Transportation Planning Fundamentals for California Streets

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Description In today's environment, local streets and roads need to be planned, designed, built or retrofitted, operated, and maintained to provide safe, comfortable, and environmentally sustainable travel for all users of all ages and differing levels of mobility. Ideally these local streets and roads should provide for all modes, including walking, bicycling, taking transit, and driving. Local streets and roads must be operationally functional to allow for emergency response, road maintenance, and overall truck movement of goods. This course covers the planning and conceptual design of sustainable, multimodal, local streets and roads; the history of multimodal surface transportation planning in the US; the policy environment for sustainable, multimodal transportation; how to integrate multimodal transportation into the local urban planning process; and how to design local streets, intersections, crossings, and interchanges consistent with the sustainable, multimodal approach. The course's discussion of the legislative environment is focused on California. The course spans the full range of key areas from characteristics of the local roadway system, analysis of flow and capacity, traffic/transportation operations, traffic control devices, pedestrian/bicycle facilities, and surface transit operations to traffic safety and advanced analytical methods. The course is taught by a team of professional engineers and planners who practice in the private and public sectors with a collective experience exceeding 100 years. Key learning concepts to be highlighted throughout the three days of intensive training include: managing conflict between/among surface modes, striving for a balanced approach to promoting multiple modes along the same right-of-way (ROW) or crossing each other, promoting safety between modes and for each mode on local streets and roads, options for separating or prioritizing modes in layered networks, planning for multimodal travel at the local level wherever possible, managing multimodal transportation operations efficiently, promoting economic development and livability (in addition to access and mobility), and the best practices in multimodal surface transportation infrastructure planning and sustainable land development for livability. Topics IncludeThe Multimodal Transportation Planning Process and Legal Framework Data Collection, Quantitative Analysis, and Travel Forecasts Environmental Analysis and CEQA New Trends (SB 743) Evaluation and Prioritization of Multimodal Transportation Projects Public Participation & Involvement, Dealing with Controversy Freeway Multimodal Considerations The New Transit/Multimodal Role for Arterials and Collectors Multimodal Traffic Signals Pedestrians and ADA Accommodations: It's the Law Pedestrian Safety and Economic Development Residential Streets: Livability and Quality of Life Multimodal Auditing Techniques and Walking Tour On-Street Bicycling and Ensuring Bicycle Safety Bicycle Paths: Putting it All Together Surface Mass Transit Planning Concepts Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) & Light Rail Transit (LRT) Design Elements and Issues What You Will Learn Attendees will gain an understanding and appreciation of the necessary balance of all surface modes in building, operating and maintaining a functional and multi-modal infrastructure. Multi-modal streets that make effective and efficient use of rights-of-way represent an essential framework for developing and maintaining vital urban and suburban centers and neighborhoods. Trainees will learn the planning role of multimodal surface transportation in the U.S. today, and the processes that are used to achieve planning objectives, including how data is collected and used in multimodal transportation analyses. Attendees will gain an understanding of how regional plans and forecasts affect local land use and transportation plans. They will also learn how environmental analyses and public participation fit within the multimodal transportation planning process, including key impacts on existing networks, legal requirements, and how to resolve conflicts of multimodal transportation projects.