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Geography 3115 Urban Transportation Problems

Click on the date to download class notes. Click on article titles for readings.

Review of Syllabus
Introduction to Urban Transportation Problems
The State of Urban Transportation
1. “Traffic-Why It’s Getting Worse and What the Government Can Do About It”, Downs, 8pp.
2. “The Context of Urban Travel”, Hansen, Chapter 1, 26pp.
3. “2005 Urban Mobility Report (Summary)”, Schrank & Lomax, 26pp.
Automobiles in Urban Transportation Systems
1. “Managing the Auto” Hansen, Chapter 14, 22pp.
2. “Driven to Spend”; Bernstein, Makarewicz & McCarty; 23pp.
Jan 21
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day (No Class/No Readings)
Highways and Metropolitan Development Patterns
1. “Transportation and Urban Form”, Hansen, Chapter 3, 28pp.
2. “Evidence and Policy Implications of Highways’ Influence on Metropolitan Development Patterns”, Boarnet, 37pp.
Sprawl and Urban Development
1. “Cost of Sprawl – 2000”, Transportation Research Board, pp. 1-41
2. “Measuring Urban Form-Is Portland Winning the War on Sprawl”, Song & Knaap, JAPA Spring 2004, 16pp.
Parking
“ Parking Pricing and Fees”, Transit Cooperative Research Program Report #95, 62pp.
Planning for Movement Within Cities
1. “The Urban Transportation Planning Process”, Hansen, Chapter 5, 25pp.
2. “Reflections on the Planning Process”, Hansen, Chapter 6, 21pp
3. “How (In)Accurate Are Demand Forecasts in Public Works Projects?”, Flyvbjerg, Holm & Buhl, JAPA Spring 2005, 16pp.
Evaluating the Impact of Land Use on Transportation
1. “Traffic Impact Analysis”, APA/PAS Report #387, Greenberg & Hecimovich, 34pp.
2. “Traffic Access & Impact Studies for Site Development”, ITE, 52pp.
3. Pick up Exam #1
Planning for the Pedestrian & Cyclist
1. “Integration of Bicycles and Transit”, Transit Cooperative Research Program Synthesis #4, pp.1-34
2. “Mean Streets 2004”, Ernst, 40pp.
Urban Design and Transportation Issues
1. “Designing Urban Corridors”, APA/PAS Report #418, Bishop, 38pp.
2. “Turning Highways into Main Streets”; Ewing, King, Raudenbush & Clemente; JAPA Summer 2005, 14pp.
3. Return Exam #1
Neighborhood Design and Transportation Issues
1. “Neo-Traditional Neighborhood Design”, Federal Highway Administration, 11pp.
2. “Traffic Calming”, ITE, 20 pp.
Transit Solutions
1. “Public Transportation”, Hansen, Chapter 8, 37pp.
2. “Land Use Impacts of Transportation Improvements-Highways & Transit”, Hansen, Chapter 9, 36pp.
Light Rail and Bus Rapid Transit
1. “LRT & Bus Rapid Transit”, McBrayer, 12pp.
2. “Critiques of LRT Operations”, Polzin & Page, 67pp.
Transit-Oriented Development
“ State of Practice for Transit-Oriented Development”, Arrington, 60pp.
Mar 3
Spring Break (No Class/No Readings)
Mar 5
Spring Break (No Class/No Readings)
The Demographics of Transit Ridership
“ Counting Transit So That Transit Counts”, American Public Transportation Association, 64pp.
Transit-Friendly Streets
“ Transit-Friendly Streets-Design & Traffic Management Strategies to Support Livable Communities”, Transit Cooperative Research Program Report #33, p 1-49.
Managing Congestion
1. “Traffic Congestion & Travel Reliability”, Lomax and Turner, 27pp.
2. “Congestion Reduction Strategies”, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 14pp.
3. “Rethinking Traffic Congestion”, Taylor, 9pp.
4. Pick up Exam #2
Smart Growth and Transportation (Part I)
“ Smart Growth and Transportation”, Transportation Research Board, pp. 9-70
Smart Growth and Transportation (Part II)
“ Smart Growth and Transportation”, Transportation Research Board, pp. 71-134
Return Exam #2
Transit and Economic Development (Part I)
“ The Role of Transit in Creating Livable Metropolitan Communities”, Transit Cooperative Research Program Report #22, 94pp.
Transit and Economic Development (Part II)
“ How States Fail to Connect Econ. Development with Public Transit”, Khan & Leroy, 42pp.
The Environment and Transportation Issues (Part I)
1. “Transportation and the Environment” Hansen, Chapter 13, 26pp
2. “Clearing the Air”, Surface Transportation Policy Project, 68pp
The Environment and Transportation Issues (Part II) - No Class
Interaction Between Roadways & Wildlife Ecology”, National Cooperative Highway Research Program Synthesis #305, 86pp.
Metropolitan Coordination and Planning
1. “Traffic Sheds, Rural Highway Capacity & Growth Management”, Kendig & Tocknell, APA/PAS Report #485, 24pp.
2. “Improving Metropolitan Decision-Making in Transporation”, Puentes and Bailey, 20pp.
3. “The Need for Regional Anti-Congestion Policies”, Downs, 20pp.
Goods Movements
“ Strategies for Managing Increasing Truck Traffic”, National Cooperative Highway Research Program Synthesis #314, 42pp.
Financing Transportation Solutions
1. “The Geography of Urban Transportation Finance” Hansen, Chapter 11, 37pp
2. “Fueling Transportation Finance-A Primer on the Gas Tax”, Puentes & Prince, 20pp.
3. “Using GARVEE Bonds to Finance Transportation Projects”, Puentes & Warren, 24pp.
Environmental Justice and Transportation Issues
1. “Social and Environmental Justice Issues in Urban Transportation”, Hansen, Chapter 12, 24pp.
2. “Dismantling Transportation Apartheid-The Quest for Equity”, Bullard, Johnson and Torres, Chapter 2 in Sprawl City: Race, Politics & Planning in Atlanta; 30pp.
3. “MPO Voting Structure & Transit Investment Bias”; Nelson, Sanchez, Wilson and Farquhar; 15pp.
What the Future Holds
1. “The Future of US Ground Transportation-2000 to 2020”, Downs, 17pp.
2. Pick up Final Exam
Apr 28
Review Class (No Readings)
May 5
Turn in Final Exam

