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Geography 3115 Urban Transportation Problems

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

Aug 24 Review of Syllabus
Introduction to Urban Transportation Problems
Aug 26 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. "2009 Urban Mobility Report (Summary), Schrank & Lomax, 43pp."
Aug 31 Automobiles in Urban Transportation Systems
1. “Managing the Auto” Hansen, Chapter 14, 22pp.
2. “Driven to Spend”; Bernstein, Makarewicz & McCarty; 23pp.
Sept 2 Highways and Metropolitan Development Patterns
1. “Transportation and Urban Form”, Hansen, Chapter 3, 28pp.
2. “Transportation Cost and Benefit Analysis – Land Use Impacts”, Victoria Transportation Policy Institute, 28pp.
Sept 7 Labor Day (No class/No readings)
Sept 9 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.
Sept 14 The High Cost of Free Parking
1. “Free Parking v. Free Markets”, David Klein, 14pp.
2. “The High Cost of Free Parking" Tri-State Transportation Campaign, 5pp.
Sept 16 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.
Sept 21 Trip Generation Analysis
Trip Generation - Fundamentals & Applications”, ITE, 52pp.
Sept 23 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.
Pick up Exam #1
Sept 28 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.
Sept 30 Context Sensitive Design
1. “Context Sensitive Design Manual”, Chatham County-Savannah Metropolitan Planning Commission, 72pp.
2. “FHWA University Course on Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation ”, pp. 1 - 55
Return Exam #1
Oct 5 Neighborhood Design and Transportation Issues
1. “Neo-Traditional Neighborhood Design”, Federal Highway Administration, 11pp.
2. “Traffic Calming”, ITE, 20 pp.
3. “A Brief History of Traffic Calming”, Deborah Naylor, 7pp.
Oct 7 Planning for the Cyclists & Pedestrians I
1. “Mean Streets 2004”, Ernst, 40pp.
2. “FHWA University Course on Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation ”, pp. 113 - 155
Oct 12 Fall Break (No readings/No class)
Oct 14 Planning for the Cyclists & Pedestrians II
FHWA University Course on Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation ”, pp. 249-307
Oct 19 Transit Solutions
1. “Public Transportation”, Hansen, Chapter 8, 37pp.
2. “Land Use Impacts of Transportation Improvements-Highways & Transit”, Hansen, Chapter 9, 36pp.
Oct 21 Light Rail and Bus Rapid Transit (No class - Tentative)
1. “LRT & Bus Rapid Transit”, McBrayer, 12pp.
2. “Critiques of LRT Operations”, Polzin & Page, 67pp.
Oct 26 Transit-Oriented Development
“ State of Practice for Transit-Oriented Development”, Arrington, 60pp.
Oct 28 The Demographics of Transit Ridership
“ Counting Transit So That Transit Counts”, American Public Transportation Association, 64pp.
Nov 2 Transit-Friendly Streets
“ Transit-Friendly Streets-Design & Traffic Management Strategies to Support Livable Communities”, Transit Cooperative Research Program Report #33, p 1-49.
Nov 4 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.
Pick up Exam #2
Nov 9 Smart Growth and Transportation (Part I)
“ Smart Growth and Transportation”, Transportation Research Board, pp. 9-70
Nov 11 Smart Growth and Transportation (Part II)
“ Smart Growth and Transportation”, Transportation Research Board, pp. 71-134
Return Exam #2
Nov 16 Transit and Economic Development (Part I)
“ The Role of Transit in Creating Livable Metropolitan Communities”, Transit Cooperative Research Program Report #22, 94pp.
Nov 18 Transit and Economic Development (Part II)
“ How States Fail to Connect Econ. Development with Public Transit”, Khan & Leroy, 42pp.
Nov 23 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
Nov 25 Thanksgiving Break (No readings/No class)
Nov 30 The Environment and Transportation Issues (Part II)
Interaction Between Roadways & Wildlife Ecology”, National Cooperative Highway Research Program Synthesis #305, 86pp.
Dec 2 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.
Dec 7

Goods Movements
“ Strategies for Managing Increasing Truck Traffic”, National Cooperative Highway Research Program Synthesis #314, 42pp.
Pick up Final Exam

Dec 9 Optional review class (No readings)
Dec 14 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.