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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Statewide Innovative Corridor Planning Study</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/2643440</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This study will increase our knowledge of best practices for coordinated corridor planning and provide a reference guidebook for Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) planners. An improved corridor planning process would include approaches to harmonize transportation and land use. It would contribute to more efficient and sustainable urban development. The focus would be to improve planning for projects in CDOT’s 10-Year Plan pipeline.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 23 Dec 2025 13:57:18 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/2643440</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Southeast Los Angeles (SELA) Initiative
</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1637647</link>
      <description><![CDATA[SELA region is 62 square miles and includes 11 cities, 4 unincorporated areas, a high proportion of manufacturing and warehousing, and major highway and rail facilities serving port related freight (Figure 1). The population is majority Hispanic, generally low income, and classified by the state’s primary environmental burden mapping tool, CalEnviroScreen, as having high pollution burden. This case study is motivated by and leverages an earlier analysis of the area conducted by USC in 2017 in collaboration with the CSULA Pat Brown Institute and the SELA Collaborative, a partnership of 11 community and non-profit organizations (Giuliano et al, 2018). The research subtasks performed as part of this proposal are based on the above mentioned analysis and community input, including input received at a November 2017 community summit that gathered over 250 local elected officials, civic leaders, and community members. There are two main research subtasks in this the SELA initiative research plan and one engagement and outreach subtask.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 11 Jul 2019 17:39:32 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1637647</guid>
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      <title>Predicting Congestion: The Challenge of Shifting Travel Behavior on Estimating Trip Generation (Project E)</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1501594</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In recent years, transportation professionals have become increasingly aware that transportation planning and engineering practices need to be matched to the context in which they occur and the population they serve. Communities, primarily urban ones, have struggled with how to measure traffic impacts of development in dense, mixed-use communities where residents can walk, bicycle, and use transit to get to destinations. Conventional traffic impact assessments are often based upon the Institute for Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation Handbook, which many argue is based upon auto-oriented suburban development. In 2017, ITE issued a position paper describing the purpose and need for a new recommended practice (RP) (Draft Update to Recommended Practice), which proposed a Multimodal Transportation Impact Assessment for Site Development, which would shift the emphasis from traffic (i.e., impact on highways) to transportation impact assessment.
This project explores the implementation of traffic impact assessment (TIA) in urban communities throughout the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic States. We conducted a literature and practice review of state and regional policies for transportation impact assessment to understand the framework within which local governments operate with respect to the preparation of TIA. Interviews with 93 cities and counties in four states – North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Florida – were conducted to understand how cities and counties use innovative methods to conduct TIA. We learned that state regulations vary significantly across these states, and regional agencies have a limited role in traffic impact assessment. Local governments use a variety of innovations, including waivers and variances based on the characteristics of the development, requirements to accommodate non-auto modes, ad hoc modifications to project design, and adjusting the level of service measurements. This research can inform local governments about the options they have to modify transportation impact assessments to make them multimodal and context sensitive.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 Feb 2018 10:32:15 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1501594</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Understanding Economic and Business Impacts of Street Improvements for Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility - A Multi-City Multi-Approach Exploration</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1420073</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Many cities across the country, as part of Complete Streets initiatives or to promote community livability and environmental sustainability, have engaged in street improvement or transportation infrastructure upgrade projects that increase access and mobility for pedestrians and bicyclists through a reduction of on-street parking or traffic lanes. With various transportation modes competing for scarce resources (including right-of-way and transportation funding), city planners and transportation agencies often struggle with how to justify these infrastructure investments for non-motorized modes such as bicycling and walking, particularly when driving is still the predominant mode of transportation in most cities. There is a vital need to understand whether and how these investments impact economic vitality, business activities and neighborhood equity in surrounding areas. This proposed research project will be the first component of a larger national study of the economic and business impacts of street improvements for bicycle and pedestrian mobility. By examining multiple data sources, utilizing multiple longitudinal economic and business activity indicators (e.g., employment by industry sector, number of establishments, business revenues, etc.), and applying distributional analysis and spatially-based econometric approaches to a variety of street improvement corridors (treatment and control) in 4-5 selected study cities across the US, this proposed study aims to accomplish two main objectives: (i) to establish whether and how these types of investments impact economic vitality, business activities and demographic composition of surrounding neighborhoods with outcomes that are applicable to additional cities and corridors for pre-implementation assessments; and (ii) to develop a systematic and rigorous methodological approach that is replicable to other cities and corridors for post-implementation evaluation and analysis. The work will provide policy makers and planners with a solid research and practical foundation as well as a robust analytical framework to strategize the implementation of a multimodal transportation network and to support non-motorized transportation infrastructure investments.