TRANSPORTATION

PLANNING
MODULE 1

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 SYLLABUS
o Need for Transportation planning- Characteristics of urban travel, Transportation
issues and challenges, Detrimental effects of traffic on environment.

o Urban Structure- types and properties -centripetal, grid, linear, directional,

Movement and Accessibility – Hierarchy of transportation facilities

o Transportation and Land use - Role of urban activity analysis in transportation

planning, Transportation impacts on activity system, Land use transportation
interaction

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 TRANSPORT AND SOCIETY

• Development of cities largely depends upon their physical, social, and

institutional infrastructure

• A country’s economic status depends upon how well served country is by its
roads, railways, airports, ports

• Congestion and delays are prevalent in Indian cities and indicate the
seriousness of transport problems

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 ROLE OF TRANSPORTATION IN THE SOCIETY
 Economic
• The place, time, quality and utility of goods
• Changes in location of activities

 Social
• Formation of settlements
• Size and pattern of settlements
• Growth of urban centres

 Political
• Administration of an area
• Political choices in transport

 Environmental
• Safety
• Pollution
• Energy consumption GECBH-2024 4
 TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

• Transportation planning deals with the development of a comprehensive plan for

the design, construction and operation of transportation facilities

• Transportation planning is the process that leads to decisions on transportation

policies and programs

• In this process, planners develop information about the impacts of implementing

alternative courses of action involving transportation services, such as new
highways, introduction of new modes of public transport etc, or parking
restrictions

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CONTD…
• Since these needs, goals, and objectives are continuously changing, transportation planning
is also an ever-evolving process.

• Primarily, the purpose of transportation planning is to estimate the present as well as the
future travel demand for an area in order to prepare a transportation plan, which will ensure
safe and smooth movement of all types of traffic.

• The purpose of transportation planning also includes:

o Identifying multiple options for transportation
o Identifying outlying problems to a transportation system
o Identifying solutions to those identified problems
o Optimization of existing transportation systems and structural design

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 TYPES OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

Long term transport planning Short term transport planning

Strategic planning Action plan

More structured and complicated and it must Takes into account the more immediate needs
be designed better than short term planning of transportation system performance

Planning the next 20 to 25 year Prepared for 5-10 years

New highway system Traffic engineering techniques-signs and signals

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 NEED FOR TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

 To determine the transportation needs

 To improve the quality of travel

 To provide safety to road users

 To be cost efficient

 To provide equality of access

 To reduce the environmental impacts

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 CHARACTERISTICS OF URBAN TRAVEL

• The 5 urban travel characteristics of trip making behaviour that worth special attention are
trip purpose - temporal distribution - spatial distribution –trip length- mode choice

 Trip purpose

• Trip - One way movement from origin to destination

• Each trip has two ends

• Typical trips - Work, shop, school, business, social, recreational

• Trips conducted for different purposes have different characteristics

• When one end of trip is home, it is home-based trip and when neither end is home, it in
non- home based trip
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 Temporal Distribution
• Trips vary throughout a day
• Trips occur in peaks and troughs
• Main peaks are in the morning and
evening
• Peaks vary in length with urban area size
and system supply

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 Spatial distribution of travel

• Each trip has an origin and destination

• We need to understand spatial distribution to be

able to determine where the mobility needs are

• The Central Business District (CBD) area remains

the main attractor in most cities

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 Trip length

• Trip length varies with trip purpose

• There are significant differences between work and non-work trip length
distribution

 Mode choice

• The various modes have different shares by purpose and trip length,
Effectiveness in providing the service accessibility, mobility and productivity,
Cost etc.

• There are other variables that affect modal distribution- age, gender, vehicle
ownership
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 TRANSPORTATION ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

• Traffic congestion and parking difficulties

• Longer commuting
o Isolation (less time spent with family or friends), as well as poorer health.
• Public transport inadequacy
o Either over or under used since the demand for public transit is subject to periods of peaks
and troughs.

