Class Schedule

URP 6716 - Transportation Policy and Planning
Spring 2001
Dr. Ruth L. Steiner

 

January 9

Overview of the Course: Course Syllabi Handed Out

Guest Speaker: Gerry Dedenbach, Senior Planner, Staff to Gainesville Urbanized Area Metropolitan Transportation Planning Organization (MTPO)

Video: Coming and Going: Road to the Future

Instructor (and some members of the class) to attend Annual Conference of Transportation Research Board

No Readings

January 16

Overview of Course: Assignments and Readings

Introduction to Urban Transportation Policy

 

Required Readings:

Vuchic, Vukan.  1999. Transportation for Livable Cities.  New Brunswick, NY: Center for Urban Policy Research.

Preface, pp. xvii-xxiv

Chapter 1: The Crisis of U.S. Cities and Metropolitan Areas: An Overview

 

 Dittmar, Hank.  “A Broader Context for Transportation Planning: Not Just an End in Itself,” Journal of the American Planning Association Vol. 61, Number 1 (Winter 1995).

 

Hanson, Susan.  “Getting There: Urban Transportation in Context, ” The Geography of Urban Transportation, Second Edition, The Guilford Press, New York, 1995, pp. 3-25.  (on reserve)

 

Skim:

Hu, Patricia and Jennifer Young.  “Summary of Travel Trends 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey.  http://cta.ed.ornl.gov/npts/1995/Doc/NPTS_Booklet.pdf

 

***For January 23: Go to the BTS website and search for data on a topic that is of interest to you.  Prepare a written (it can be hand-written) description of something new and interesting that you learned in data sources.  This should be a transportation statistic or other data and not simply something new about transportation.  In class on January 23, students will briefly describe what they learned in these data sources.

January 23

City-Transportation Relationships

Transportation, Telecommunications and Land Use Interactions

 

Required Readings:

Vuchic, Vukan.  1999. Transportation for Livable Cities.  New Brunswick, NY: Center for Urban Policy Research.

Chapter 2: The City-Transportation Relationship

 

Heikkila, Eric. 2000.  “Chapter 4:  The Economics of Urban Structure.”  The Economics of Planning. New Brunswick, NY: Center for Urban Policy Research.

 

Plaut, Pnina Ohanna.  “Telecommunication vs. Transportation,” Access Vol. 10, pp. 21 - 25 (Spring 1997)

 

Peter Gordon and Harry W. Richardson.  “Are Compact Cities a Desirable Planning Goal?” and

Reid Ewing.  Is Los Angeles-Style Sprawl Desirable?  Journal of the American Planning Association 63, 1: 95-126.

 

Recommended Reading:

M. Webber,  “The Urban Place and Nonplace Urban Realm, in M. Webber et al.  Explorations into Urban Structure, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1964.

 

January 30

City-Transportation Relationships

Congestion; Transportation Subsidies

 

Required Readings:

Heikkila, Eric. 2000.  “Chapter  6:  The Economics of Traffic Congestion.”  The Economics of Planning. New Brunswick, NY: Center for Urban Policy Research.

 

DeLucchi, Mark.  “Total Cost of Motor-Vehicle Use,” Access 8: 7- 13 (Spring 1996).

 

M. Wachs.  “U.S. Transit Subsidy Policy: In Need of Reform.”  Science (June 30, 1989). pp 1545-1549.

 

Skim:

Murphy, James J. and Mark DeLucchi.  1997.  “A Review of the Literature on Social Costs of Motor Vehicle Use in the United States.”  http://www.bts.gov/ntl/data/murphy.pdf

 

Recommended Reading:

Downs, Anthony.  Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion, The Brookings Institute, Washington, D.C.  (on reserve)

Chapter 1: Causes of Recent Increases in Traffic Congestion

Chapter 2: Strategies for Reducing Traffic Congestion and Four Traffic Principles

 

*** Proposed Paper Topics due at beginning of class.

February 6

Transportation Policies and Practices in the United States

Environmental Impacts of the Transportation System

 

Required Readings:

Vuchic, Vukan.  1999. Transportation for Livable Cities.  New Brunswick, NY: Center for Urban Policy Research.

Chapter 3:  How Did We Get Here?  Transportation Policies and Practices in the United States

 

Weiner, Ed.  “Urban Transportation Planning in the United States: An Historical Overview  Fifth Edition,” http://www.bts.gov/tmip/papers/history/utp/toc.htm or do a search under author’s name.