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 16 Aug 2016 16:51:06 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1420073</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Land Use Master Planning for Environmental Sustainability</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1326497</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A growing movement recognizes that patterns of land use and development have long-term environmental, social, and economic consequences. Sustainable land use planning, or Smart Growth, can shape vibrant communities, build strong economies, and foster a healthy environment. In addition to comprehensive growth plans, many state and local governments have developed Smart Growth scorecards or assessment tools to help decision-makers evaluate the extent to which land use plans and policies meet their criteria for Smart Growth. These scorecards can help local jurisdictions evaluate the effectiveness of their land use planning and development goals and establish a policy agenda or framework for sustainability.  While the Office of Sustainable Communities at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has collected and organized a wide variety of municipal-level and project-specific scorecards, developed by a number of state and local governments, there has not been an evaluation of Smart Growth scorecards. An evaluation of Smart Growth scorecards is needed to determine best practices that can help jurisdictions of all sizes establish a policy agenda or framework for sustainability. The Mid-Atlantic Transportation Sustainability Center University Transportation Center (MATS UTC) research team, led by the University of Delaware (UD), proposes to help fill this gap in the literature with exploratory research on of the use of Smart Growth scorecards as the basis of evaluating community sustainability goals that are set forth in comprehensive plans. A review and assessment of "best practice" smart growth scorecards will be conducted for states and select urban, suburban, and rural local government jurisdictions with the UTC Region 3 area. This approach broadly reflects smart growth principles and represents a significant advancement in the field of the implementation of smart growth techniques and tools. These innovations have great potential impact on designing and testing a scorecard tool for citizens and decision makers to determine whether or not a community is growing smart and implementing policy changes based on scorecard responses. Researchers from UD and Marshall University (MU) will conduct research from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Scott, a public policy scientist with UD's Institute for Public Administration (IPA), and Li, a civil engineer with the Delaware Center for Transportation, will focus their applied research efforts by analyzing Smart Growth planning and assessment tools that support community sustainability and drafting case studies. Dayan, the geospatial sciences program manager with MU's Rahall Transportation Institute, has worked to develop strategic approaches to foster sustainability of rural communities. She will assist by analyzing the applicability of Smart Growth assessment tool criteria to rural communities and drafting rural community Smart Growth case studies. Project outcomes will be implemented and disseminated in several ways.  First, a literature review will be conducted to provide a critical examination of state and local government-level scorecards being utilized in the UTC Region 3 area. The literature review will identify scorecard "best practices"--in terms of (1) assessment processes (2) criteria being used to evaluate community sustainability, and (3) the extent to which scorecards are applicable to urban, suburban, or rural communities. A matrix will be prepared to summarize aspects of best practice scorecards being used by states and a sampling of urban, suburban and rural local governments in the Region 3 area.  Finally, case studies will be prepared that highlight practical application of Smart Growth scorecards at state and local government levels.  Outcomes of the research will be summarized in a whitepaper that will be available for dissemination electronically. Second, an analysis of best practice scorecards will be conducted to develop a framework for an assessment tool/scorecard that can be used for sustainable land use planning in the State of Delaware. A scorecard/assessment tool will be developed that will be a synthesis of identified best practices and be adjusted to reflect the policies and regulatory landscape of the State. Communities outside of Delaware will benefit from the basic strategy outlined in the scorecard, but will be tailored for use by Delaware local governments. The proposed scorecard approach will be evaluated before it becomes widely available for use to ensure its quality. The evaluation will make sure that the approach is useful to the community and achieves its intended objectives. Once tested, the scorecard will be available online via IPA's Delaware Complete Communities Planning Toolbox and training will be provided via IPA's Planning Education Training program. Finally, the broader impact of the project will be further expanded to reach audiences ranging from university educators to land use/transportation/environmental planning practitioners, to students. Educational goals of the project will be achieved by 1) enhancing students' knowledge and competence in the area of environmental sustainability and 2) providing local government professionals and decision makers with a simple and easy-to-use broad assessment tool for community sustainability. This project is a viable subject for a webinar, which will provide a better understanding of how these research results can be implemented such as 1) the challenges and opportunities of planning for "environmentally sustainable" land uses; 2) the current state of knowledge related to smart growth and development; and 3) the effectiveness of using scorecards to assess proposed smart growth project/policies. The audience for this webinar includes: planning professionals, land use managers/consultants, transportation planners and engineers, elected officials and local government leaders, members of the media, and academics. A variety of tools are used by IPA (www.ipa.udel.edu and www.completecommunitiesde.org), Delaware Center for Transportation (http://sites.udel.edu/dct), and Marshall University (www.njrati.org/research) to help disseminate research results to researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors (e.g., respective websites, E-mail lists, newsletters, and social media). Final products of this project will be 1) a whitepaper that summarizes outcomes of the literature review and assessment of "best practice" Smart Growth Scorecards in Region 3, 2) development of a scorecard tool for the State of Delaware, which will be tested prior to use and designed to be broadly applied to other jurisdictions, and 3) guidelines for using the scorecard tool as a framework to help communities assess their sustainable land use planning and smart growth practices. A key issue for community sustainability is the relationship between land use, transportation, and environmental planning.  