The transportation system in the U.S. has been shaped by a core set of ideas that are embedded in professional practice. These ideas – freedom, speed, mobility, vehicles, capacity, hierarchy, separation, control, and technology – have produced a system in which most people are dependent on driving, with all the negative consequences that entails. Shifting to a system that offers people choices about their daily travel requires a shift in thinking on the part of the transportation profession. In this talk, I take a critical look at the way of thinking that, for the last century, has shaped our transportation system and consider the ways in which that thinking is – and is not – shifting.https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/trec_seminar/1248/thumbnail.jp

Handy, Susan

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PDXScholar (Portland State University)

Portland State University PDXScholar PSU Transportation Seminars Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) 4-26-2024 Shifting Gears: Toward a New Way of Thinking About Transportation Susan Handy University of California, Davis Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/trec_seminar  Part of the Transportation Commons, Urban Studies Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Handy, Susan, "Shifting Gears: Toward a New Way of Thinking About Transportation" (2024). PSU Transportation Seminars. 248. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/trec_seminar/248 This Book is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in PSU Transportation Seminars by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: pdxscholar@pdx.edu. Shifting GearsToward a new way of thinking about transportationSusan HandyApril 2024An interesting transportation moment!https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-3/d3-projects/d3-yolo-80-corridor-improvement 2https://youtu.be/fvBK7itMJOY Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesAn interesting transportation moment!An interesting transportation moment!“I believe it is time to bring the agency’s work on the RMPP to an end and delay additional expenditures for implementation of tolling on I-205 to the future when the legislature can further evaluate and provide clearer direction on tolling.” – Governor Tina Kotek, 3/11/2024An interesting transportation moment!$450 million in federal Reconnecting Communities funding for the $1.9-billion Rose Quarter 1-5 projectTxDOT’s I-35 Expansion Plan$4.9 billion to widen I-35 Austin’s Project Connect$7 billion to expand and improve transit An interesting transportation moment!Policies,DecisionsPractices,Tools, GuidelinesProfessional Thinking= Σ IdeasProfessional thinking shapes the systemTransportationSystemIs professional thinking now shifting? The transportation professionThe employees of federal, state, regional, and local agencies who hold responsibility for planning, building, operating, and maintaining the transportation system, along with the consultants they often hire and the professional associations to which they belong. Plus academics!Ideas at the core of the transport professionFreedom Cars give us freedomSpeed Faster is betterMobility Congestion needs solvingVehicles Streets are for carsCapacity We need more of itHierarchy Design to match functionSeparation Modes should not mixControl Drivers need rulesTechnology Segways solve everything= Making it easier to driveTraditional ideas embedded in transport practiceAlternatives to the traditional ideasBut do they really? JusticeBut slow can be good SlowBut not with access AccessibilityAnd for people PeopleOr maybe not DemandAnd networks that link ConnectivityExcept when they should IntegrationBut not always ChaosDepending on us AgencyFreedom Cars give us freedomSpeed Faster is betterMobility Congestion needs solvingVehicles Streets are for carsCapacity We need more of itHierarchy Design to match functionSeparation Modes should not mixControl Drivers need rulesTechnology Segways solve everything= Making it easier and safer to NOT driveCapacityProvide enough lanes to accommodate demand.“Predict and Provide”TxDOT’s I-35 Expansion Plan$4.9 billion to widen I-35 “Predict and Provide”“With that economic growth comes a demand for more transportation infrastructure, the work will never conclude on Interstate 35 between Austin and San Antonio – I can say that pretty definitively…. ”- TxDOT Executive Director, Feb 2024https://www.kxan.com/news/local/hays/work-on-i35-will-never-conclude-txdot-executive-director-speaks-at-san-marcos-transportation-summit/Induced Travel“A newly opened… or widened street immediately becomes glutted by the access of cars that hitherto have reposed more in their garages than they have utilized the streets.” – Los Angeles official, 1920sInduced Travel“A capacity expansion of 10% is likely to increase vehicle-miles-travelled by 3% to 6% in the short-run and 6% to 10% in the long-run.” UC Davis’ Induced Travel Calculatorhttps://travelcalculator.ncst.ucdavis.edu/ “A decades-old plan to widen one of America’s busiest cargo corridors was scrapped Thursday, as transportation officials acknowledged they must find a new way to lessen traffic without adding lanes.”Rethinking freewaysRethinking freeways“The plan… would split the $743 million into:• $100 million for active transportation;• $188 million for arterial roadway and complete streets projects;• $210 million for freeway safety and interchange improvements;• $80 million for goods movement;• $125 million for transit; and• $40 million for community programs.“That total includes $40 million in funding for a new program called Strategic Technical Assistance for Reparative Transportation Uplifting People - or START-UP for short.”