Required Readings, Class Notes and Examinations
The Geography of Urban Transportation (3rd Edition), Edited by Susan Hansen & Genevieve Giuliano.

All readings for this class that are not drawn from the Hanson/Giuliano text will be available for downloading from the departmental server via links to the instructor’s webpage. Similarly, PowerPoint formatted summary notes of lecture subjects will be available for downloading from the departmental server. You will be held responsible for all materials used during this course – including materials covered during classroom lectures and readings from required sources (regardless of whether they are covered in lectures). Any and all of this material may be relevant to questions on the exams. Therefore, even though no attendance record will be kept, you may find it difficult to be conversant with all of the materials unless you attend all of the classes and undertake all of the readings.

There will be 3 take-home, open-book, essay-style exams in this course. There are usually 3 or 4 questions per exam. At the instructor’s discretion, there may also be some number of “extra credit” questions available for those students who wish to improve their standing in this course. Exam #1 and exam #2 will each count for 30% of your final grade. The final exam will count for 40% of your final grade.

The UNC Charlotte Code of Student Academic Integrity governs the responsibility of students to maintain integrity in academic work, defines violations of the standards, describes procedures for handling alleged violations of the standards, and lists applicable penalties. The following is prohibited in that Code as violating those standards:
A. Cheating. Intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, notes, study aids or other devices in any academic exercise. This definition includes unauthorized communication of information during an academic exercise.
B. Fabrication and Falsification. Intentional and unauthorized alteration or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise. Falsification is a matter of altering information, while fabrication is a matter of inventing or counterfeiting information for use in any academic exercise.
C. Multiple Submission. The submission of substantial portions or the same academic work (including oral reports) for credit more than once without authorization.
D. Plagiarism. Intentionally or knowingly presenting the work of another as one's own (i.e. without proper acknowledgement of the source). The sole exception to the requirement of acknowledging sources is when the ideas, information, etc. are common knowledge.
E. Abuse of Academic Materials. Intentionally or knowingly destroying, stealing or making inaccessible library or other academic materials.
F. Complicity in Academic Dishonesty. Intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to commit an act of academic dishonesty.

A full explanation of these definitions and a description of procedures used in cases where student violations are alleged are found in the complete text of The UNC Charlotte Code of Student Academic Integrity. This Code may be modified from time to time. Users are advised to contact the Office of the Dean of Students to assure they consult the most recent edition.