Skim Introduction, Concluding Remarks and Sections 13 (Strategic Planning) and 14 (Sustainable Development)

 

U.S.D.O.T. (pamphlets on the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (TEA-21)

 

Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP) “TEA-21—More Than a Free Refill,” Website:  http://www.transact.org/Progress/june98/index.htm  

 

D. Gordon, “Alternative Transportation Fuels,” Steering a New Course: Transportation, Energy and Environment, Island Press, 1993

 

Benfield, F Kaid, Matthew D. Raimi, and Donald D. T. Chen.  1999 “Paving Paradise: Sprawl and the Environment,” Chapter 2 in Once There Were Greenfields: How Urban Sprawl is Undermining America’s Environment, Economy, and Social Fabric.  Washington, DC: Natural Resources Defense Council, pp. 29-87.

 

Recommended Reading:

U.S.D.O.T. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.   Transportation in the United States.  Washington: USDOT, 1997. http://www.bts.gov/ntl/DOCS/tranrev.html

 

Wachs, Martin.  “The Political Context of Transportation Policy,” Chapter 11 in The Geography of Urban Transportation, edited by Susan Hanson, pp. 269- 286.

February 13

Transportation Policies and Practices in the United States

Characteristics of Travel and Techniques for Estimating Travel Demand

Guest Speaker: Whit Blanton, Renaissance Planning Group (not confirmed)

 

Bajpai, Jitendra. Forecasting the Basic Inputs to Transportation Planning at the Zonal Level.  National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 328, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, June 1990

 

U. S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration and Urban Mass Transportation Administration.  1977.  An Introduction to Urban Transportation Demand Forecasting.  Chapters 1-3 http://www.bts.gov/ntl/DOCS/UT.html

February 20

Transportation Policies and Practices in the United States

Characteristics of Travel and Techniques for Estimating Travel Demand - continued

 

U. S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration and Urban Mass Transportation Administration.  1977.  An Introduction to Urban Transportation Demand Forecasting.  Chapters 4-6 http://www.bts.gov/ntl/DOCS/UT.html

February 27

Urban Transportation Policies: United States and Peer Countries

Guest Speaker: Marta Strambi on Curitiba, Brazil (not confirmed)

 

Required Readings:

Vuchic, Vukan.  1999. Transportation for Livable Cities.  New Brunswick, NY: Center for Urban Policy Research.

Chapter 4: Urban Transportation Policies: United States and Peer Contries

 

Pucher, John.  1995.  “Urban Transport in the United States and Europe: A Comparative Analysis of Public Policies,”  Transport Reviews 15,2 (April-June): and 15,3 (June-September): 261-283.

 

*** Literature Review/Background and Outline of Research Paper due at beginning of class.

March 6

No Class Spring Break

March 13

Common Misconceptions in Urban Transportation

Case Study: Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Land Use

 

Required:

Vuchic, Vukan.  1999. Transportation for Livable Cities.  New Brunswick, NY: Center for Urban Policy Research.

Chapter 4:  Common Misconceptions in Urban Transportation

 

Cervero, Robert and John Landis.  1997.  “Twenty Years of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System: Land Use and Development Impacts,” Transportation Research A, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 309-333. 

 

Landis, John.  1999.  “Middle Age Sprawl: BART and Urban Development,” Access 14, pp. 2-15 (see website)

 

Black, Alan.  1993.  “The Recent Popularity of Light Rail Transit in North America,” Journal of Planning Education and Research, 12(3): 150-159.

 

Recommended:

Webber, Melvin,  “The BART Experience -- What Have We Learned?”  The Public Interest Vol. 12, No. 3, pp.79-110 (Fall 1976).

 

Boarnet, Marlon and Randall Crane.  “LA Story: A Reality Check for Transit-Based Housing,” Journal of the American Planning Association 63: 2, pp. 189-204 (Spring 1997).

 

Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris and Tridib Banerjee.  “There’s No There There: Or Why Neighborhoods Don’t Readily Develop Near Light-Rail Transit Stations,” Access 9: 2-6 (Fall 1996).

 

Pickrell, D. “A Desire Named Streetcar: Fantasy and Fact in Rail Transit Planning,” Journal of the American Planning Association 58, 2: 158-176.

 

Dittmar, Hank.  1995.  “Is Rail Transit Right For Your Community? Asking the Right Questions; Measuring the Benefits” http://www.transact.org/Reports/Papers/RAIL.HTM

 

Moore, James E. II.  1993.  “Commentary on ‘The Recent Popularity of Light Rail Transit in North America,’” Journal of Planning Education and Research 13 (1): 50-52.

 

Black, Alan.  1993.  “Author’s Response,” Journal of Planning Education and Research 13(1): 53-54.

 

Richmond, Jonathan E. D.  1998.  “The Mythical Conception of Rail Transit in Los Angeles,” Journal of Architectural and Planning Research  15(4): 294-320.

March 20

Transportation Policies for Livable Cities

Transportation System Management

 

Required Reading:

Vuchic, Vukan.  1999. Transportation for Livable Cities.  New Brunswick, NY: Center for Urban Policy Research.

