The NACTO Urban Street Design Guide shows how streets of every size can be reimagined and reoriented to prioritise safe driving and transit, cycling, walking, and public activity. Unlike older, more conservative engineering manuals, this design guide emphasises the core principle that urban streets are public places and have a larger role to play in communities than solely being conduits for traffic. The well-illustrated guide offers blueprints of street design from multiple perspectives, from the bird's eye view to granular details. Case studies show how to implement best practices, as well as provide guidance for customizing design applications to a city's unique needs. Urban Street Design Guide outlines five goals and tenets of world-class street design: Streets are public spaces - streets play a much larger role in the public life of cities and communities than just thoroughfares for traffic; Great streets are great for business - well-designed streets generate higher revenues for businesses and higher values for homeowners; Design for safety - traffic engineers can and should design streets where people walking, parking, shopping, cycling, working, and driving can cross paths safely; and, Streets can be changed - transportation engineers can work flexibly within the building envelope of a street, and many city streets were created in a different era and need to be reconfigured to meet new needs. Elaborating on these fundamental principles, the guide offers substantive direction for cities seeking to improve street design to create more inclusive, multi-modal urban environments. It is an exceptional resource for redesigning streets to serve the needs of 21st century cities, whose residents and visitors demand a variety of transportation options, safer streets, and vibrant community life.

Policymakers at all levels of government are debating a wide range of options for addressing the nation's faltering economic conditions. One option that is once again receiving attention is accelerated investments in the nation's public infrastructure - that is, highways, mass transit, airports, water supply and wastewater, and other facilities - in order to create jobs while also promoting long-term economic growth. This book examines policy issues associated with using infrastructure as a mechanism to benefit economic recovery. Discussed are airline fees; factors which influence the extent of transit-oriented development; current law and legislative history of the federal excise tax on motor fuels and the highway trust fund; long-term financing of the highway trust fund; the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) Program; vehicle safety inspections; and seat belt use among long-haul truck drivers.

This book looks at one of the most serious types of highway accidentscollisions involving vehicles traveling the wrong way on high-speed divided highways. The goal of this investigative project is to identify relevant safety recommendations to prevent wrong-way collisions on such highways and access ramps. The investigations included in the book take a focused view of the driver and highway issues affecting wrong-way collisions. The book addresses the following safety issues concerning wrong-way driving: driver impairment, primarily from alcohol use, with consideration of older driver issues and possible drug involvement; the need to establish, through traffic control devices and highway design, distinctly different views for motorists approaching entrance and exit ramps; monitoring and intervention programs for wrong-way collisions; and in-vehicle driver support systems.

Policymakers at all levels of government are debating a wide range of options for addressing the nation's faltering economic conditions. One option that is once again receiving attention is accelerated investments in the nation's public infrastructure -- that is, highways, mass transit, airports, water supply and wastewater, and other facilities -- in order to create jobs while also promoting long-term economic growth. This book examines policy issues associated with using infrastructure as a mechanism to benefit economic recovery. Discussed are state-level driver data and the effect of look-back periods on recidivism prevalence; restraint use and minimum drinking age laws; electronic stability control; mobile device use while driving; the impact of fuel price increases on the aviation industry; aviation safety; and the assessment of potential mariner-training needs.

Local road practitioners across the country play a critical role in addressing crash risks at the local level and may be able to identify the specific or unique conditions that contribute to crashes within their jurisdictions. The Local Road Safety Plan (LRSP) offers a foundation for consensus and focus. It defines key emphasis areas and strategies that impact local rural roads and provides a framework to accomplish safety enhancements at the local level. The LRSP helps communities take a proactive stance in reducing and preventing local road fatalities and injuries. This book guides the development of an LRSP. It provides information to local practitioners about identifying stakeholders and partnerships needed to build support, tools to analyse data, and resources to identify safety issues and select safety strategies.

This book examines the funding of roads and highways in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England and Wales, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, South Africa, and Sweden. It provides a description of the infrastructure in the jurisdiction, information on the ownership and responsibility of the roads, and taxes or other ways of collecting money to fund the nation's infrastructure. By revealing a multiplicity of approaches to the funding of road infrastructure, the report provides an opportunity to determine whether lessons can be learned from the experiences of other countries in funding roads and highways.

Vehicles carrying objects that are not properly secured pose a safety risk on our nation's roadways. Debris that falls from a vehicle can collide with other vehicles or pedestrians, causing serious injuries or fatalities. According to data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were about 440 fatalities caused by roadway debris in 2010. However, the exact number of incidents resulting from vehicles carrying unsecured loads is unknown. This book examines NHTSA's data collection efforts as well as states' laws related to unsecured loads. It also discusses the extent that Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) data reliably identify wetline safety risks; options for addressing wetline safety risks, and how well PHMSA has assessed the costs and benefits of addressing these risks through regulation.

