Integrated Multi-Modal Transportation Planning: A Spatial Approach

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  • February 28, 2019
Creator
  • Raw, Jeremy
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of City and Regional Planning
Abstract
  • Effective inclusion of non-automobile transportation in transportation planning practice calls for tools that respond as effectively to the special needs of these modes as standard tools do to the needs of automobile transportation. Such inclusion is of particular concern when policy makers wish to encourage alternative travel modes and seek substantial guidance from planners regarding the effects of various enhancements and modifications to the transportation system. Bicycle and pedestrian modes, and to a certain extent public transit, raise a variety of special problems having to do with the different spatial and temporal scales on which such travel takes place. These include small-scale environmental features, constraints on trip chaining, and availability of suitable destinations. But many people who rely on non-automobile modes are forced to make such decisions at a very large scale, by making residential and job location decisions that place them in walkable or bikeable neighborhoods. Existing transportation planning tools have not proved particularly effective at addressing either of these concerns. The present work begins with the postulate that the usefulness of alternative modes hinges on spatial arrangements of transportation facilities and potential destinations. However, rushing to characterize these arrangements in scalar measurements of travel time or cost risks obliterating important features that are critical to effective planning of enhancements. An equal peril, however, is to cease considering these arrangements as elements of a transportation system in order to consider them purely from a moral or aesthetic standpoint. This paper reviews a variety of theoretical and practical approaches to spatial relationships in transportation planning in order to outline the state of the art in relationship to the requirements of multi-modal, multiscale, spatially aware transportation planning. Based on this review, certain field-based techniques seem to hold particular promise for transportation planning models that can integrate the disparate requirements of different transportation modes and guide further research into operational definitions of walkable, bikeable or transit-friendly urban spaces in a form that will support effective policy and infrastructure investment decisions. This paper concludes with a concrete illustration of how scale and spatial analysis can inform multi-modal transportation planning. Simple estimation of density of destinations accessed by walking and driving trips were calculated from household travel data collected in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill). Further research is suggested to clarify and model the relationships between the observed spatial variations and specific physical features of the transportation system.
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  • In Copyright
Advisor
  • Rodriguez, Daniel
Degree
  • Master of City and Regional Planning
Degree granting institution
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Language
Location
  • Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
  • Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, United States
  • Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
  • Durham, North Carolina, United States
Extent
  • 70 p.
Access right
  • Open access
Date uploaded
  • December 10, 2010

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