“Freeway removal supporters say the streets can handle the change, which would open several blocks for commercial development – and tear down a barrier between downtown, the lakefront, and the Historic Third Ward.”Rethinking freewaysRethinking freewaysHarbor Drive Tom McCall Waterfront Parkhttps://www.cnu.org/what-we-do/build-great-places/harbor-drive-removal “New York City completed a crucial final step on Wednesday in a decades-long effort to become the first American city to roll out a comprehensive congestion pricing program, one that aims to push motorists out of their cars and onto mass transit by charging new tolls to drive into Midtown and Lower Manhattan… The program… will charge most passenger cars $15 a day to enter at 60th Street and below in Manhattan..”Manage demand insteadVehiclesMaximize vehicle throughput.Accommodate cars.Bigger vehicles-20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80%Land Rover Range…Porsche 911 CoupeBMW 3 SeriesFord FiestaFord MustangVolkswagen GolfMini CooperFiat 500Change in Weight  Since Original Model Source: ZutoConsumption of spaceReallocation of spaceA road diet!Pandemic streetsNew prioritieshttps://la.streetsblog.org/2024/04/11/measure-hla-is-now-officially-law-for-l-a-city“Measure HLA, the Healthy Streets L.A. initiative, is now officially the law for the city of Los Angeles. HLA requires that, during street repaving, the city implements bus, bike, and walk improvements approved in the city’s Mobility Plan 2035… Measure HLA was approved with 65.50 percent of votes cast…”Economic benefitsNarrowing the right-of-way from 55 to 16 feet would save home buyers $100,000 from reduced land consumption (Millard-Ball, 2021)Business activity goes up when bike lanes are installed, even when parking is removed (Clifton, et al. 2012)Rethinking parkingFun fact:  parking spaces outnumber cars 3.3 to 1 in LAAnother fun fact:  14% of land in LA County is parking!MobilityThe goal is movement.Congestion is bad.Costs of congestion• Commuter stress• Reduced worker productivity• Lost economic activity• And so on“Eventually, we’re talking billions of wasted hours, and the cost of delay at that scale is just enormous.”   – David Shrank, TTI researcherLevel of ServiceLOS = f(volume/capacity)Accessibility as the goal“Transportation – I blush to utter a truism now so frequently ignored – is a means and not an end.” – Lewis Mumford in The New Yorker, 1955“What’s transportation for?…  The purpose of transportation is to bring people or goods to places where they are needed...”– Lewis Mumford, The Highway and the City, 195815-minute city, et al.Accessibility measureshttps://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/182849.aspxVMT in place of LOSUpdated guidelines for the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that focus evaluation of transportation impacts on VMT rather than LOS37SpeedThe thrill of speed.Speed as efficiency.Minimize travel time.What speed means for pedestriansSpeed limitsThe 85th Percentile Rule:  Set the speed limit at the speed at which 85% of the drivers are going that speed or less.How fast drivers are drivingHow fast drivers are allowed to driveHow fast we want drivers to driveHow fast drivers are allowed to driveDesign speed“…every effort should be made to use as high a design speed as practical to attain a desired degree of safety.” Straight roadsWide lanesClear zonesLower risk of crashingFaster speedsTraffic calmingSpeed bumpRaised crosswalkVertical deflectionTraffic circleChicanesHorizontal deflectionBulb-outsNeck-downHorizontal narrowingSlow is goodHierarchy Separation ControlConnectivity Integration ChaosFreedomThe freedom of the open road.Car = ability to go where and when we wantWhen the car ≠ freedom0%5%10%15%20%25%30%Americanhouseholdswithout a carHouseholds withincomes under$25K without acarhttps://news.aaa-calif.com/news/driving-costs-hit-six-year-low-aaa-finds43 weeks of work to pay for the average new car!Walking or biking while black or brown0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%Solicited while on roadway or pavementDidn't obey railroad traffic control deviceDidn't yield (tunnel/overhead walk provided)On limited access facility or connecting rampWalked into path of vehicle suddentlyDidn't cross in crosswalk with green turn arrowDidn't yield to trafficObstructed flow of trafficDidn't cross in crosswalkDidn't obey traffic control deviceEntered roadway against red lightCrossed roadway facing red lightIn roadway or left shoulder (no sidewalks)Didn't cross road with shortest routeCross intersection diagonallyIn roadway (sidewalks provided)Black Non-BlackCitations in Jacksonville, Florida, where Black residents are 30% of the populationRiding transit while female0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%Some formofharassmentVerbalharassmentSexualtouchingFollowing Flashing Forcedsexual actPercent of Women Experiencing Harassment on TransitTransportation equityTransportation justiceMobility justiceSource: Untokening CollectiveTechnologyIt will solve all our problems.We can have our cake and eat it, too.Autonomous vehicles?Safety? More driving?Going DriverlessFuture Mobility?Shifting Ideas in the ProfessionJusticeSlowAccessibilityPeopleDemandConnectivityIntegrationChaosAgencyFreedomSpeedMobilityVehiclesCapacityHierarchySeparationControlTechnologyParadigm shift in US transport planning?The Old Way:            Make it easier to driveThe New Way:        Make is easier to NOT driveAcceptance levels unscientific version0204060801001910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030Traditional Alternative??Highway 101 Marin-Sonoma Narrows Marin and Sonoma’s SMART TrainThe “throw everything at it” mentalityThe full range of challenges PollutionResiliencyCongestionEquitySprawlSafetyWildlifeAccesshttps://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2024/04/18/47145013/despite-record-high-traffic-crash-deaths-pbot-leaders-say-vision-zero-is-workingCan  we free people from their cars?Do we need to get there so fast?Aren’t there better ways to use our street space?Flying cars? Really?Should congestion be our primary concern?We need some deep thinkinghttps://usa.streetsblog.org/2024/04/01/data-state-dots-look-nothing-like-the-residents-they-serve“According to the latest HR data from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the highest-ranking executives responsible for many of America's roadways were 70.9 percent male and 85.3 percent white, excluding those who identified as Hispanic or Latino.”What are the implications?Some diversification might helpLet me know what you think!slhandy@ucdavis.edu

Shifting Gears: Toward a New Way of Thinking About Transportation

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Shifting Gears: Toward a New Way of Thinking About Transportation

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