• Difficulties for non-motorized transport

• Loss of public space

• High infrastructure maintenance costs

• Environmental impacts

• Accidents and safety GECBH-2024 13

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 Some solutions to traffic congestion

• Expanding facilities (supply)

• Demand management

• Intelligent transportation system (ITS)

• Better urban land use planning

• Economic incentives - congestion pricing

• Priority for high-occupancy-vehicle(HOV)

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Traffic safety
• As traffic increases, people feel less safe using the streets

• Motor vehicle fatalities are generally caused by over speeding, adverse weather,
carelessness, vehicle failure etc.

Equality of access

• Provide access to;

• The poor
• The elderly
• The physically handicapped

• The poor cannot afford to own automobiles.

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CONTD…

• The elderly and the physically handicapped

• Unable to operate automobiles

• Barriers to the use of public transportation

• All public transportation systems must be fully accessible to both wheelchair users
and pedestrians

• Installation of wheelchair lifts on public transit vehicles, Provision of curb cuts and
wheelchair ramps at intersections of streets with sidewalks provision of wheelchair
access by means of ramp or elevators at facilities such as airport and railway stations

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Environmental impacts
• Reduced air quality (solution-vehicle technology and vehicle control devices, emission
control devices and inspection)

• Energy consumption (solution-improve vehicle technology, new fuel)

• Noise, impacts on wild-life, impacts on water quality, visual impacts, temporary

impacts during construction (noise, dust, reduced water quality due to erosion of
unprotected slopes, etc.)

• Displacement of residents and businesses due to construction of transportation

facilities

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 Incorporating new technology

• Adjustment of the transportation system to new technology is a constant challenge

• Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is an example of incorporation of new technology

• ITS user services:

o Travel and transportation management
o Public transportation operations
o Electronic payment services
o Commercial vehicle operations
o Emergency management
o Advanced vehicle control and safety systems
o Information management
o Maintenance and construction management
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DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF TRAFFIC ON ENVIRONMENT

• Safety
• Air Pollution
• Noise
• Vibration
• Visual intrusion and degrading the aesthetics

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Safety

• Regulations are needed in order to ensure safe and efficient

movement of traffic and pedestrians
• Regulation of speed – Speed limits in urban and rural areas, speed zoning
• Regulation of vehicle – Construction, Lighting, Registration and loading of
vehicle
• Regulations concerning driver – Licensing, physical fitness, age of drivers
• Regulations concerning traffic – Keep to the left, hand signals

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Air pollution

• The major source of the pollutant is the exhaust gas emitted by the internal combustion
engine

• In special situations such as in tunnels, ventilation is a major issue

• The following are some of the measures for controlling air pollution from road traffic:
o Reducing the pollutants at the source by improving the vehicle design and maintenance
o Patronage of public transport system
o Use of alternative fuels and methods of propulsion.
o Staggering work hours, to reduce peak hour traffic
o Restraining traffic through road pricing& parking restriction
o Controlling idling engines, by insisting that engines should be stopped during traffic delays
o By constructing bypasses and ring roads to reduce traffic in the mid-town
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Noise

• Noise is unwanted sound

• The increasing urbanization in cities and the growth of activities therein have
contributed to the mounting volume of noise

• The generation of noise caused by road traffic can be considered under the following
categories:
o Noise generated by various parts of the vehicle

o Noise contributed by the interaction between the vehicle and the road

o Noise dependent on the speed, flow and density of traffic

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CONTD…

• Techniques available for control of traffic noise

o Changes in design of vehicles

o Changes in tyres or road surfaces

o Elimination of noisier vehicles

o Modifications in traffic operation

o Designing streets, buildings and areas for producing less noise

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Vibration
• Vehicle moving on a road surface induces vibrations in the surroundings

• These are of the following types

• Vibrations generated in the contained air - The air contained between the buildings is
vibrated when vehicles move on the streets. Such vibrations rarely cause structural damages,
but may be annoying to the people

