Transportation Planning

WEEK 2
SUZIELAH RAHMAD

Definition:
Transportation planning is the process of defining future policies, goals,
investments, and designs to prepare for future needs to move people
and goods to destinations. As practiced today, it is a collaborative
process that incorporates the input of many stakeholders including
various government agencies, the public and private businesses.
Transportation planners apply a multi-modal and/or comprehensive
approach to analysing the wide range of alternatives and impacts on
the transportation system to influence beneficial outcomes.
- May take place at ANY geographical level
 Perspective on the Planning Process
The initial period of Malayan development reflected an effort to exert
administrative control and extract tin ore through a complementary rail and road
system. The network system provided a base for the development of rubber
estates in the subsequent period when the road network became recognized as
the most flexible form of transportation. After the formation of a basic grid, road
networth growth was associated with social and economic objectives at the rural
level. The network expansion generally follows the “ideal-typical sequential” model
and may be viewed as a process rather than discrete historical stages. The primary
transportation corridor was reinforced through interaction with the evolving larger
cities in the rubber and tin zones. The self-reinforcement of the network, along
with the urban concentration process, and feedback expressed through recurrent
or abandoned demand, provide support for a more general model of
transportation and city-system development.
- Transportation and the Development of Malaya, Thomas R. Leinbach, Annals of
the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Jun., 1975), pp. 270-282

Types of Transportation Plans

• National Plan
• National Transport Plan
• Regional Transport Plan (State or Region)
• Local Transport Plan (District, city or town)
• National Transport Policy Committee
 The Rational Planning Process

Evaluate
Define goals alternatives
- Values - Feasibility Decision
Develop process Implementatio
- Goals - Demand
Identify needs alternative - Select n of preferred
- Objectives solutions - Cost alternatives to alternative
- Measures of - implement
effectiveness Environmental
impact

The Political Planning Process

Planning Regulations

FRESH
FROM THE
OVEN
Transportation and Air Quality
Planning
Planning Studies

- Types of Planning Studies

• Corridor studies
• Subarea studies
• Alternatives analyses for major transportation investments
• Institutional studies
• Financial studies
• Impact studies

Basic elements of transportation

planning
Situation definition Inventory transportation facilities, Measure travel patterns,
Review prior studies
Problem definition Define objectives (e.g., Reduce travel time), Establish criteria
(e.g., Average delay time), Define constraints, Establish
design standards
Search for Consider options (e.g., locations and types, structure needs,
solutions environmental considerations)
Analysis of For each option, determine cost, traffic flow, impacts
performance
Evaluation of Determine values for the criteria set for evaluation (e.g.,
alternatives benefits vs. cost, cost-effectiveness, etc)
Choice of project Consider factors involved (e.g., goal attainability, political
judgment, environmental impact, etc.)
Specification and Once an alternative is chosen, design necessary elements of
construction the facility and create construction plans
ASSIGNMENT 2
1. Select a location and define the situation.
2. Define the problem
3. Search for solutions
4. Analysis of performance/expected
5. Evaluation of alternatives (if any)
6. Choice of project – which alternative is the best
7. Specification and construction – special requirements (if any)

Example : Planning the relocation of a rural

road (simple, yet good enough to explain the
steps…)
Step 1: Situation definition:
 to understand the situation that gave rise to the perceived need for a transportation
improvement
Step 2: Problem definition
Purpose of the step: Describe the problem in terms of the objectives to be
accomplished and translate those objectives into criteria.

Example:
Objective = Statements of purpose: Reduce traffic congestion, Improve safety, Maximize
net highway-user benefits, etc.
Criteria = Measures of effectiveness: Travel time, accident rate, delays (interested in
reductions in these MOEs)
Step 3: Search for solutions

Brainstorm
options at this
stage.

Step 4: Analysis of performance

 Estimate how each of the proposed alternatives would perform under present and
future conditions.
 Step 4: (cont) Ranking of
alternatives (in terms of MOE)

Step 5: Evaluation of alternatives

 Determine how well each
alternative will achieve the
objectives of the project as Improves this way
defined by the criteria.

Cost-
wise best

Improves this way

This is a multi-objective evaluation
Improvement-wise
problem.
superior
 Step 6: Choice of project
 Based on the alternative evaluation in
Step 5, we will choose the best alternative
for design and eventual construction. The
best choice may not be built because of
opposition by the people of the
community that is affected.

Step 7: Specification and construction

 Once the project has been chosen, a detailed design phase is begun, in which each of
the components of the facility is specified.

Example :
• https://www.slideshare.net/mohanad_jindeel/urban-transport-
development-planning
THANK YOU