Conventionally, transportation planning has been conducted at a state or regional level while land use planning and decision-making has been made at the local level.  The evaluation smart growth scorecards being used at the state and local levels will identify examples of "best practices" in terms of both the assessment tool and criteria being used to evaluate sustainable policies and practices.  In addition, identifying aspects of/criteria for "best practice" Smart Growth scorecards can provide a framework for local jurisdictions that seek to develop their own assessment tools. The benefit of this approach is that the scorecard is a simple, efficient, and easy-to-use broad assessment tool that allows communities to collaboratively assess whether they have the right tools in place to handle projected smart growth and future development. This approach encourages a collaborative dialogue and active engagement among local citizens and community stakeholders who wish to provide input on public policy decisions that may lead to smart growth pr]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 09 Oct 2014 01:00:51 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1326497</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Reducing Energy Use and Emissions through Innovative Technologies and Community Designs: Methodology and Application in Virginia</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1290684</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This project aims to quantify the impacts of growth and technology strategies at the regional level by using modeling, simulation, and visualization tools, with the overall goal of enhancing livability and sustainability. The most important research outcome is the creation of a modeling and simulation system capable of addressing interactions between land use, transportation, and emissions as the foundation for research on sustainable urban development strategies (e.g., compact growth and eco-friendly transportation information delivery). Such systems will be of interest to state and regional planning agencies as they attempt to reduce gasoline consumption and emissions. The noticeable outcomes of the project will include the development of a modeling framework for evaluation of strategies that encourage alternative mode usage and provide eco-information to travelers.  The framework will be applied to a test-case (Hampton Roads region in Virginia), and the results will be documented in a technical report, academic papers, and presentations at transportation conferences. The outcomes of the project include planning tools that encourage the consideration, evaluation and implementation of more robust growth and eco-friendly transportation strategies.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 04 Feb 2014 01:01:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1290684</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Assessing the Relationship between Transportation Mode Choice and Transportation Land Consumption</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1250486</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The goal of this study is to develop models relating mode choice to the amount of land used for transportation in a city. With the increased emphasis being placed on building transit oriented developments in Connecticut and across the country, there is an immediate need to improve our knowledge relating to the efficient use of land in dense urban places and how this land allocation is affected by mode choice in our transportation system. The wider importance of this work stems from the fact that there is growing consensus that compact, dense urban areas are some of most sustainable places, particularly from the perspective of the transportation, energy and climate impacts. Our proposed research is grounded in the fact that there is also growing evidence to suggest that such compact, dense urban zones are difficult, if not impossible, to create in the face of high levels of car use. However, this evidence is largely based on qualitative observation, as there is currently no realistic model for quantifying the complex interrelationship between car use level and land consumption. This research aims to remedy this gap in our knowledge by building on both the empirical work that we have done at University of Connecticut and the theoretical models that were developed at University of Pennsylvania. The model resulting from this project will add needed rigor for urban planning by providing tools for quantifying the economic, social and environmental advantages and costs associated various types of transportation systems and understanding the extent to which mix of modes support the building of sustainable urban places.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 15 May 2013 01:00:59 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1250486</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Fate of Pathogens in Transportation Runoff and Stormwater Collection Systems</title>
      <link>https://rip.trb.org/View/1228247</link>
      <description><![CDATA[One of the leading contributions to nonpoint source pollution is urban runoff, which includes a large amount of sediments and sediment-associated metals, nutrients, and pathogens from the construction of roadways and other urban development. Traditional systems for stormwater collection are designed to prevent flooding, not to provide contaminant removal. One class of pollutants of concern for the Environmental Protection Agency is pathogens. Although the transport of pathogens and other fecal organisms across urban surfaces has been recognized for years, very little is known about their fate in stormwater collection systems. Early data has shown that pathogens in urban runoff and stormwater can partition into sediments in the detention basins, and a major research opportunity has developed regarding the ultimate environmental fate of pathogens in these systems. Whereas, most stormwater treatment studies report the difference between influent and effluent pollutant concentrations as measured by first flush or composite grab sampling, the focus of this study will be the fate of pathogens in settleable sediments. In order to initiate the research, three main tasks are proposed: 1. Quantify the recovery of pathogens from sediment samples using existing methods. 2. Determine the spatial distribution and re-suspension of pathogens in drainage ponds in compound field studies in conjunction with the Kansas Biological Survey. 3. Collect sediment cores from treatment systems In this project, sediment-associated pollutants will be quantified, including the survivability of human pathogens in the sediments of these systems. The ultimate goal of the work is to ascertain the potential for sequestration and resuspension of pathogens in stormwater systems and to determine if this poses any public health risk.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:17:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://rip.trb.org/View/1228247</guid>
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