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Improving ADA Paratransit Demand Estimation: Regional Modeling
Improving ADA Paratransit Demand Estimation: Regional Modeling
Source: Transportation Research Board
TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 158: Improving ADA Paratransit Demand Estimation: Regional Modeling presents a sketch planning model and regional models designed to help metropolitan planning organizations and transit operators better estimate the probable future demand for Americans with Disability Act (ADA) complementary paratransit service, as well as predict travel by ADA paratransit-eligible individuals on all public transportation modes.
Both models permit more detailed forecasts and deeper understanding of the travel behavior of ADA paratransit-eligible people. All model parameters and coefficients are contained in the report and a fully implemented version is available on a CD-ROM that is included with the print version of the report.
An Ecological Approach to Integrating Conservation and Highway Planning, Volume 2
An Ecological Approach to Integrating Conservation and Highway Planning, Volume 2
TRB’s second Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP 2) Report S2-C06-RW-2: An Ecological Approach to Integrating Conservation and Highway Planning, Volume 2 is designed to help transportation and environmental professionals apply ecological principles early in the planning and programming process of highway capacity improvements to inform later environmental reviews and permitting. Ecological principles consider cumulative landscape, water resources, and habitat impacts of planned infrastructure actions, as well as the localized impacts.The report introduces the integrated ecological framework, a nine-step process for use in early stages of highway planning when there are greater opportunities for avoiding or minimizing potential environmental impacts and for planning future mitigation strategies.Information developed as part of the project that produced SHRP 2 Report S2-C06-RW-2 is included on the on the Transportation for Communities: Advancing Projects through Partnerships website.This publication is only available in electronic format.
Guidebook for Implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems Elements to Improve Airport Traveler Access Information
Source: Transportation Research Board
TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Report 70: Guidebook for Implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems Elements to Improve Airport Traveler Access Information provides descriptions, component details, and examples of how airport ground access information can be disseminated using various intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technologies.
The guidebook contains tables to help airport operators determine the applicability of certain ITS strategies based on airport operational needs and airport size.
The printed version of the report includes an interactive CD-ROM designed to help explore and evaluate the information needs of various airport traveler market segments and to identify ITS technologies that best meet the needs of the airport user.
The CD-ROM also contains a decision support tool that allows users to identify appropriate methods of delivering airport traveler information based on the airport traveler market segment.
The CD-ROM is also available for download from TRB’s website as an ISO image. Links to the ISO image and instructions for burning a CD-ROM from an ISO image are provided below.
Public-Sector Aviation: Graduate Research Award Papers, 2010-2011
Public-Sector Aviation: Graduate Research Award Papers, 2010-2011
Source: Transportation Research Board
TRB’s Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2266 consists of 10 graduate research award papers that examine the interaction of high-speed rail and aviation; prediction of potential cracking of airfield rigid pavements; predictors of home-based trips for the Atlanta, Georgia airport; and dynamic airspace configuration.
This issue of the TRR also explores transitioning the U.S. air transportation system to higher fuel costs; transportation systems planning for high-speed rail; sustainable paving material for airfields; airline frequency competition in airport congestion pricing; risk assessment of bird–aircraft strikes at commercial airport; and analysis of taxiway aircraft traffic.
The Graduate Research Award Program in Public-Sector Aviation Issues is managed by TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program and sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration. The program is designed to encourage applied research on airport and related aviation system issues and to foster the next generation of aviation community leaders.
Walking and Cycling in Western Europe and the United States: Trends, Policies, and Lessons
Walking and Cycling in Western Europe and the United States: Trends, Policies, and Lessons
Source: Transportation Research Board
A featured article in the May-June 2012 issue of the TR News provides an overview of cycling and walking trends and policies in Western Europe and draws lessons for programs that might succeed in the United States. Highlights include improvements in the transportation infrastructure, with a focus on safety; traffic calming in residential neighborhoods; coordinating walking and cycling with public transport; compact, mixed-use development; and other importable, foundational features.
Neighborhood Crime and Transit Station Access Mode Choice
Neighborhood Crime and Transit Station Access Mode Choice
Source: Transportation Research Board
There are considerable environmental and public health benefits if people choose to walk, bicycle, or ride transit, instead of drive. Threats posed by possible criminal activity in a person’s home neighborhood can play a major role in their decision to drive, take transit, walk or ride a bicycle, even over short distances. The findings of Phase 2 of this research suggest that walking and bicycling trips–often shorter distance trips than auto or transit trips–are particularly sensitive to neighborhood crime levels. Transit trips, on the other hand, appear to respond to neighborhood crime levels in a similar way to auto trips, wherein high crime neighborhoods appear to encourage transit mode choice. However, follow-up analysis performed for Phase 2 found that (though based on a small sample size) transit access trips (walking, bicycling or driving to a transit station) are sensitive to neighborhood crimes as well, wherein high crime neighborhoods discourage walking and bicycling transit access trips and encourage driving.
Use of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) by State Departments of Transportation and Metropolitan Planning Organizations
Source: Transportation Research Board
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 434: Use of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) by State Departments of Transportation and Metropolitan Planning Organizations describes ways that transportation planners are using the PUMS data.
The report is designed to serve as a reference for transportation planners who may be able to exploit these data. Census microdata are the confidential records of specific individuals and housing units from whom Decennial Census or American Community Survey responses have been obtained.
The U.S. Census Bureau also draws a sample from the full set of microdata and makes these sampled records available in the PUMS data products, so that users can develop their own tabulations.
