Abstracts for the 2006 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting
The Market for Car Sharing Operations in the United States (James Andrew, Frank Douma)
Paper | Poster
ABSTRACT
A study of the market and use of car sharing programs in the United States was conducted through interviews with managers of car sharing programs, focus groups of users of car sharing programs and an analysis of neighborhoods where car sharing has been successful. Data from this research reveals that the following factors of neighborhoods appear to affect the success of a car-sharing program: a high density of individuals aged 21-39, a high proportion of residents commuting by transit or walking, and a high proportion of renters, non-family households and single person households. These findings concur with those of many other studies. Finally, criteria for selecting appropriate neighborhoods in a city without a car sharing service are proposed.
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Transportation Needs of Foreign-Born Ethnic Sub-Populations in Rural and Urban
Communities: An Environmental Justice Perspective (Susanna Wilson, Frank Douma)
Paper | Poster
ABSTRACT
The concept of environmental justice requires transportation planners and policy makers to address the distinctive implications of transportation projects and services for traditionally underserved or disadvantaged populations. While in past decades, ethnic and foreign-born populations have often been concentrated in large metropolitan areas, small and medium sized communities are experiencing increasing levels of inward migration of foreign-born populations. Language and cultural barriers often make it difficult for multi-modal planning to comprehend and address the distinctive values, needs and behaviors of these diverse groups. By analyzing focus groups of different ethnic populations in the Twin Cities of Minnesota in comparison to those in smaller communities, this paper addresses differences between the transportation values and needs of foreign-born ethnic populations in the rural or small town environment with those in the larger metropolitan environment. The value of examining the transportation attitudes and needs of ethnic and foreign-born populations is important to implement environmental justice principles, as it increases the role of low-income and minority populations in the public involvement and decision-making process.
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Pricing Comes to Minnesota: Attitudinal Evaluation of I-394 HOT Lane Project (Frank Douma, Johanna Zmud, Tyler Patterson)
Paper (Word format) | Poster
ABSTRACT
The I-394 MnPASS lanes opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2005. As High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes such as these are relatively new to the United States, comprehensive evaluation data is scarce. Consequently, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, which operates the lanes, is sponsoring rigorous evaluation of this facility, including both technical and attitudinal evaluations. This paper discusses the methods and results of the latter, including a description of the development of the longitudinal panel survey methodology, and a summary of the results from the baseline wave.
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A Congestion Pricing Education and Outreach Model: The I-394 MnPASS Community Task Force (Kenneth R. Buckeye, Lee W. Munnich, Jr.)
Paper
ABSTRACT
After a decade of public discussion and political debate, the I-394 MnPASS Express Lane, Minnesota’s first high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane, opened in May 2005. The MnPASS project was designed to improve the efficiency of I-394 by increasing the person- and vehicle-carrying capabilities of existing high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes; maintaining free flow speeds for transit and carpools; and using electronic toll collection -- tags/transponders and readers -- for dynamic pricing and electronic enforcement. The I-394 Express Lane Community Task Force was formed to help citizens and stakeholders fully understand the project and its goals and to provide advice and guidance during the development of the project. The task force is part of an extensive education, outreach and public involvement process that has been critical to the success of the I-394 MnPASS project and increases the likelihood that Minnesota citizens will support such projects in the future.
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A Longitudinal Analysis of the Effect of Bicycle Facilities on Commute Mode Share (Gary Barnes, Kristin Thompson, Kevin Krizek)
Paper | Presentation
ABSTRACT
This paper uses census data to describe changes in bicycle commute mode shares between 1990 and 2000 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN area, and specifically the impact of new bicycle facilities that were created during this decade. Previous efforts to understand the impact of facilities on bicycling rates have compared different locations; however, with this method it is not possible to determine the extent to which differences may have already existed before the facilities were built. This study addresses this problem by comparing the same locations before and after facilities were built, using a number of different ways of measuring facility impact.