• Surface vibrations - Surface vibrations are those set up on structures above the ground

• Underground vibrations - underground vibrations are set up in the soil mass and the
foundations

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CONTD…

• Measures that are possible for minimizing the effect of vibrations:

o Improvement in the surface finish of the road

o Reducing the number of heavily loaded commercial vehicles in the badly affected
zones

o Improvement in the suspension system of the vehicles to damp out the vibrations

o Provision of wider streets

o Enforcing a certain minimum space between adjacent buildings

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Visual intrusion and degrading the aesthetics
• In the urban sphere, the motor vehicle has been competing for space for movement
and it appears that buildings seem to rise from a plinth of cars
• To attract the attention of the motorist numerous signs, signals and bill-boards are
placed along the streets, affecting the beauty of the surrounding landscape, historical
landmarks and architectural masterpieces
• Some of the measures recommended are,
o Designing suitable off-street facilities for parking and enforcing regulations for on-street
o It is possible to control unsightly bill-boards by suitable regulatory measures.
o Acquisition of adequate right of way
o Landscaping of rural highways can preserve and enhance the aesthetics
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 URBAN STRUCTURE

• Urban structure is the particular articulation or arrangement different types of land

uses in an urban area

• A critical element of an urban-structure plan is the configuration of the transport

network, since it ties together the other components of urban structure

• Urban structure can be classified into 4 types;

1. Centripetal structure
2. Grid structure
3. Linear structure
4. Directional grid structure

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 URBAN ACTIVITY SYSTEM
• The bulk of activities occur in ordered hierarchies by virtue of the nature of activities

• Certain activity centers such as elementary schools and small neighborhood shopping
centers, exist at a scale that serves only Local areas

• There are large concentrated activities, whose influence covers whole urban area
• Major cultural facilities
• Post secondary education facilities

• The urban activity systems can be illustrated through idealization of the hierarchy of some of
the activities located in urban areas

• Two activity systems are identified;

i. household-workplace subsystem
ii. household-service place subsystem

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• ww

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• Smaller circle indicating the households residences

• Circles with vertical hatching of particular size indicate the community centres

• A little larger circle with hatching using horizontal lines indicate district centres

• The rectangles hatched with the horizontal lines indicate the non household
serving employment

• The largest of the circles hatched with inclined lines indicates regional centres

• The continuous unbroken line connecting all these circles and rectangles
represents home work trips

• Dotted line is home service trips

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• Household is the smallest unit

• Community centers include primary schools, medical clinics, and shopping facilities

• District centers might contain major retail trade outlets, high schools, personal services,
and certain types of cultural and entertainment facilities

• Regional center might contain government offices, specialized retail trade outlets and
personal services as well as the major cultural facilities of the region

• Non household serving employment – Industries (various primary industries,

manufacturing, national financial institutions)

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 CENTRIPETAL STRUCTURE
• Households focus first on community centers

• A number of community centers focus on district Centers

• District centers then focus on regional Centre

• The non-household serving employment are located peripherally with facility for direct
access from households

• The trip from the household to service centers of various levels follows a particular pattern

• This type of urban structure tends to route trips to the higher order centers through or
nearby the lower order centers maintaining strict hierarchy

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 TRAVEL PATTERN FOR CENTRIPETAL STRUCTURE

• Households are located along class 4 roads

• Community centers are located at the

intersection of collector streets and arterials.

