Does Rail Transit Investment Encourage Retail Activity?

Over the past 20 years, California has made substantial investments in intra-metropolitan passenger rail infrastructure, expanding existing systems and building new ones. Such investment has the potential to encourage the growth of mixed-use transit-oriented development, defined as a high-density mix of residential and commercial uses within walking distance of rail stations. Previous studies have attempted to identify the impacts of rail transit investments on land values, residential real estate, and population characteristics. However, little research to date has examined whether rail investment stimulates economic development in the form of retail activity. In this paper, I use geocoded data on the location of retail establishments in California from 1992-2009 to examine whether newly opened rail stations have resulted in a net growth in surrounding retail activity. Results indicate that new rail stations were located in areas with initially high employment density, somewhat outside the city centers, with relatively low household incomes and property values. The impact of new stations on nearby retail activity has been highly varied: while new station openings are associated with increased retail employment in the San Francisco MSA, retail employment decreased around new stations in Sacramento, and did not significantly change in Los Angeles or San Diego

Reconsidering the Impact of Access to Transit on Local Land Markets

METRANS 11-08This research assesses the impact of new passenger rail stations on changes in land use intensity in Los Angeles County. In the county, employment outside downtown is concentrated in nodes with 3.2 million jobs (about half of all jobs in the metropolitan area). Making use of the employment centers as units of analysis reveals significant growth in both employment and population density around new stations. These results are useful for policy makers interested in assessing the indirect benefits of investment in new stations. The results are also informative for those using the Differences-in-differences approach in urban settings. While the effects of new stations are significant and positive, there is marked heterogeneity across stations, suggesting that more research is needed to understand the link between new stations and subsequent changes in land use

Location of Warehouses and Environmental Justice: Evidence From Four Metros in California

16-1.1gWarehousing activities generate substantial externalities that affect surrounding neighborhoods. Using data for four major metropolitan areas in California, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento, this study tests the relationship between the spatial distribution of warehouses and disadvantaged neighborhoods. The results show that warehouses are disproportionately located in minority neighborhoods, regardless of the urban contexts. The four metros are diversified in the roles of global trade, land availability, and development stage of the warehousing industry

Evaluating Policies and Incentives to Reduce Vehicle-Miles-Traveled and Air Pollutant Emissions through the Promotion of Telework and Remote Services

USDOT Grant 69A3551747109Caltrans TO 050The development of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and the popularity of broadband internet services make telework and teleservices available to the public, and the COVID-19 pandemic has changed people\u2019s attitudes towards telework and teleservices. In the post-pandemic era, people are more inclined to perform daily activities remotely. While the effectiveness of telework and teleservices as a potential solution to alleviate congestion and emissions remain unclear, it is necessary to understand how people's travel patterns change due to telework and teleservices in the post-pandemic era and explore to what extent telework and teleservices can reduce VMT as well as GHG and air pollutants emissions. In this project, we proposed an integrated research framework to address the research needs in Los Angeles (LA) County, which consists of field data, demand modeling, dynamic supply modeling, and environmental analysis. We designed and distributed an online survey to collect peoples\u2019 telework and teleservice statuses and activity choice preferences towards different types of teleservices, then implemented the survey data to update an activity-based model to obtain the travel demand changes. At last, the travel demand results were input to an agent-based mesoscopic transportation simulation model (LA-Sim) to evaluate the impacts on the transportation system and emissions in LA county. The survey data and model results indicate that, overall telework adoption rate rises from 6% to 24% compared to pre-pandemic era. Although the total number of trips has increased by 4%, the total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) during the post-pandemic era barely change (-1.5%). Similar results are found for emissions. This result suggests that the adoption of telework and teleservice results in a slightly net reduction in total VMT and emissions and it might be more efficient to alleviate negative impacts on local areas near freeways

Assessment of Freight System Efficiency Measure: GDP/GHG

65A0533 017 & 022This report presents an assessment of the Freight System Efficiency metric (FSE) which is being used to measure progress towards the California Sustainable Freight Action Plan (CSFAP) 2030 target of a 25% increase in freight system efficiency. We describe the data and methods used to generate FSE, and consider the extent to which the components of FSE are comparable. We then discuss the potential biases of the metric, and how these biases may affect measurement of progress toward the 2030 target. We find that the components are not fully comparable and are subject to biases that can affect measurement over time. We suggest that consideration be given to an alternative metric. At a minimum, computation of the current metric should be modified to reduce biases

Public Private Partnerships in California: Phase II Report: Section V: Institutional Capacity

This report summarizes the literature on the scope and outcomes of P3 projects in the US. It is intended to provide a summary of the state of knowledge of P3s, and serve as a basis for further research. The report discusses motivations for using P3s in transportation infrastructure investment and their advantages and disadvantages. A set of case studies show that most of the advantages identified are evident in project outcomes, while most disadvantages are not. Toll roads are discussed in more detail, and factors that are associated with toll road implementation and outcomes are identified. The report ends with a series of conclusions and their implications for California

Public Private Partnerships in California: Phase II Report: Section VI: Market for Private Capital

This section of the report assesses the current US transportation P3 market based on research, historical data, and interviews with people who work at firms in the P3 industry. It includes three parts: P3-market data sources, a summary of the interviews, and our conclusions

Public Private Partnerships in California: Phase II Report: Section III: Analytical Tools

In this section of the report, we cover the analytical tools necessary to evaluate and plan for priced facilities, principally toll roads, delivered as P3s. In addition to describing the methods - laying out technical descriptions of the analytical tools required for priced facilities - we review past performance of those tools and offer a few suggestions on improving the entire forecasting process for priced facilities. The report is divided into three sections: 1) analytical tools for demand-side factors of priced facilities (like road pricing methodology and demand/revenue forecasting); 2) analytical tools for supply-side factors of priced facilities (like construction and life cycle cost forecasting); and 3) an assessment of the drivers of forecast inaccuracy on both the demand and supply side, and how the entire forecasting process can be improved for priced facilities

Public Private Partnerships in California: Phase II Report: Section IV: Structuring P3 Projects

In this section of the report, we consider the structure of P3s through analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of four P3 contracts. We begin with the Presidio Parkway contract. The Presidio Parkway contract is the most recent P3 contract that Caltrans has prepared; as such, we used it as a baseline to represent, a) the current thinking and positions of the department; b) the department's best efforts; and, c) the best of industry-wide current practice. Using Presidio Parkway as a base, we compare and contrast it with three other P3 contracts, one each from Virginia, Texas, and Puerto Rico: the Pocahontas Parkway, Sam Rayburn Tollway, and PR-22/PR-5, respectively. We chose these contracts because, a) they are contemporary and domestic P3 contracts; b) people in the industry frequently hold up these three locales as models for P3 implementation (see Section VI Market for Private Capital); and, c) the final signed versions were readily available to us. We focus our attention on areas where the out-of-state contracts are superior to Presidio Parkway; our assumption is that any future California P3 would take the existing strengths of that contract and build up from that baseline. Please note that our analysis does not include advice that is not unique to public-private partnership contracts (e.g., clearly defining terms or establishing an order of precedence)