Accessibility-Based Evaluation of Transportation and Land-Use Planning: From Laboratory to Practice

For decades, transportation planning—and the transportation aspects of land-use planning—have employed metrics of mobility as the centerpiece of their methodology. Highway level of service is notable among these and is used by both transportation planning (through its “predict-and-provide” approach) and land-use planning (through traffic-impact analysis) to both shape and evaluate development outcomes. Yet these approaches are inconsistent with the core understanding, shared among the transportation professions, that the purpose of transportation is not movement, but access. This notion implies that accessibility, rather than mobility, is the appropriate rubric under which to plan and evaluate transportation. The centrality of accessibility to transportation has been well understood in the research literature since the 1970s, but accessibility-based planning has been little incorporated into practice. Within this context, this project is an investigation into three questions: 1. What has been the impact of mobility-based planning on the planning process and physical outcomes; 2. What are the impediments to a shift to accessibility-based planning; and 3. What are approaches to overcoming those impediments? The first question was explored with five case studies of how mobility-based planning plays out in practice. Impediments to the mobility-to-accessibility shift were studied through a series of interviews and focus groups with transportation professionals and decision makers. Impediments ranged from technical challenges to institutional constraints to difficulties in communicating the idea of accessibility. One approach to overcoming the challenges of communicating is graphical. The report includes a graphical primer designed to communicate accessibility concepts to the planning professional and the layperson. Other approaches include introducing considerations and interests from beyond transportation, including economic and real-estate development, both of which are better attuned to the concept of accessibility than traditional transportation planning. Cities, being a relatively comprehensive and integrated level of government may have a particularly important role to play here, since accessibility inherently spans transportation and land use, realms traditionally institutionally divided from each another.

• Record URL:
  http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/nextrans/assets/pdfs/new/135UMY2.1%20Accessibility%20Based%20Evaluation%20of%20Transportation%20and%20Land%20Use%20Planning-%20From%20Laboratory%20to%20Practice-showcase_final%20report.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

  College of Architecture and Urban Planning
  Ann Arbor, MI  United States  48109

  NEXTRANS

  Purdue University
  3000 Kent Avenue
  Lafayette, IN  United States  47906-1075

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Levine, Jonathan
  • Grengs, Joe
  • Zielinski, Susan
  • Thün, Geoffrey
• Publication Date: 2016-12-16

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Tables;
• Pagination: 114p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accessibility; Case studies; City planning; Economic development; Land use planning; Mobility; Real estate development; Transportation planning
• Uncontrolled Terms: Graphical techniques; Impediments
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01628896
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NEXTRANS Project No. 135UMY2.1
• Contract Numbers: DTRT12-G-UTC05
• Files: UTC, TRIS, RITA, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 15 2017 5:01PM