• District centers are located at the intersection of

arterials and the expressways

• Regional centers are located at the intersection of

the high speed facility-expressways

• Strict hierarchy of movement is followed; one

should first come to the community center and
then go to district center, then only they can
reach out to the regional center GECBH-2024 36
 GRID TYPE OF URBAN STRUCTURE
• Links of the primary transport network,
provides a basic frame work for the grid
• District centers are located at the centre of the
cell
• Community centers are located at the centre of
the sub-cells
• Households focus on community centers and
the community centers focus on the district
center.
• The non-household serving employment
locates as close to the main arterial or
expressway as possible, without any
connection to the hierarchy of the service
centers
• Households focus independently on the
regional centers
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URBAN TRAVEL PATTERN FOR GRID STRUCTURE

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CONTD…

• The trip path first goes to community centers and then to district centers

• Community centers are located at the intersection of two class 3 (collector) routes

• District centers at the intersection of class 2 routes and the regional centers at the
intersection of class 1 routes

• After crossing the community center, there is a possibility of bifurcation to the district
center or to the regional center

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LINEAR-TYPE URBAN STRUCTURE

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CONTD…

• Activity centers of all hierarchical levels are locating along the same traffic corridor

• Households are located at right angles to the corridor

• Non-household serving employments are located peripherally with direct access from
households

• Households focus on community centers and the linear corridor allows these community
centers to focus on district centers and on the regional center

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 URBAN TRAVEL PATTERN FOR LINEAR
STRUCTURE

• Provide type 1 and type 2 roads along the same corridor since this is going to be a
major traffic corridor

• If there is space available, then expressway at the middle and two arterials can be
on both sides of the expressway

• If the space is very narrow, provided an elevated expressway above the ground and
arterial at the ground level

• Type 4 roads are not distinctly shown

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DIRECTIONAL GRID URBAN-STRUCTURE

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• A synthesis of some of the principles contained within the three earlier concepts

• More specialized transport route hierarchy

• With the directional grid concept, the speed and access, which are opposing in nature is
maintained

• Type 1 & 2, emphasis only on speed and no emphasis on land access

• Type 3& 4 means, full emphasis only on integration of road with land and no emphasis on speed

• They ended up with eight different types of roads:

• Type 1 through route, Type 1 access route etc.

• Type 1 through means, emphasis to speed; type 1 access route means, emphasis on land access;

• Routes of one classification are at right angles to those of the classifications above or below it

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• One continuous line on top with number 1, category 1 through route-emphasis on speed

• There is another type 1 category shown with dotted line 1- category 1 access route- you
can access all the road side land uses

• Through and access routes are placed alternately

• All these activity centers are provided at the intersection of access routes of different
categories

• Community centers, are located at the intersection of type 4 and type 3 routes

• District centres are located at the intersection of type 2 and type 3

• Regional centre at the intersection of type 1 and type 2 access routes

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• Households are located by the side of class 4 access routes

• People travel to the adjoining community center taking class 4 access route

• Travel to district centers is provided by class 4 through route and then class3 access
route

• Travel to the regional centre is accomplished along class 4 through route, class 3
through route and then they get into class 2 access route and reach the regional
centre

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 ROAD HIERARCHY

1. Express way or free way

2. Arterial road
3. Collector street
4. Local Street

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CONTD…

• Expressways provided for high volume and relatively fast movements to and from
major activity

• Traffic movements on these facilities are grade separated without direct land
access and movements between different road facilities are achieved by
interchanges only

• Arterials provided for the movement of trips between Expressways and Collectors
where ease of traffic movement is emphasized and little or no direct access to
land is provided

• Intersections between Arterials and Collectors are usually at grade and signalized

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 CONTD…

• Collector streets are provided for the movement of trips between Arterials and
Locals and provide some direct access to land

• Local streets provide for the distribution of traffic within activity areas, where the
emphasis is in the integration of the road with the land it is very clearly spelt out
integration of the road with the land is the primary function of Local streets and
where the speed of movement is not emphasized

• The road hierarchy principles will assist planning agencies with:-

o Orderly planning of heavy vehicle and dangerous goods routes
o Planning and provision of public transport routes

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EXPRESS WAY

• Separate class of highways with superior facilities and design standards.

• Provide largely uninterrupted travel, often using partial or full access control, and
are designed for high speeds.

• Provided with divided carriage ways, grade separations at cross roads and
fencing.

