CE 457

Urban Transportation Planning

and Management
2.00 credit, 2 hrs/week

Dr. Md. Hadiuzzaman

Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, BUET
email: mhadiuzzaman@ce.buet.ac.bd
Why take CE 457?
o There are many current transportation planning
decisions being made with short and long-term
consequences – Need for expertise in helping decision-
makers to make informed decisions
o Major transportation decisions have a profound impact
on the economy and sustainability of the city, while
affecting the mobility and quality of life of city residents
o A true example of civil engineering – physical
infrastructure, human behavior, environmental and
social context, policy and politics
o Interdisciplinary, Research potential, Jobs …
Syllabus
The urban transport problems and trends; road network
planning; characteristics and operation of different transit and
paratransit modes, planning transit network; estimating system
costs and benefits, pricing and financing, evaluation, transit users
attitude, policies and strategies for transit development in
metropolitan cities; freight traffic planning and management;
selected transport case studies; congestion management; safety
management; environmental issues and sustainable transport.
Reference Materials
1. Handouts

2. Books:
a. Urban Transportation Planning
by M.D. Meyer and E. J. Miller
b. Modelling Transport
by Juan de Dios Ortúzar, Luis G. Willumsen
The Big Picture…
Population & Employment
Forecasts

Trip Generation

Trip Distribution

Transportation
Mode Split Network & Service
Attributes

Trip Assignment

Link & O-D Flows,

Times, Costs, Etc.
Approach…
Develop understanding of urban transport systems

Demonstrate how to conduct a transport planning study

Develop decision and policy making aids for large-scale,

complex transportation systems

Note: The Dimensions of System Boundaries:

1. Social-non-users, users loser, user gainer;
2. Temporal-Short, mid, long term;
3. Spatial-Site, corridor, network)
Course Objectives
1) the ability to design and execute an urban transportation planning
study;

2) a working knowledge of transportation planning skills,

especially relating to travel demand analysis;

3) an understanding of current transportation planning issues

and policies; and

4) an understanding of the overall process of transportation

planning and its role within the wider context of transportation
decision-making.
Course Calendar….
Week Lecture
Week 1 Introduction to the Urban Planning Process
Transport Data: Time and Space
Week 2 Travel Demand Survey Methods
Regression Models and Applications
Week 3 Introduction to Demand Modelling
Models in Planning
Week 4 Trip Generation Model
Trip Distribution Model
Week 5 Mode Choice Model
Traffic Assignment Model
Week 6 Urban Transport Problems and Trends
Automobile Dependency: Trends, factors and Consequences
Week 7 Urban Transport Development Paths
Urban Transit System and Challenge
Week 8 Transit Operation Design

Week 9 Transit Operation Design (Contd.)

Urban Goods Movement: Characteristics, Issues and Problems

Week 10 Congestion Types and Mitigation Measures

Week 11 Urban Road Safety and Accident Studies

Week 12 Sustainable Transportation System

Preparation of Transport Master Plan (Case Study)
Week 13 Evaluating Transportation Alternatives
Introduction to the Urban Planning Process
Roles of the Transportation System
•Provide mobility - permit movement of people, goods &
services through space

•Provide accessibility - to activities which are distributed

over space and time

More recent priorities are:

•To encourage the development of socially desirable land

use

•To achieve equity and sustainability

Roles of the Transportation System

Transportation is an enabler of social and

economic activities.

Transportation is an important sector of

the economy in its own right.
Accessibility & Urban Form
Historically, transportation has shaped the size
and spatial configurations of urban areas
I - Walking-horsecar era (1800-1890).
-Absence of urban mass transportation mode.
-People had access to locations that could be reached (walked) in less than 45 minutes (4 to 6 km).
-Urban densities were very high
-Economic activities were concentrated in a central node along with residential areas.
-Reduced mobility (pedestrian area) accounts for this concentration.

