Transportation Project Programming Process for an Urban Area

1996 ◽  
Vol 1518 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-47
Author(s):  
Guzin Akan ◽  
Stephen Brich
Keyword(s):  
Limited Resources ◽  
Improvement Program ◽  
Metropolitan Planning Organizations ◽  
Metropolitan Planning ◽  
Surface Transportation ◽  
Planning Organizations ◽  
City Network ◽  
Improvement Programs ◽  
Programming Process ◽  
The City

The Divisions of Transportation in Norfolk, Virginia, has developed a transportation project programming process (TPPP) to identify, evaluate, and priority rank projects to be included in various transportation improvement programs. The process is applicable for all the intersections and transportation corridors within the city network and is intended as an approach to increase safety and alleviate congestion. The process establishes a mechanism for the efficient use of limited resources with formalized coordination and communication among politicians, city administrators, city staff, and citizens. The process identifies and investigates hazardous roadway locations, establishes countermeasures, and sets priorities to correct the hazards identified. The TPPP also tests the identified locations for capacity deficiencies and identifies alternative strategies to reduce or alleviate congestion. The economic development related to those locations is further evaluated. Coordination with local developers, city and regional planners, and citizens groups is an integral part of the process. The product of this process is a prioritized list of recommended projects to be included in the city's capital improvement program and the local metropolitan planning organizations’ transportation improvement program. The products of the TPPP are also used to identify the city's candidate projects to be funded by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. The phases of the process and its applications are described.

Experience of Metropolitan Planning Organizations with Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act Financial Planning Requirements: Interviews and Analysis

1997 ◽  
Vol 1606 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elbert R. Bishop ◽  
Christopher Wornum ◽  
Martin Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Financial Planning ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Improvement Program ◽  
Maintenance Costs ◽  
Metropolitan Planning Organizations ◽  
Metropolitan Planning ◽  
Modal Flexibility ◽  
Surface Transportation ◽  
Planning Organizations

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) requires metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to develop financially constrained metropolitan transportation plans and programs. FHWA officials believed that independent studies were needed if problems with the requirement were to be understood. A summary of findings of those studies along with an analysis by an FHWA official are presented. Financial planning requirements were found to be generally well received. Fiscal constraint requirements can be traumatic, but there is agreement that realistic programs are worth having. Reconciling costs with revenues was found to present MPOs with the most severe difficulties. Allowing contingency projects and revenue sources and smoothing the transportation improvement program amendment process can retain fiscal realism while diminishing the trauma of cost-revenue reconciliation. Underestimation of capital and operating and maintenance costs to balance a plan were found to be probable. Dissemination of “best practice” examples by FHWA and FTA and MPO self-policing appear to be the most likely corrective actions. It was found that few MPOs considered technologies to reduce operations and maintenance costs. Placement of such technologies will be slow. MPO personnel were found to have encountered more constraints than expected in using the modal flexibility provisions of ISTEA. More MPO regional coalition building will be needed to meet flexibility expectations. Despite availability, it was found that FHWA and FTA information, reports, and software concerning nonfederal sources of revenue were not obtained by officials desiring them. MPOs are encouraged to rely more on expert assistance to implement local funding sources.

Relationships Between Airport Activity and Ground Transportation Needs

1998 ◽  
Vol 1622 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip S. Shapiro ◽  
Marcy Katzman
Keyword(s):  
Planning Process ◽  
Federal Aviation Administration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Metropolitan Planning Organizations ◽  
Metropolitan Planning ◽  
Federal Highway ◽  
Surface Transportation ◽  
Planning Organizations ◽  
Airport Access ◽  
Planning Guide

Shortly after the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration recognized that there was very little guidance available for airport operators and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to use for planning intermodal access to airports in the United States. As a result, the Intermodal Ground Access to Airports: A Planning Guide was developed. This Guide is designed to provide guidance to states, MPOs, and airport operators on the types of analyses that should be performed when airport access is being planned. It describes the airport access planning process and procedures for performing analyses. During the development of the Guide, relationships were developed between the level of originating passengers at American airports and the characteristics of airport access and landside facilities. The types of characteristics that were related to originating passengers included public parking, vehicle trips, terminal curbside design, and mode of access. Some of the relationships that were developed, how they were derived, and their importance to airport access planning are now presented. In addition, some additional relationships that should be developed are suggested.

