Transportation Planning

Unit 1: Urban Transportation

Planning
Dr. Sitesh Kumar Singh
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
Wollega University, Ethiopia
Urban Transportation Planning – Introduction

• Urban transportation planning is the process that leads to decisions on

transportation policies and programs. In this process, planners develop
information about the impacts of implementing alternative courses of action
involving transportation services, such as new highways, bus route changes,
or parking restrictions. This information is used to help decision-makers
(elected officials or their representatives) in their selection of
transportation policies and programs.
• The planning process must operate within the framework of the goals and
objectives of the study area. Early in the process, ways to promote
interaction with public officials, public agencies are the citizens of the area
must be defined to make sure that the goals and objectives reflect current
community values.
Goals and objectives of Transportation Planning

• Goals: The ultimate goal of urban transport planning is to

generate alternatives for improving transportation system to
meet future demand and selecting the best alternative after
proper evaluation.
Objectives of Transportation Planning:

 Traffic congestion reductions

 Parking cost savings
 Consumer savings and affordability (savings to lower-income households)
 Improved mobility for non-drivers
 Improved safety
 Energy conservation
 Air, noise and water pollution reductions
 Habitat protection
 Support for local economic development
 Improved public fitness and health (from increased walking and cycling)
Hierarchical levels of transportation planning
1. Forecast
Transportation forecasting is the attempt of estimating the number of vehicles or
people that will use a specific transportation facility in the future. Forecasting can
be done by Linear Regression method.
2. Implementation
Implementation of various plans taking in consideration of alternatives also.
3. Constraints (Challenges)
Analysis of constraints in transportation planning like location, population,
environmental factors, topographic factors.
4. Inventory of land use
A land use inventory is a database of the lands and their uses including both
developed and undeveloped land.
Four Step Model

 Trip Generation: Trip generation determines the frequency of

origins or destinations of trips in each zone by trip purpose, as a
function of land uses and household demographics, and other socio-
economic factors.
 Trip Distribution: Distribution of trips in the various road network
for different purposes.
 Modal Split: Mode choice computes the proportion of trips between
each origin and destination that use a particular transportation
mode (this modal model may be of the logit form).
 Trip Assignment: It allocates trips between an origin and
destination by a particular mode to a route.