UF-developed transportation tools serve as model for nation

February 18, 2004

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Although there has been extensive discussion in recent years about New Urbanism and other alternative transportation concepts, models used to develop the nation’s transportation system have traditionally focused solely on the automobile, considering bikers and walkers as impediments.

Until now.

At the request of federal officials, University of Florida researchers recently presented a set of tools they developed that successfully integrates all modes of transportation – cars, buses, bikes and pedestrians – in order to form a more balanced transportation system. Backed by funding from the Florida Department of Transportation, UF urban planner Ruth Steiner and others have worked closely with local governments throughout the state to implement the standards – making it a national model in the effort – and are working diligently to put them into use on a nationwide basis.

“It is a constant battle between building cities for cars and building cities for people,” said Steiner, an associate professor of urban and regional planning at UF’s College of Design, Construction and Planning. “We have to build communities for all modes of transportation instead of focusing solely on the automobile. Otherwise, we will never relieve the traffic strain on our roads, and we will continue to build outward to deal with congestion.”

The computer modeling tools UF researchers developed allow planners to cooperatively control a host of elements that traditionally have been utilized independently – such as land use, roads, and mass and pedestrian transit – in order to understand how changes to any component will affect an area’s overall transportation system. By doing so, planners can begin to understand the tradeoffs that will occur with each option, allowing them to design plans based on those that maximize an area’s transportation efficiency, Steiner said.

As one of the largest and fastest growing states, Florida, with its 13 million vehicles, is a microcosm of the nation’s transportation problems. Likewise, its successes – though relatively few now – are a blueprint for changes that must be duplicated nationwide, she said.

After using the tools to successfully incorporate all modes of transportation in some Florida areas, including Deland, Key West and St. Lucie County, Steiner was asked to present her strategy last month to the national Transportation Research Board, an independent adviser to the federal government about transportation policy and practice.

“A more diverse mix of people, places and activities within neighborhoods will bring activities of daily life closer, reducing traffic and congestion,” she said. “A grid street network offers more route choices and more access points to all areas of the city, instead of relying on a few busy roads.”

Over time, these strategies could significantly lessen traffic impacts in cities nationwide and decrease transportation costs, she said. Americans travel 148 percent more miles today than they did just three decades ago, yet road capacity improvements have grown just 6 percent, according to the U.S. Department. of Transportation. The funding needed to build new roads and improve the capacity of existing ones falls short by about $75 million every year, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

“These (recommended) characteristics have been shown to work in other communities, and it is now more important than ever to put them into practice because of the rapid growth rate and expanding transportation demands,“ Steiner said. “Communities sharing these characteristics make less automobile trips because there are other alternatives, and this significantly reduces the impact of development in that area.”

Steiner and other UF researchers, including Linda Crider, also conducted surveys of hundreds of pedestrians, bicyclists and mass transit users in order to create intersections and roadways that encourage people to use these forms of transportation. They found that users prefer well-marked intersections, roads with wide bike lanes and frequent transit stops with comfortable waiting areas. Crider, an associate scientist of urban and regional planning, is the program director for the FDOT’s Florida Traffic and Bicycle Education Program based at UF.

The team’s findings have been placed in a handbook and written into a software program for the FDOT to serve as guides for local government officials in developing balanced transportation districts in the state.

The ideas also can be implemented nationwide in communities experiencing similar problems, said Martin Guttenplan, a project manager with the department’s Systems Planning Office in Tallahassee.

“This work provides the planning tools to integrate land use and transportation together, which has been a severe problem in many states,” Guttenplan said. “This is an issue being faced on a national level, not just in Florida. Development increases the need for transportation, and the entire country can benefit from making communities more livable.”