Entering the 21st century, the Nation's transportation system has matured; it only expands its infrastructure by a fraction of a percentage each year. However, congestion continues to grow at an alarming rate, adversely impacting our quality of life and increasing the potential for accidents and long delays. These are expected to escalate, calling for transportation professionals to increase the productivity of existing transportation systems through the use of operational improvements. In order to assess the potential effectiveness of a particular strategy, it must be analyzed using traffic analysis tools or methodologies. The objective of this book is to assist traffic engineers, planners, and traffic operations professionals in the selection of the correct type of traffic analysis tool for operational improvements.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) provides about $40 billion to the states annually to build and maintain highways and bridges through the federal-aid highway program. This book describes the process and factors that could affect highway project time frames; examines state DOTs' views on the benefits and challenges of the provisions to expedite highway projects established in SAFETEA-LU and describes additional initiatives that state DOTs and FHWA have implemented to expedite the completion of highway projects.

Since the early 1980s, the periodic debate over the reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs has been primarily about money and its distribution. In each of the five reauthorizations that took place during that period, the federal fuel taxes and other sources of revenue dedicated to the highway trust were reliably providing the various surface transportation programs with more money year after year. In 2009, this was not the case. For the first time in decades, driving declined significantly, with a concomitant decrease in fuel tax revenues. Going forward the program cannot count on new money from the familiar sources. The law authorising federal surface transportation programs expired at the end of 2009, but Congress has failed to enact a new authorisation. This book examines the surface transportation program reauthorization issues for the 112th Congress; funding and finance; the Donor-Donee State issue of funding equity and federalism issues in surface transportation policy.

This book examines greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels and trends from the transportation sector and analyses the full range of strategies available to reduce these emissions. These strategies include introducing low-carbon fuels, increasing vehicle fuel economy, improving transportation system efficiency, and reducing carbon-intensive travel activity. Policy options for implementing these strategies are also discussed, including an economy-wide price signal; efficiency standards; market incentives; transportation planning and funding programs and research and development.

Transportation infrastructure has a significant meaning for the economic growth, the mobility of labour, the opportunities for tendering transport services and the competitiveness of the economy as a whole. This book presents topical research in the study of transport policy, including the European Union (EU) policy on the sustainability of transport and policy goals; public transit service quality evaluation for a sustainable transportation system; urban structure and transport; policy and market-based mechanisms towards a green and sustainable transport and policies of railway interoperability.

The increasing use of cellular phones has served as a catalyst for growing interest in driver distraction in recent years. While the use of cellular phones poses a significant and increasing risk to roadway safety, studies show that it represents a relatively small proportion of a bigger distraction program. This book examines current knowledge on driver distraction to help state and local governments formulate effective policies, regulations and laws relating to this challenging issue.

Operator fatigue and sleep deprivation have been widely recognised as critical safety issues that cut across all modes in the transportation industry. However, there are a number of additional safety issues that plague drivers in a variety of vehicles. This book examines the safety issues that affect many types of transportation, such as improvements to drug testing programs in order to promote motor carrier safety, driver fatigue research, driver factors in fatal bus crashes and the role of driving-hours on driver fatigue. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

Every weekday in the United States more than 7 million people board a rail transit vehicle. Rail transit is considered one of the safest modes of transportation, but incidents such as the recent collision between two transit trains in Washington, DC, raise questions about the safety of rail transit and the government's role in ensuring its safety. This book examines the safety record of rail transit and the division of responsibilities for ensuring the safety of rail transit operations, with an emphasis on the role of the federal government. Discussed, herein, are the different types of rail transit systems and the condition of those systems, statistics on the safety record of rail transit operations, and the roles of federal, state, and local entities responsible for ensuring the safety of rail transit.

Airlines have imposed a variety of fees on a range of optional services, such as checked and carry-on bags; meals; blankets; early boarding; and seat selection. According to airline officials, the fees are based on a combination of factors, including the cost of providing the service, competition, and consumer demand. The fees have supplemented airline revenues, providing at least $3 billion in 2009. However, information about the fees is not fully disclosed through all ticket distribution channels used by consumers, making it difficult for them to compare the total cost of flights offered by different carriers. This book addresses the nature and relationship to cost and disclosure of airline fees; the potential impact of such fees on the Airport and Airway Trust Fund; checked and mishandled baggage issues; and the process, if any, for refunding government-imposed taxes and fees when passengers do not use non-refundable tickets.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is the federal agency primarily responsible for safety in the rail industry. FRA's safety programs were last authorised in 1994; their authorisation expired in 1998. Most measures of rail safety have improved significantly since FRA's last authorisation, including the number of grade crossing collisions and fatalities and the number of employee injuries and deaths. However, the improvements in safety measures have levelled off in recent years. Given significant projected continued increases in freight and passenger rail activity in the coming decade, there is concern that without additional efforts, some of the gain of the past decade may be lost. This book explores the issues, regulations and safety of U.S. railroads.

Growing demands on the transportation system and constraints on public resources have led to calls for more private sector involvement in the provision of highway and transit infrastructure through what are known as "public-private partnerships" (PPPs). A PPP, broadly defined, is any arrangement whereby the private sector assumes more responsibility than is traditional for infrastructure planning, financing, design, construction, operation, and maintenance. This book describes the wide variety of public-private partnerships in highways and transit, but focuses on the two types of highway PPPs that are generating the most debate: the leasing by the public sector to the private sector of existing infrastructure; and the building, leasing, and owning of new infrastructure by private entities.

