysis for all 1990 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). The analysis is concerned with whether public transportation has a detectable influence on levels of urban income equality. Because public transportation systems are generally designed to link residences with employment locations, higher levels of transit service provision, all other factors being equal, should be associated with higher employment rates and more uniform distributions of economic gains. The research presented here was influenced by an analysis originally performed by Haworth, Long, and Rasmussen (1978). Along with there study, few analyses have tried to evaluate policies that …

The Connection Between Public Transit And Employment, Thomas W. Sanchez

Center for Urban Studies Publications and Reports

Even with a considerable amount of attention being paid to the role of public transportation in addressing inner-city mobility problems, there is very little evidence of the degree to which one affects the other. In other words, little research has specifically focused on how labor participation is impacted by increases in public transportation availability. Research on the spatial mismatch hypothesis has dealt with the relationship between labor participation and the spatial separation of jobs and houses; however, most analyses concentrate on commuting time or distance as a function of auto accessibility. Few, if any, studies have considered the relative impacts …