Chapter 6: Transportation Policies for Livable Cities

 

Ewing, Reid.  1993.  Florida’s Mobility Handbook, Prepared for the Florida Department of Community Affairs.

 

Recommended Readings:

Anthony Downs, Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC,

Chapter 3: Increasing the Carrying Capacity

 

Kristine M Williams and Margaret A. Marshall.  Managing Corridor Development: A Municipal Handbook, Tampa, FL:  Center for Urban Transportation Research, 1996, pp. 5-8. 37-42, 55.

 

Gordon J. Fielding and Daniel B. Klein.  1997.  “Hot Lanes: Introducing Congestion Pricing One Lane at a Time.”  Access 11, pp. 11-15.

 

Dahlgren, Joy.  1995.  “Are HOV Lanes Really Better?”  Access 6, pp. 25-29.

March 27

Transportation for a Livable City

Modeling Supply and Demand for Pedestrian Facilities

 

*** Data analysis for research paper due at class time.

Friday, March 30

Field trip to Orlando, Tampa or Jacksonville

April 3

Implementing the Solutions: Measures for Achieving Intermodal Balance

Transportation Demand Management

 

Required Reading:

Vuchic, Vukan.  1999. Transportation for Livable Cities.  New Brunswick, NY: Center for Urban Policy Research.

Chapter 7: Implementing the Solutions: Measures for Achieving Intermodal Balance

 

E. Ferguson. “Transportation Demand Management: Planning, Development, and Implementation,”  Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 56, 4: pp. 442-56 (1990).

 

Anthony Downs, Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC,

Chapter 11: Summary and Conclusions

 

Surface Transportation Policy Project and Environmental Working Group.  2000.  Mean Streets: Pedestrian Safety Reform of the Nation’s Transportation Law.  Executive Summary and Chapter 1: America’s Dangerous Streets and Chapter 2: The Dangers of Walking Less. http://www.transact.org/Reports/ms2000/default.htm

 

Recommended Readings:

Anthony Downs, Stuck in Traffic: Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC,

Chapter 4: Peak-Hour Road Pricing (and Appendix A)

Chapter 5: Demand-Side Remedies That Focus on Behavior

Chapter 6: Remedies that Increase Residential Densities (and Appendix B and C)

Chapter 7: Changing the Jobs-Housing Balance

Chapter 8: Concentrating Jobs in Large Clusters

Chapter 9: Local Growth-Management Policies

Chapter 10: The Need for Regional Anticongestion Policies

April 10

Social Equity Issues in Transportation

 

Required Readings:

Rosenbloom, S.  “The Transportation Disadvantaged.”  In Public Transportation, Gray and Hoel, ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1992, pp. 583-615.

 

Dempsey, Paul Stephen.  “The Civil Rights of the Handicapped in Transportation: The Americans with Disabilities Act and Related Legislation,” Transportation Law Journal,  Vol. 19, pp.309-333.

 

Blumenberg, Evelyn and Paul Ong.  “Can Welfare Recipients Afford to Work Far from Home?”  Access 10: 15-19  (Spring 1997)

 

Gottlieb, Robert and  Andrew Fisher.  “Food Access For the Transit-Dependent,” Access 9: 18-20.

 

Jeskey, Carolyn.  “All they Want is a Ride: Seniors and Peopl with Disabilities Compete for the Scraps,” Community Transportation Reporter  (February/March 1997)   http://www.ctaa.org/ct/mayjune96/florida.shtml

 

Price, Barbara Rasin.  “Florida’s Transportation Disadvantaged Commission: A Model for Changing Times,”  Community Transportation Reporter  (May/June 1996) http://www.ctaa.org/ct/mayjune96/florida.shtml

 

Congress, Nita.  “ADA: Guaranteeing Access to Transportation,”  Public Roads Online Vol.58, No. 2 (Autumn 1994) Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center  http://tfhrc.gov/pubrds/fall94/p94au18.htm 

 

Recommended Readings:

Cameron, Michael.  1997.  “Transportation Efficiency and Equity in Southern California: Are They Compatible?” Chapter 5 in Just Transportation ed. by R. Bullard and G. S. Johnson, Stony Creek, CT: New Society.

 

Mann, Eric.  1997.  “Confronting Transit Racism in Los Angeles,” Chapter 6 in Just Transportation ed. by R. Bullard and G. S. Johnson, Stony Creek, CT: New Society Publishers.

April 17

Cities and Transportation: What is the Future?

Conclusions

 

Required Readings:

Vuchic, Vukan.  1999. Transportation for Livable Cities.  New Brunswick, NY: Center for Urban Policy Research.

Chapter 8: Cities and Transportation: What is the Future?

April 24

Presentations of Projects

Return to URP 6716 Page