Dealing with research in the fields of passenger and freight transportation modes, this book looks at policy analysis, formulation and evaluation, interaction with the political, socioeconomic and physical environment, and the planning, design, management and evaluation of transportation systems.

The debate on rail privatisation often seems to focus on very narrow issues. Those on both sides of the argument seem to be able to employ a mass of statistics to prove their point. Proponents of privatisation suggest, with some credibility, that all was reasonably well with the privatised railways until the Hatfield disaster. Opponents point to spiralling costs since privatisation. The authors of this monograph examine privatisation in the context of the long history of continual government intervention. The government imposed upon the industry a particular structure - separation of track and wheel. It also wrapped it up in increasing amounts of regulation. After examining the history of government intervention in the railways and the privatisation process, the authors of this monograph then examine the future of railway policy. Should the industry be allowed to evolve its own structure - remerging the ownership of track and wheel if it wishes? What aspects of a railway should be regulated? Who should own the various parts of the infrastructure? This monograph is essential reading for all with an interest in railway policy and the process of privatisation.

In 2019, mobility experts Melissa and Chris Bruntlett began a new adventure in Delft in the Netherlands. They had packed up their family in Vancouver, BC, and moved to Delft to experience the cycling city as residents rather than as visitors. A year earlier they had become unofficial ambassadors for Dutch cities with the publication of their first book Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality. In Curbing Traffic: The Human Case for Fewer Cars in Our Lives, Melissa and Chris Bruntlett chronicle their experience living in the Netherlands and the benefits that result from treating cars as visitors rather than owners of the road. They weave their personal story with research and interviews with experts and Delft locals to help readers share the experience of living in a city designed for people. In the planning field, little attention is given to the effects that a “low-car” city can have on the human experience at a psychological and sociological level. Studies are beginning to surface that indicate the impact that external factors, such as sound, can have on our stress and anxiety levels. Or how the systematic dismantling of freedom and autonomy for children and the elderly to travel through their cities is causing isolation and dependency. In Curbing Traffic, the Bruntletts explain why these investments in improving the built environment are about more than just getting from place to place more easily and comfortably. The insights will help decision makers and advocates to better understand and communicate the human impacts of low-car cities: lower anxiety and stress, increased independence, social autonomy, inclusion, and improved mental and physical wellbeing. The book is organised around the benefits that result from thoughtfully curbing traffic, resulting in a city that is: child-friendly, connected, trusting, feminist, quiet, therapeutic, accessible, prosperous, resilient, and age-friendly. Planners, public officials, and citizen activists should have a greater understanding of the consequences that building for cars has had on communities (of all sizes). Curbing Traffic provides relatable, emotional, and personal reasons why it matters and inspiration for exporting the low-car city.

Transport policy is an increasingly difficult area for all national governments and regional/local authorities. Tackling car use and realizing a sustainable transport system appears to be very difficult. Developing public transport is seen as an increasingly important element in improving the transport system, especially in densely populated areas. At the same time however, governments are under increasing pressure to cut taxation. As a result there is a growing gap between increasing policy need for public transport and government resources to fund that need. This timely book explores one solution to this dilemma, which is the use of local charges and taxes dedicated to support public transport. Unfare Solutions examines how and why such charges have evolved and how they do (or do not) relate to modern transport policy developments and theory. It shows innovative funding techniques developed by both public transport providers and federal and local authorities. The authors are very experienced in the field of mobility and public transport. They have conducted many researches in this field (including a major CEC research project towards the use of charges and taxes for public transport) and written several books and publications about the economics of transport in a sustainable context.

After Suburbia presents a cross-section of state-of-the-art scholarship in critical global suburban research and provides an in-depth study of the planet's urban peripheries to grasp the forms of urbanization in the twenty-first century. Based on cutting-edge conceptual thought and steeped in richly detailed empirical work conducted over the past decade, After Suburbia draws on research from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and the Americas to showcase comprehensive global scholarship on the urban periphery. Contributors explicitly reject the traditional centre-periphery dichotomy and the prioritization of epistemologies that favour the Global North, especially North American cases, over other experiences. In doing so, the book strongly advances the notion of a post-suburban reality in which traditional dynamics of urban extension outward from the centre are replaced by a set of complex contradictory developments. After Suburbia examines multiple centralities and diverse peripheries which mesh to produce a surprisingly contradictory and diverse metropolitan landscape.

What happens when a functional building is decommissioned? This book investigates liminal spaces: areas we occupy between here and there; structures that exist only as a place to be passed through, rather than as a destination in themselves. Its onus is buildings that have fallen to the wayside, and no longer channel continuous flows of human traffic. Combining architectural insight with a study of the transitory human condition, Airports on Hold analyses a number of obsolete airport infrastructures. As well as exploring how design impacts on an airport's success, this book investigates the relationship between small and medium airports and territories through a series of case studies. The research included herein has been compiled from the author's experiences at numerous universities. Especial thanks go out to the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the University IUAV of Venice, the University of Genoa, and the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, for supporting the creation of this book.