Transportation and Society

Introduction to Planning

H.G. Wells: “The way people and goods

get from one place to another is a trivial
matter, but that process involves other
matters that have an almost fundamental
relationship to the social order.”
 Introduction to Planning
The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)
defines transportation planning practice as:
– Improving coordination between land use and
transportation system planning;
– providing cooperative interaction between planning,
design, and operation of transportation services;
– maintaining a balance between transportation-related
energy use and clean air and water, and encouraging
alternative modes of transportation that will enhance
energy efficiency while providing high levels of
mobility and safety.
 Introduction to Planning
Transportation Planning (though practiced
long before this) was recognized as a
unique transportation engineering activity
in the 1960s
– Largely due to federal transportation financing
policy for the National System of Interstate
and Defense Highways.
 Introduction to Planning
Purpose of the text:
– Is to summarize the typical practices and
characteristics of transportation use and to
serve as a basic day-to-day reference on
proven techniques and study procedures in
the practice of transportation planning.
Transportation Planning Terms
VMT—vehicle miles of travel
Mobility—the ability to travel
Accessibility—the amount of effort it takes to travel or
how “accessible” it is
MPO—metropolitan planning organization
TIP—transportation improvement program
LRDP—long range development plan
ISTEA—Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency
Act (passed in 1991)
TEA-21—Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century
LOS—Level of service (A, B, C, D, E, and F)
. . . and lots, lots more!
 Transportation and Society
Transportation is as vital to society as
blood is to the body
– We even use similar terms to talk about it
Circulation
Congestion
Flow
Artery
– Society depends upon good transportation
 Transportation and Society
Imagine for a moment that our
transportation system either didn’t exist or
broke down.
– What would our world be like?
– What would our town be like?
– How would our lives change?

Virtually every thing we do relies on

transportation
Transportation Economics
 Transportation Economics
An enormous public investment
– $700 billion to $900 billion estimated value of current
highway infrastructure
– Roughly 4 million miles of roads in the US
i.e. we have paved 2% of our nation’s land for roads
An enormous private investment
– $1.2 trillion to $1.8 trillion for our vehicle fleet
– Personal transportation takes up nearly 20% of an
average household’s total yearly expenditures
If you include the imbedded transportation costs within the
goods and services that we purchase that share raises to
one third (33%)
Transportation
Economics

In 2003 transportation related goods and services

contributed $1.15 trillion (roughly 10.5%) to the U.S.
gross domestic product
There is now one private vehicle for every person in
the country over 16 yrs old

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics website http://www.bts.gov

Transportation Safety
 Transportation Safety
~ 40,000 to 45,000 lives lost each year in
traffic accidents
~5 million people are injured
27 million vehicles are damaged
Estimated cost of $150 billion per year
Transportation and Energy
Oil Production and Consumption, 1975 to
2003
Transportation: Air Quality
Transportation: Air Quality
Autos and other “mobile source emitters” contribute
substantially to urban air pollution
– Lead, sulfur dioxide
Lead causes developmental problems, SO2 impacts respiratory
illness, heart disease
– Carbon Monoxide
Irritates respiratory tract, coronary damage
– Nitrogen Oxides
Contributes to smog, exacerbates respiratory illness
– Hydrocarbons
Contributes to smog, exacerbates respiratory illness
– Particulate Matter
Elevates death rate, hospitalization rate for pulmonary diseases

Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics website http://www.bts.gov

Transportation: Mobility
 Transportation: Mobility
Commute times are not increasing as fast as
commute distances
– Congestion is our fault
– It is the result of the “American Dream”
– “we cannot build out way out of congestion”
Induced traffic
Induced land development
Triple convergence
– Route shifts
– New travelers
– Land Use shifts
 Transportation: Mobility
Tolerance for congestion: High
Non-capacity approach to solving
congestion
Congestion pricing
Whose roads are they?
ITS and Tele-commuting
Global climate change