National Academies Press: OpenBook

Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, and Strategies (2016)

Chapter: Section 4 - Develop a Vision (Step 4)

« Previous: Section 3 - Identify Goals (Step 3)
Page 36
Suggested Citation:"Section 4 - Develop a Vision (Step 4)." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, and Strategies. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23630.
×
Page 36
Page 37
Suggested Citation:"Section 4 - Develop a Vision (Step 4)." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, and Strategies. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23630.
×
Page 37
Page 38
Suggested Citation:"Section 4 - Develop a Vision (Step 4)." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, and Strategies. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23630.
×
Page 38
Page 39
Suggested Citation:"Section 4 - Develop a Vision (Step 4)." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, and Strategies. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23630.
×
Page 39
Page 40
Suggested Citation:"Section 4 - Develop a Vision (Step 4)." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, and Strategies. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23630.
×
Page 40

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

36 Introduction This section outlines the actions corridor stakeholders can take to develop a vision for their transit corridor. Visioning (Step 4 in Figure 1) involves three substeps: • Step 4.1: Develop Corridor Improvement Scenarios. • Step 4.2: Analyze Corridor Improvement Scenarios. • Step 4.3: Select Vision. Stakeholders should first engage in a collaborative process to outline improvement scenarios for their corridors, based on the work done in Step 3. Then corridor analysts can estimate the outcomes of these scenarios and prepare necessary data for evaluating these scenarios using traditional planning analysis methods. Step 4.1: Develop Corridor Improvement Scenarios Engage your stakeholders in a visioning process to determine what they think their corridor should ultimately become. These scenarios should be “what if” exercises that help stakeholders identify the likely outcomes of different improvement strategies. Scenarios should engage the full range of Livability Principles, factors, goals, and strategies outlined in this Handbook, with emphasis placed on those goals identified in previous steps and their associated strategies. Many of the most beneficial outcomes from livability improvements are realized from the interactions between disciplines that are often kept separate. The most effective comprehensive livability scenario planning efforts will include and leverage these disciplinary “silos,” breaking down barriers between land use, transportation, housing, economic development, and social services providers to name a few. The Lincoln Land Institute report “Opening Access to Scenario Planning Tools” identifies three critical components of scenario planning: collaboration, capacity building, and creation of an open environment for engagement. The report defines these as follows: Collaborative problem solving facilitates resolution of interrelated issues that cannot be resolved by one organization alone. Capacity building is needed to enable individuals and organizations to apply sce- nario planning methods and tools effectively to their specific planning concerns. An open environment for information sharing and education will help accelerate the use and improvement of scenario planning tools in multiple settings (Holway et al. 2012). The importance of collaboration and an open environment called for in this passage cannot be emphasized enough. In a survey of U.S. scenario planning projects, Bartholomew found that with a handful of notable exceptions, most scenario planning efforts fail to achieve the level of public engage- ment necessary to achieve their goals. Sixty percent of all projects that concluded with the selection Develop a Vision (Step 4) S E C T I O N 4