Major Investment Studies—Hit or MIS?: Southern California Experience

2000 ◽  
Vol 1702 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-91
Author(s):  
Steven A. Yoshizumi ◽  
F. David Freytag
Keyword(s):  
Southern California ◽  
Orange County ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Metropolitan Planning Organizations ◽  
Metropolitan Planning ◽  
Surface Transportation ◽  
Planning Organizations ◽  
Regulations And Guidelines

The major investment study (MIS) formally came into being with passage of the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. Federal, state, metropolitan planning organizations (MPO), and local regulations and guidelines say little about how sponsoring agencies should conduct a MIS. The MPO guidelines even state that “no one size fits all.” But because there are few specific requirements of the MIS process, a lot can be learned from MISs that have been completed. Three MISs were undertaken recently in Southern California: The Corridor (Orange County CenterLine), the Interstate 5 Corridor, and the State Route 22/West Orange County Connection Major Investment Studies. Lessons learned from these three MISs include the following: ( a) The process needs to begin with the identification of problems, not solutions; ( b) it is important to define the roles of the various participating agencies early in the process; ( c) integrating the planning and environmental-analysis processes can simplify the processes and reduce redundancy; ( d) criteria must be relevant to the study area and should differentiate between the alternatives; and ( e) outreach should focus on opinion setters and decision makers to gain worthwhile input and to build consensus. By applying the lessons learned in these three MISs, future corridor studies might achieve the successes and avoid the failures illustrated by these three case studies.

Financially Constraining Washington's Transportation Plan

1996 ◽  
Vol 1518 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-41
Author(s):  
Brian Ziegler ◽  
Eric Meale
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Washington State ◽  
Metropolitan Planning Organizations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Revenue Sources ◽  
Metropolitan Planning ◽  
Surface Transportation ◽  
Historical Pattern ◽  
Planning Organizations ◽  
Transportation Plan

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) requires states and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to develop long-range transportation plans. These plans must be financially realistic and be based on available revenues. In the past, states and MPOs have not forecast transportation revenues beyond 6 years. The ISTEA requirements prompt the need for new approaches to forecasting revenue. An approach adopted by Washington State in developing its financially constrained 20-year plan for state highways is presented. The methodology predicts a revenue stream based on no changes in revenue sources or levels (called current law). The methodology also forecasts a revenue stream assuming a historical pattern of transportation revenue increases. In Washington State, the current law forecast will fund about one-third of the 20-year needs on state highways. The historical trend forecast will fund about two-thirds of these needs.

Evaluating the Full Costs of Urban Passenger Transportation

1996 ◽  
Vol 1518 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-64
Author(s):  
Jiefeng Qin ◽  
Jose Weissmann ◽  
Mark A. Euritt ◽  
Michael Martello
Keyword(s):  
External Costs ◽  
Public Agencies ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Full Cost ◽  
Metropolitan Planning Organizations ◽  
Passenger Transportation ◽  
Metropolitan Planning ◽  
Transportation Modes ◽  
Planning Organizations ◽  
Corridor Network

Full-cost analyses are being used increasingly within the transportation community to evaluate modal alternatives. Full costs include the costs to users, public agencies, and society (external costs). A working model to estimate the full costs of different transportation modes at the corridor, network, and project levels—one allowing for cross-modal comparisons and easy calibration to local conditions—is presented. The computerized model (MODECOST) is designed to provide assistance to metropolitan planning organizations, transit authorities, and regional and municipal authorities in making cross-modal cost comparisons of transportation alternatives.

Florida Metropolitan Planning Organization Reports on Transit Capacity and Quality of Service: First-Year Evaluation

2003 ◽  
Vol 1841 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria A. Perk ◽  
Chandra Foreman
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Service ◽  
First Year ◽  
Actual Process ◽  
Transit Systems ◽  
Metropolitan Planning Organizations ◽  
Metropolitan Planning ◽  
Florida Department ◽  
Planning Organizations ◽  
Transit Capacity

As an application of the transit quality-of-service framework presented in the first edition of the Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual (TCQSM), the Florida Department of Transportation required all metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in the state where fixed-route transit service operates to analyze those services on the basis of the six measures identified in the TCQSM: service frequency, hours of service, service coverage, passenger loading, reliability (on-time performance and headway adherence), and transit versus automobile travel time. A first-year evaluation compiles the analyses provided by the participating MPOs and provides an assessment of the aggregate performance of the transit systems. A larger part of the study focused on the examination of the actual process used by the MPOs and transit systems to evaluate their services. Changes recommended to improve and refine the process for future years are presented, based on the first-time experiences of the MPOs. This evaluation serves as a model for other areas in the country interested in applying the customer-oriented assessment of transit based on the TCQSM.

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