1. Is Transportation Sustainable?

2. Objectives By the end of this unit, students will be able to: 1.Examine and prioritize transportation project impacts on sustainability 2.Recognize transportation project solutions’ impacts on sustainability 3.Identify mitigation strategies for transportation solutions to reduce negative impacts on sustainability 4.Identify transportation sustainability metrics 5.Explain the aspects of transportation projects that may affect sustainability

3. Sustainability in Transportation  Air Quality  Alternative Modes  Congestion  Construction Materials

4. Transportation Sustainability Measures  Vary from project to project  How to measure congestion?  What about air quality related to transportation?  Can alternative travel modes be measured?  Other considerations:  Safety  Fuel consumption  O&M or life cycle sustainability  Land Use  Water Quality and Volume

5. Actual Cost of Transportation  Fuel and vehicle  Delay/congestion

6. Traffic Signal Retiming  What are goals?  Can we measure the goals?  Air quality  Safety  Social  Infrastructure maintenance

7. Case Study: What to do at an intersection?  Traffic Signal  Two-way Stop  Four-way Stop  Traffic Circle  Roundabout

8. What Metrics to Consider?  Technical  Sustainability  Economic  Environmental  Social  Constructability  Political Will  Others?

9. Traffic Signal Characteristics  Operating and Maintenance cost  Controller  Communications  Signals  Retiming  High speed crashes may occur  Can handle large volumes  Other information needed?

10. Stops  Low O&M costs, but signs must be periodically replaced  What are the functional classifications of the intersecting roadways?  May dictate, 2 vs. 4 – way stop  Speed of crashes varies based on the functional classifications; however, 4-way stop crashes are typically low speed  Other information to collect?

11. Traffic Circle Characteristics  Low capacity  Minimal, if any O&M  May accent neighborhood  Low speed, often local facilities  Other information?  Reference: http://www.ite.org/traffic/circle.asp

12. Roundabout Characteristics  Minimal O&M cost  Relatively high capacity  Bike/Ped. safety  Lower speed crashes than signalized intersections  Other necessary information?  Reference: http://www.kittelson.com/kai_toolbox/roundabouts/index.htm

13. Put it All Together  Choose an alternative analysis methodology  Combine metrics  Evaluate alternatives  Recommend alternative

14. Class Activity  What are the proposed project’s impacts on sustainability?  Rank order these in terms of importance and magnitude  What are the appropriate metrics for assessing the project’s impact on sustainability?  Identify possible strategies for reducing the project’s negative impact on sustainability

15. Group Projects  INSERT LOCAL TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS

16. References  www.ite.org/traffic/circle.asp  www.kittelson.com/kai_toolbox/roundabouts/index.htm