We find that the locations where facilities were built did in fact already have very high bicycle commute mode shares relative to the rest of the region; but also that these differences became even larger after the facilities were built. The areas within our facility buffers showed mode share increasing from 1.7% to 2.0%, while the remainder of the region remained constant at 0.2%. All individual facilities showed statistically significant increases in bicycle mode share. Central city trips crossing the Mississippi River showed a much larger increase than trips that did not; this reflects a number of significant improvements to bicycle accommodation on bridges during this decade. Finally, downtown Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota, where most of the facilities were concentrated, showed large increases in bicycle mode share, while downtown St. Paul, which had few improvements, had no increase.
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Developing a Simple System for Public Involvement Conflict Management (Gary Barnes, Stephanie Erickson)
Paper |Poster
ABSTRACT
This paper describes a project to develop a simple system for managing conflict in transportation project public involvement. While commercially taught systems are effective, they can be costly and complex, and seem more appropriate for those who can use them frequently. This work by contrast was focused on finding simple methods for managing less challenging projects, and was aimed toward those who may do public involvement only occasionally.
Minnesota transportation professionals with considerable public involvement experience were asked to discuss a project that they felt could provide significant lessons about conflict management. They were interviewed using a standard set of questions about the project, the public involvement process, the reasons for conflict, how it was managed, what worked, and what didn’t. The interviews encompassed a variety of project types and settings.
The interviews confirmed a previous finding that conflicts can be categorized into a small number of distinct types. An important new finding was that creating an atmosphere of trust and respect between the stakeholders and the transportation agency is critical to the management and even prevention of all the different conflict types.
The work collects in one place the most significant insights on how to manage public involvement conflict from those with the most experience and success in the area. As such it should be useful not only to non-experts who need to work with the public on a limited basis, but also to experts who desire to confirm their own ideas and experiences against those of others.
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The Financial Benefits of Early Acquisition of Transportation Right of Way (Gary Barnes, Sarah Watters)
Paper | Presentation
ABSTRACT
Right of way acquisition is a substantial element of the cost of many highway construction and expansion projects. Given land price appreciation on the one hand, and the opportunity cost of owning land on the other, there is potentially a great deal of money at stake in the question of whether right of way should be purchased well in advance of when construction is expected to take place. This paper develops a theoretical framework for thinking about this issue, and describes some results from an analysis at a fairly aggregate geographic level.
The general result is that it is not generally a good idea financially to buy land far in advance of when it is needed, given the average rate of land price increase and the cost of money as well as other costs associated with early acquisition. The one clear exception to this is land that is in imminent danger of development. The research did find some support for the notion that certain types of land in specific locations can appreciate in price much faster than the average, making land potentially a good investment in these cases. However, it is not clear that it is possible to predict these situations with sufficient accuracy to take advantage of the potential cost savings.
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Transportation Finance, Congestion, and Equity: Some Policy Perspectives (Adeel Lari, Michael Iacono)
Paper (Word format) | Presentation
ABSTRACT
Traffic congestion continues to be a major concern for policymakers and transportation professionals in most large U.S. metropolitan regions. While demands for travel continue to increase, traditional sources of revenue used to finance transportation at the state and local level are yielding fewer resources (or at least slowing in their rate of growth). As a result, transportation decision-makers continue to seek new sources of revenue to finance expansive highway and transit plans. While much effort is expended seeking revenue sources adequate to provide the necessary resources, little effort is given to determining the equity effects of these new revenue sources, much less the policies they are designed to support. This paper investigates one particular aspect of equity, vertical equity, in relation to transportation finance and policy. Using sets of data (travel demand, financial, operational) from Minnesota and specifically the Twin Cities region to illustrate, we argue that current policies toward transportation finance and congestion do little to further the interests of low-income individuals, and may in fact benefit others at their expense. We conclude with some recommendations aimed at redistributing the burden of financing transportation programs more equitably among users and non-users.
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