Source: adapted from Muller, P.O. (1995) "Transportation and Urban Form: Stages in the Spatial Evolution of the American
Metropolis". In Hanson, S. (ed.) The Geography of Urban Transportation, 2nd Edition, New York: Guilford, p. 29.
II - Streetcar era (1890-1920).
-First forms of urban mass transportation lessened the accessibility constraint and enabled cities to
expand along main tramway (streetcar) lines, creating corridors.
-Emergence of a specialized downtown area with commercial and service activities.
-Emergence of commercial development centers along axes became apparent
-Less fortunate people, limited in their mobility, tended to remain in central areas while the wealthier
class relocated in the first suburbs.
III - Automobile era (1920-1945).
-Motorized transportation, mainly buses and cars, radially expanded cities, once again lessening the
accessibility constraint,
-Only for wealthy classes could afford their own automobiles
-Emergence of the firsts low density suburbs with increased ethnic and economic segregation.
-Decentralization of commercial and industrial activities.
-In North America, several oil and car companies bought and dismantled tramway systems.
-For instance, in 1938 General Motors and Standard oil bought the Pacific Electric Railway of Los
Angeles, dismantled it and replaced tramways with buses.
IV - The highway era (1945-present). (post World War Two)
-Large diffusion of the automobile with a growth of individual mobility.
-Highways favored the extension of full fledged suburbs, especially in North America.
-Improvements of transport infrastructures significantly increased accessibility.
-Residential and employment decentralization was thus accentuated.
-Also, several sub-centers emerged to serve suburbs, a process favored by the construction of ring roads
around metropolitan areas.
-The development of new highways which circle urban perimeters have encouraged an agglomeration of
commercial, distribution and manufacturing activities around high accessibility clusters in suburban areas.
The Urban Activity and
Transportation Systems
URBAN ACTIVITY SYSTEM TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

Land Transportation
Development Network

Automobile
Location Choice Ownership

Activity
Travel Demand
Schedules

Activity Patterns
Network Flows
Transportation Planning
Purpose of planning is to provide decision-makers with the
information they need to make informed decisions

--> is a process

--> is a means to an end (i.e., good decisions),

not an end in itself
The Context of Transportation
Planning
1. The world moves into the future as a result of decisions,
not plans
2. All decisions involve the evaluation of alternative images
of the future and the selection of the most highly valued
feasible alternative
3. Decision strategies and the quality of decisions depend
on the degree of uncertainty associated with the
available alternatives
4. Products of planning should be designed to increase the
chance of making better decisions
5. The result of planning is some form of communication
with decision-makers
Urban planning is the process of:
1. Establishing a vision for the community and the role
transportation plays within this vision
2. Understanding the types of decisions that need to be made
3. Assessing opportunities and limitations of the future
4. Identifying the short- and long-term consequences of
alternative choices
5. Relating alternative decisions to goals & objectives
6. Presenting information to decision-makers in a useful,
understandable form
7. Helping decision makers establish priorities and develop an
investment program
Steps in the Urban Transportation
Planning Process
Approaches to Urban Planning

Two figures that represent two approaches

to urban planning
Robert Moses
(1888-1981)
The most powerful person in government in New York City from 1930s
to 1950s – Advocate of high power centralized planning
Robert Moses’ legacy
 A prime example of centralized transportation planning
from the 1930s to the 1950s

 Built expressways, parks, public infrastructure at an

astonishing rate and with great attention to detail,
 but displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the process,
mostly from poor neighbourhoods

 Values embedded in the transportation planning –auto

oriented, infrastructure oriented, in some cases
discriminatory
Jane Jacobs
(1916-2006)
Advocate of human scale design
Jane Jacobs’ legacy
 The importance of the relationship of people and the
public realm