Develop a Vision (Step 4) 37 of a preferred scenario failed to involve the public in this critical decision. Bartholomew concludes that the “planners’ agenda” is subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) working to frame the problems and script the solutions in the form of value-laden scenarios. By the time the public is involved, the planners have already decided on their preferred scenarios and outcomes (Bartholomew 2007). Recommended Practice: Developing Action-Oriented Scenarios Consult the following scenario planning guides and resources to help design livability improvement scenarios for your transit corridor: • Federal Highway Administration and Volpe Center. 2010. FHWA Scenario Planning Guide- book. Federal Highway Administration, Washington D.C. Available at: http://www.fhwa.dot. gov/planning/scenario_and_visualization/scenario_planning/scenario_planning_guidebook/ guidebook.pdf. • Oregon Sustainable Transportation Initiative. 2013. Scenario Planning Guidelines Resources for Developing and Evaluating Alternative Land Use and Transportation Scenarios. Oregon Department of Transportation, Salem, OR. Available at: http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/ OSTI/docs/Scenario%20Planning%20Guidelines/ODOT-Guidelines-April2013-red.pdf. • Envision Utah. 2014. A Guide to Regional Visioning: Mapping the Course for Successful Com- munity Engaged Scenario Planning. Envision Utah, Salt Lake City, UT. Available at: http:// envisionutah.org/images/guidebook-images/ScenarioPlanningGuidebook.pdf. In close collaboration with stakeholders, develop planning-level sketches, diagrams, and other presentation materials that will help stakeholders envision what the corridor will look like once the livability planning and implementation process is complete. The Transit Corridor Livability Calculator provides data for 10 of the 12 metrics for most U.S. census block groups. Create scenarios for the study corridor by adding or subtracting from the metric scores to reflect the implementation of different strategies. Evaluate and display for stakeholders the likely outcomes of each scenario’s strategies once they are implemented and their effects are manifest. Step 4.2: Analyze Corridor Improvement Scenarios Provide comparisons of the livability metric scores for existing and future scenarios for the study corridor. Describe the strengths and needs identified in the analysis above, the preliminary list of goals selected in Step 3, and the likely outcomes from pursuing those goals. Re-engage the corridor stakeholders, presenting the analysis results for likely outcomes from the scenarios they defined in Step 4.1. Design the public involvement and stakeholder engagement processes to ensure they are robust and inclusive. Step 4.3: Select Vision Using the collaborative processes outlined in the steps above, select the preferred corridor vision scenario based on stakeholder preferences. This vision will serve as the touchstone for creating a more detailed implementation plan—including goals and strategies—in Step 5. Recommended Practice: Developing Supporting Materials for the Vision Develop supporting materials for the vision that illustrate the key aspects of the plan for each focus group (as recommended in Step 1.1) or Transit Corridor Livability Principle (as recom- mended in Step 1.2.2). For example, Figure 12 provides a land use concept plan for the North Fifth Street Corridor in North Las Vegas, Nevada.

38 Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, and Strategies Defining and Analyzing Scenarios: Envision Utah’s Depot District Scenario Plans Envision Utah conducted a visioning process using scenario-based planning tools to develop a series of scenarios for the Depot District in downtown Salt Lake City. Envision Utah worked in close collaboration with local officials and community members to identify a series of viable scenarios. These scenarios were evaluated using a collection of modeling tools, producing a series of outcome indicator values for each scenario. Source: Envision Utah (2014).

Develop a Vision (Step 4) 39 Collaboration and Public Involvement for Successful Scenario Planning: Sacramento’s Regional Blueprint Project The Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) initiated a stakeholder and community-led scenario planning effort in 2002 to develop a regional transportation and land use vision plan. After developing the business-as-usual, base-case scenario, SACOG and their partners coordinated nearly 40 neighborhood and countywide workshops. Workshops began at the neighborhood level where participants were provided with table maps and easy-to-use computer modeling programs that would provide immediate feedback to the groups on their proposed scenarios. The results of these workshops were integrated into a larger set of regional scenarios for further testing, refinement, and workshopping (Sacramento Area Council of Governments 2004). Source: Federal Highway Administration (undated).

Source: City of North Las Vegas and PlaceWorks (2006). Figure 12. Land use vision for the North Fifth Street Corridor Plan in North Las Vegas, Nevada.

Next: Section 5 - Implement Strategies (Step 5) »
Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, and Strategies Get This Book
×
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Research Report 187: Livable Transit Corridors: Methods, Metrics, and Strategies presents practical planning and implementation strategies to enhance livability in transit corridors. This Handbook provides a resource for planning practitioners, policy makers, and other stakeholders to measure, understand, and improve transit corridor livability.

The handbook provides a definition of transit corridor livability and a set of methods, metrics, and strategies—framed within a five-step visioning and improvement process—that communities can use to improve livability in their transit corridors. It includes a set of tools and techniques that can help in planning and building support for corridor improvements, screening alternatives in preparation for environmental review, identifying a corridor’s livability needs, and developing an action-oriented set of strategies for improving transit corridor livability and quality of life.

A spreadsheet-based Transit Corridor Livability Calculator tool is available for download. Instructions for using the Calculator tool are embedded within. Additional guidance in the form of a User Manual can be found in Appendix H of TCRP Research Report 187. To ensure the Calculator tool is fully-functional, make sure the tool's spreadsheet file and the TCRP Research Report 187 PDF file are both saved to the same directory folder on your computer.

Any digital files or software included is offered as is, without warranty or promise of support of any kind either expressed or implied. Under no circumstance will the National Academy of Sciences or the Transportation Research Board (collectively “TRB”) be liable for any loss or damage caused by the installation or operation of this product. TRB makes no representation or warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, in fact or in law, including without limitation, the warranty of merchantability or the warranty of fitness for a particular purpose, and shall not in any case be liable for any consequential or special damages.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!