Development Review in the District of Columbia: Transitioning from a Traditional Traffic Impact Study to Comprehensive Multi-Modal Transportation Review

As part of the District Department of Transportation’s (DDOT) vision and commitment to more sustainable travel practices, safer streets and access to goods and services, DDOT evaluates the effect of public and private development proposals that come before the District’s Office of Zoning. Previously, this evaluation focused largely on automobile impacts on the District’s roadway network. Given the high percentage non-auto commuting trips, along with an extensive capital and operational investment in the District’s comprehensive transportation infrastructure, DDOT has transitioned to a new multimodal paradigm for evaluating a development’s impacts. To meet multi-modal strategic objectives in the District’s Comprehensive Plan, DDOT has transitioned to a structured model for evaluating transportation impacts and potential mitigation across all travel modes. This model is built upon new comprehensive transportation review guidelines, which replace the traditional traffic impact study and provide a standardized process to a developer, delineating the method of collecting and analyzing data in support of their project in order to be in compliance with DDOT policies. In addition, the new guidelines provide a process for the interpretation of data, allowing DDOT to develop opinions and recommendations to a zoning body on a development’s impacts. Further, a new set of standardized forms and reporting documents ensure consistent and structured interaction among DDOT, developers, and zoning bodies, throughout the zoning process from project inception through permitting.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD30 Transportation and Land Development.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Transportation Research Board

    500 Fifth Street, NW
    Washington, DC  United States  20001
  • Authors:
    • Zimbabwe, Sam
    • Parker, Martin
    • Henson, Jamie
    • White, Bryon
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2013

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: References;
  • Pagination: 17p
  • Monograph Title: TRB 92nd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01477063
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 13-4172
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Mar 28 2013 4:47PM