Predicting Congestion: The Challenge of Shifting Travel Behavior on Estimating Trip Generation (Project E)

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.

Language

  • English

Project

  • Status: Completed
  • Funding: $182596
  • Contract Numbers:

    69A3551747104

  • Sponsor Organizations:

    Department of Transportation

    Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office
    1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
    Washington, DC  United States  20590
  • Managing Organizations:

    Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE)

    University of Florida
    365 Weil Hall
    Gainesville, FL  United States  32611
  • Project Managers:

    Tucker-Thomas, Dawn

  • Performing Organizations:

    Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE)

    University of Florida
    365 Weil Hall
    Gainesville, FL  United States  32611

    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

    UNC-CH New East Building
    Campus Box #3140
    Chapel Hill, North Carolina  United States  27599-3140
  • Principal Investigators:

    Steiner, Ruth

    McDonald, Noreen

    Combs, Tabitha

  • Start Date: 20170515
  • Expected Completion Date: 20200331
  • Actual Completion Date: 20210910
  • USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01659478
  • Record Type: Research project
  • Source Agency: Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE)
  • Contract Numbers: 69A3551747104
  • Files: UTC, RIP
  • Created Date: Feb 7 2018 10:32AM