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 CONTD…

• Should permit only fast moving vehicles

• Owned by the Central government or a

state government depending on whether
the route is a National Highway or State
Highway

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ARTERIAL STREETS

• For heavy or important traffic inside the city

• Primarily meant for through traffic-on continuous route.

• Continuity is the prime essential.

• Fully or partially controlled access.

• Parking ,loading and unloading – restricted and regulated.

• Pedestrians – crossed only at intersection

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COLLECTOR STREETS

• For collecting & distributing traffic to & from local streets to arterial

• For providing access to arterials

• Located in residential neighbourhoods, business areas, industrial areas

• Full access

• Few parking restrictions

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LOCAL STREETS

• For access to residence, business or other abutting property

• Does not carry large volume of traffic

• Traffic either originates or terminates along its length

• Unrestricted parking & pedestrian movement.

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 MOVEMENT AND ACCESSIBILITY
• Mobility- how far you can go in a given amount of time

• Accessibility- How much you can get to in that time

• The provision of mobility and accessibility are the main outputs of a transport system

• Ways to enhance accessibility would include planning for proximity, improved communications
systems, bringing services closer, etc.

• The efficient movement of people and goods that is seen as beneficial or as they key aim of
policy.

• More efficient ways of moving people and goods.

• This would put a high priority on collective modes of transport (eg buses, rail).
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CONTD..

• Freeways and arterials have a high level of mobility

because they allow high speeds but do not provide
sufficient accessibility to adjoining property

• Local streets, on the other hand, offer the maximum

accessibility, but users find the mobility on such
streets rather poor because of the slow speeds

• A city or region must therefore try to provide the

right proportion of freeways, arterials, collectors, and
local roads to offer a balanced system
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HIERARCHY OF TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES

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 TRANSPORTATION AND LAND USE
 Land use -the humans use of land that includes how
humans are using land for e.g. agriculture, residential,
commercial, industrial development etc.
 It also has been defined as the total of arrangements,
activities, and inputs that people undertake in a certain
land cover type
• Transportation and land use are interconnected
• Transportation and land use are part of a retroactive
feedback system
• Change in transportation (or accessibility) affects land use
and any change in land use has transport implications
• Increased access to land raises its potential for
development and more development generates
additional travel
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CONTD…

• The interactions between transportation and land use are also part of a complex
framework that includes economic, political, demographic, and technological changes

• Changes in transportation technology, infrastructure investment, and service

characteristics can alter overall accessibility levels as well as the relative accessibility
of different locations

• The new development, whether it is commercial, industrial or residential, attracts

more people and therefore more trips are made to and from the area

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CONTD…

• This creates Transportation Needs because of congestion on the roadway and

soon, the area needs more Transportation Facilities often in the form of adding
additional lanes

• This makes the area easier to get to, more accessible, and therefore more
attractive to development, continuing starting the cycle.

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ROLE OF URBAN ACTIVITY ANALYSIS IN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

• Urban activities such as retail or manufacturing have spatial locations from which a
land use pattern is derived and influenced by the existing urban form and spatial
structure

• The term urban activity system or urban land use refers to the spatial distribution of
people and activities within a metropolitan area. Given the modelling state-of-art,
the spatial distribution of people and activity constitute primary inputs into
transportation demand models

• Among other factors that determine the level of activity in an urban area include
the building stock, which physically occupies the land
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 TRANSPORTATION IMPACT ON ACTIVITY SYSTEM

• Commercial or industrial development seeks highly visible and accessible properties,

preferably on an arterial street with a large amount of cars passing by, maybe at an
important intersection

• This one development attracts a significant amount of business, so much so that other
businesses move to the area

• With the increased number of trips comes more cars entering and leaving the roadway,
stopping, starting, causing congestion and back ups

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CONTD…

• Soon the road needs and gets improvement, this attracts more businesses, more people,
more congestion

• Eventually the road can no longer be expanded and becomes a traffic nightmare. People
start avoiding the area and the businesses move out

• Many problems such as this can be mitigated by understanding how land use and
transportation work together through careful and innovative planning

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