Up in the Air: New Urban Designs for LRT Stations in Highway Medians

Transit advocates argue for the positive implications of transit stations on their surroundings, yet certain physical factors and site restrictions may undermine positive outcomes. To contain construction costs, avoid right-of-way acquisition, increase train speeds, and limit modal conflicts, some cities, including several in California, construct light rail train systems in existing highway rights-of-way. Some questions, however, about this strategy, include the impact such stations have on adjacent neighborhoods (in terms of land values, noise, and safety) and the lack of integration with surrounding activities and land uses, resulting in lost opportunities for transit-oriented development. Scholarship exists on the effects of such stations on real estate values and economic development but little has been done on how urban design might achieve better integration of highway median stations with neighborhoods. The proposed research 1) documents the various obstacles such stations face in leveraging light rail transit (LRT) investments for transit-oriented development; 2) examines case studies of different urban design strategies for better integration of such stations to their surroundings; 3) develops a set of performance and functional measures for different urban design solutions; and 4) suggests urban design guidelines to enhance the potential for developing transit supportive nodes in the vicinity of highway median stations.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $93826.00
• Contract Numbers:

  7496

• Sponsor Organizations:

  California Department of Transportation

  1227 O Street
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95843

  Department of Transportation

  Research and Special Programs Administration
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC    20590
• Performing Organizations:

  University of California Transportation Center (UCTC)

  University of California, Berkeley
  2614 Dwight Way, 2nd Floor
  Berkeley, CA  United States  94720-1782

  University of California, Los Angeles

  Los Angeles, CA  United States 
• Principal Investigators:

  Loukaitou-Sideris, Anastasia

• Start Date: 20100801
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• Source Data: RiP Project 27982

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Elevated guideways; Land use planning; Light rail transit; Medians; Policy making; Rail transit stations; Sustainable development; Transit oriented development; Urban design
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Policy; Railroads; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01463736
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: University of California Transportation Center (UCTC)
• Contract Numbers: 7496
• Files: UTC, RIP, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 2:29PM