 The appreciation of networks created by diverse uses

 Understanding that neighbourhood blocks are the basic

unit of the city

 The primacy of the street as the glue of neighborhood

life

 The importance of community activism

Brief History of Urban
Transportation Planning
Planning as “highway design” 1951-52: First segments of Hwys
1950 400 & 401
1953: Metro Toronto created
Comprehensive transportation plans 1954: Detroit Transportation Study
• highway emphasis Yonge St. subway opens
1960 • construction emphasis 1958/61 Gardiner/DVP opened
1964-67: MTARTS
1967: Lakeshore GO line opens
1970 Short-range planning 1968: Bloor-Danforth subway opens
1969-72: “Highway Revolt”
• TSM 1973-74: Oil embargo
• transit emphasis 1973-75: MTTPR
1980 1979: Major oil shortages
Renewed urban growth/congestion 1982: Apple II micro computer
• new interest in data collection 1986: First TTS
1990 • construction again occurring 1989: TTC ridership peaks
• fiscal constraints 1990-95: Major recession
• sustainability concerns 1997: Hwy. 407 opens
2000 • complex decision-making 1998: Major fiscal & governance
restructuring in Ontario
environment
2001: New Toronto Official Plan
2003: Smart Growth Panel
2006: “Places to Grow” Plan
A major emphasis of the
“Places to Grow” Plan…

Multi-modal Transportation Planning

The process of defining problems, identifying alternatives,

evaluating potential solutions and selecting preferred actions that
meet community goals in a manner that includes all feasible
transportation modes
Multimodal Passenger Transportation
 Multimodal Transportation Program
Components

Intelligent transportation systems Planning and zoning

Transit facilities, services Urban design

Mixed use
Intermodal facilities
Density
Traffic engineering Community
goals Jobs housing balance
Highway capacity

Bike lanes / walkways

Demand management

Alternative Pricing Alternative Alternative Employer support

work schedules modes work locations programs
Managing Transportation Supply
 New/expanded highways, transit & intermodal facilities

 Improved traffic signalization

 Traffic engineering improvements (turn lanes, one-way

streets, reversible lanes, turn prohibitions, HOV lanes)

 Bike lanes, walkways

 Parking, intermodal facilities

 Intelligent Transportation Systems (incident detection,
motorist information, ramp metering)
Focus only on the supply side?
 Increased capacity can alleviate congestion

 But also influences travel demand

(e.g. increased auto dependence)

 Influences land use

(e.g. urban sprawl, gentrification)
Managing Transportation Demand
 Influence intensity of travel
 Carpool programs, HOV, gasoline tax, road pricing, transit
incentives, parking provision

 Influence timing of travel

 Flexible working hours, congestion pricing

 Influence spatial patterns of travel

 Work at home, alternative work locations

 Little discussion of managing freight demand

 From economic perspective, more is better!
 Time of day restrictions on goods delivery
 Consolidation of goods outside the city centre
Focus only on the demand side?
 Aggressive demand management programs can
improve congestion by 10-15%

 Generally, demand management can have local

impacts that are noticeable

 Comprehensive road pricing schemes may be an

exception
Managing Land Use
Land use policy

URBAN ACTIVITY SYSTEM TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

There are strong
Land
Development
Transportation
Network connections
between land use,
Automobile
transportation
Location Choic
e Ownership
supply and the
demand for travel
Activity Travel Demand
Schedules

Activity
Network Flows
Patterns
Managing Land Use
 Avoiding future transportation problems
requires careful attention to:
 Zoning / land use intensity
 Mixed use land development
 Local scale accessibility
 Regional scale accessibility
 Land use conflicts (e.g. heavy industry / residential)
The Urban Transportation Modelling
System (UTMS)
 Much of the analysis
Population &
Employment
Employment Forecasts component of this course is
focused on the UTMS
Trip Generation

 The “planning” component

Trip Distribution emphasizes context, process,
solutions, impacts and
evaluation
Transportation
Mode Split Network & Service
Attributes

Trip Assignment  For engineers, knowledge of

these elements of transport
planning are crucial
Link & O-D Flows,
Times, Costs, Etc.