MEASURING COSTS AND BENEFITS OF REDUCING CONGESTION IN A GROWING CITY: STRIKING A BALANCE

The City of Oakley is a recently incorporated City in the San Francisco Bay Area and one of the fastest growing communities in California. Currently, Oakley is a semi-rural community with a population of 28,000 and employment of 4,000. The General Plan buildout for the City estimates a population of 70,000 and employment of 34,000. The City's roadway system must be upgraded from the existing mostly two-lane rural roads to a suburban roadway system consisting of multilane streets with sidewalks, bicycle lanes and other amenities to accommodate population and employment increases. The City must establish traffic service level standards as part of the General Plan process. Developing these standards necessitates the need to balance efficient traffic flow with the cost of purchasing right-of-way and constructing large arterial corridors. Fehr & Peers used the regional travel demand model to develop traffic volume forecasts on the City's major streets for the proposed General Plan buildout. Using level of service (LOS) criteria based on the 2000 Highway Capacity Manual, Fehr & Peers determined roadway class and size to accommodate various service level standards. The total cost of establishing different LOS standards including roadway construction and right-of-way acquisition were then calculated. Through an iterative process, the regional travel demand model was used to estimate overall delay under each LOS standard. This paper presents the methodology used to determine the total cost and delay associated with each service level standard, and the relationship between cost, and travel-time savings associated with different LOS standards.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0935403876
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Full conference proceedings available on CD-ROM.
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Authors:
  • Tabibnia, S
  • Fishman, S
  • Morgan, J
• Conference:
  • ITE 2004 Annual Meeting and Exhibit
  • Location: Lake Buena Vista, Florida
  • Date: 2004-8-1 to 2004-8-4
• Publication Date: 2004

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Community action programs; Economic development; Highway capacity; Level of service; Planning; Right of way (Land); Rural development; Traffic congestion; Travel demand; Travel time
• Geographic Terms: San Francisco Bay Area
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Society; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00980243
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0935403876
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 29 2004 12:00AM