Urban Transportation Planning

As taught in: Fall 2006

Level:

Graduate

Instructors:

Mikel Murga

Frederick Salvucci

Justin Antos (Teaching Assistant)

Course Features

Course Highlights

Course Description

Urban transportation in the European city of Amsterdam. (Image by Mikel Murga.)

Course Features

• Lecture notes
• Assignments (no solutions)

Course Highlights

This course features a complete set of lecture notes, together with a list ofreadings and assignments required for the class.

Course Description

The history, policy, and politics of urban transportation are discussed in this class. Also covered are the role of the federal government, the "highway revolt" and public transit in the auto era, using analytic tools for transportation planning and policy analysis. The class then explores the contribution of transportation to air pollution and climate change, land use and transportation interactions, together with issues with bicycles, pedestrians, and traffic calming. Examples used in the class are taken mainly from the Boston metropolitan area.

Lecture Notes

The lecture notes from the class are presented below. Each is courtesy of the lecturer named and used with permission.

SES #	TOPICS	LECTURE NOTES
1	Course overview, different perspectives from the instructors Transport modes and characteristics (speed, capacity, LOS, external impacts…) Traffic counts Energy use at MIT, "Walking the Talk"	Fred Salvucci (PDF) Mikel Murga (PDF 1 - 8.9 MB) (PDF 2 - 2.2 MB)
2	Transportation planning as a tool for urban design Traffic calming: Design and implementation	Mikel Murga (PDF 1) (PDF 2 - 5.9 MB) (PDF 3 - 2.7 MB)
3	Thumbnail history of Boston transportation and analysis of historical developments: Interstate system, aviation, rail and transit The planning method	Fred Salvucci (PDF - 2.0 MB)
4	Transportation and land use — chicken and egg The transit challenge	Fred Salvucci (PDF)
5	Highway revolt. Resurgence of transit. Was the revolt a rebellion or a revolution? Discussion of emerging transportation issues and strategic planning model to "map" different approaches.	Fred Salvucci (PDF)
6	Quantitative methods: GIS, 4-step model, traffic models, NEPA	Fred Salvucci and Mikel Murga (PDF 1 - 7.9 MB) (PDF 2 - 9.9 MB)
7	Transit and parking policy Employment policies, housing finance, tax code Transportation and industrial policy	Fred Salvucci and Mikel Murga (PDF 1) (PDF 2 - 3.4 MB)
8	Environmental concerns: Air quality, energy consumption, global warming NEPA, Environmental review Infrastructure sufficiency analysis	Fred Salvucci (PDF 1) (PDF 2) Mikel Murga (PDF)
9	Spending other people's money — what are the rules? Economic evaluation, financial evaluation, programming, fiscal constraint, job generation, industrial policy, constituencies, Jack Sprat, and organization choices.	Fred Salvucci (PDF)
10	Project selection Cost-effectiveness, prioritization, institutional roles MPOs and modal agencies FTA cost-effectiveness FHWA system completion method	Mikel Murga (PDF) Guest Lecturers: Laurie Hussey and Tom Rossi, Cambridge Systematics Inc. (PDF) Astrid Glynn, Massachusetts Office of Commonwealth Development
11
12	Intelligent transportation systems Congestion pricing Infrastructure reconstruction Operations and maintenance Airport access and international access	Fred Salvucci (PDF) Mikel Murga (PDF)
13	"Megacities" Perspective Holistic approach to transportation and land Use Course evaluations and wrap-up Information on Mikel's IAP modeling workshop	Mikel Murga (PDF)