AT-GRADE OR NOT AT-GRADE: THE EARLY TRAFFIC QUESTION IN LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT ROUTE PLANNING

The planning, design, and construction of a light rail transit (LRT) line require that a wide range of complex issues be resolved. Understanding the degree to which individual issues can be addressed at each stage of the process can significantly reduce effort and time needed to gain community acceptance and to implement the LRT program. Important tools are effective methods for dealing with traffic issues in the feasibility and planning stages of LRT lines where early decisions need to be made between horizontal and vertical route alignment alternatives. Traffic issues play a critical part in making these decisions, and transit planners and traffic engineers need to know the potential magnitude of LRT impacts on traffic circulation, parking, and the degree of LRT priority or grade separation for which to plan. The grade separation issue is particularly critical, as it directly affects the operational, economic, and political viability of an LRT line. Traffic analysis and evaluation techniques can be used effectively to make early decisions on vertical and horizontal LRT alignments, to both guide LRT planning policy and focus subsequent LRT design efforts.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/sr/sr221/221-024.pdf
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309047137
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Board Special Report No. 221, Light Rail Transit: New System Successes at Affordable Prices - Papers presented at the National Conference on Light Rail Transit, May 8-11, 1988, San Jose, California, Conducted by the Transportation Research Board. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Bates, Michael
  • Lee, Leo
• Conference:
  • National Conference on Light Rail Transit
  • Location: San Jose California, United States
  • Date: 1988-5-8 to 1988-5-11
• Publication Date: 1989

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 351-367
• Monograph Title: LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT: NEW SYSTEM SUCCESSES AT AFFORDABLE PRICES
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Board Special Report
  • Issue Number: 221
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0360-859X

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alignment; Bus priority; Conferences; Decision making; Design; Grade separations; Impacts; Light rail transit; Parking; Route choice; Traffic; Traffic signal preemption
• Uncontrolled Terms: Horizontal alignment; Route planning; Vertical alignment
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00483675
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0-309-04713-7
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: May 31 1990 12:00AM