These data are being used by state departments of transportation and metropolitan planning organizations for studies, such as analyses of the commuting characteristics of population subgroups, and for supporting travel demand model and land use models.
Methodology for Determining the Economic Development Impacts of Transit Projects
Methodology for Determining the Economic Development Impacts of Transit Projects
Source: Transportation Research Board
TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Web-Only Document 56: Methodology for Determining the Economic Development Impacts of Transit Projects explores development of a method for transit agencies to assess whether and under what circumstances transit investments have economic benefits that are in addition to land development stimulated by travel time savings.
As part of the project a spreadsheet tool was developed that may be used to help estimate the agglomeration-related economic benefits of rail investments in the forms of new systems or additions to existing systems.
Transportation Systems for Livable Communities
Transportation Systems for Livable Communities
Source: Transportation Research Board
TRB’s Conference Proceedings on the Web 6: Transportation Systems for Livable Communities summarizes the results of an October 2010 conference that explored the challenges of incorporating livability into transportation programs and projects.
The proceedings consist of presentation summaries from the opening sessions and panels, and summaries of key research needs and possible performance measures identified in the discussion groups.
Report to the U.S. Congress on the Outcomes of the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program
Report to the U.S. Congress on the Outcomes of the Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program
Source: Transportation Research Board
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a report that examines the implementation and analysis of the locally devised strategies of four communities to increase the use of nonmotorized transportation, and the impacts this strategy may have on safety, health, and the environment.
+ Full Report (PDF)
Survey of State Funding for Public Transportation—Ways to Improve It
Survey of State Funding for Public Transportation—Ways to Improve It
Source: Transportation Research Board
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 188: Survey of State Funding for Public Transportation—Ways to Improve It includes suggestions on ways to potentially improve the Survey of State Funding for Public Transportation. Areas covered by the report include definition of major terms, post-submission data checks, improved accessibility, non-transit related ferry funding, and overall data collection.
The Survey of State Funding for Public Transportation report, which is prepared under the auspices of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the American Public Transit Association, includes information on state-level public transportation funding, the source of funds, the potential use of funds, and the method of funding distribution for each transit program.
+ Full Report (PDF)
Practices and Procedures for Site-Specific Evaluations of Earthquake Ground Motions
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 428: Practices and Procedures for Site-Specific Evaluations of Earthquake Ground Motions identifies and describes current practice and available methods for evaluating the influence of local ground conditions on earthquake design ground motions on a site-specific basis.The report focuses on evaluating the response of soil deposits to strong ground shaking.
+ Full Document (PDF)
Extent of Highway Capacity Manual Use in Planning
TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 427: Extent of Highway Capacity Manual Use in Planning assesses how state departments of transportation, small and large metropolitan planning organizations, and local governments are using or might use the Highway Capacity Manual for planning analyses, or more specifically, for performance monitoring, problem identification, project prioritization, programming, and decision-making processes.
+ Full Document (PDF)
The Safety Challenge and Promise of Automotive Electronics: Insights from Unintended Acceleration
The Safety Challenge and Promise of Automotive Electronics: Insights from Unintended Acceleration
Source: Transportation Research Board
TRB Special Report 308: The Safety Challenge and Promise of Automotive Electronics: Insights from Unintended Acceleration examines how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) regulatory, research, and defect investigation programs can be strengthened to meet the safety assurance and oversight challenges arising from the expanding functionality and use of automotive electronics.
The report gives particular attention to NHTSA’s response to consumer complaints of vehicles accelerating unintentionally and to concerns that faulty electronic systems may have been to blame.
The committee that produced the report found that the increasingly capable and complex electronics systems being added to automobiles present many opportunities for making driving safer but also present new demands for ensuring their safe performance. These safety assurance demands pertain both to the automotive industry’s development and deployment of electronics systems and to NHTSA’s safety oversight role. With regard to the latter, the committee recommends that NHTSA give explicit consideration to the oversight challenges arising from automotive electronics and that the agency develop and articulate a long-term strategy for meeting these challenges.
+ Summary (PDF)
+ Full Report (PDF)
Public Participation Strategies for Transit
Public Participation Strategies for Transit
Source: Transportation Research Board
TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 89: Public Participation Strategies for Transit documents the state-of-the-practice in terms of public participation strategies to inform and engage the public for transit-related activities.
The synthesis also provides ideas and insights into practices and techniques that agencies have found to be most successful, and discusses challenges relating to engaging the public.
A Guidebook for the Preservation of Public-Use Airports
A Guidebook for the Preservation of Public-Use Airports (PDF)
Source: Transportation Research Board
ACRP Report 44 provides a Guidebook that describes why public-use airports close and identifies measures and strategies that can be undertaken to help preserve and prevent their closure. This guidebook presents step-by-step procedures on how to identify risk factors that can increase the potential of a future airport closure and how to formulate an effective airport preservation program. Included is a detailed listing and evaluation of the reasons, or risk factors, why public-use airports close, addressing economic, operational, revenue, business, land use, and other issues. The Guidebook also identifies potential groups interested in preserving public-use airports and offers practical checklists for identifying and addressing critical issues as part of a comprehensive strategic airport planning program in support of preservation efforts. It presents practical guidance on how to delineate primary airport closure risk factors, identifies extensive resources of value to those working to preserve airports, and collects a wide range of documents in the appendices to support the development of a practical and implementable strategic plan for airport preservation. This Guidebook is intended to be used by state and local agencies, airport owners/operators, and other public and private groups with an interest in preserving public-use airports.
