This report presents a comprehensive and practical methodology for evaluating urban transportation system alternatives, ranging from large scale changes to low investment options. It suggests approaches for handling the evaluation-related problems that frequently plague pratitioners.
The findings are presented of two successful conferences which formed the foundation of a unique process of federal rule-making, and the underlying process that culminated in the conferences is discussed. The availability of new funds for urban mass transportation in 1974 raised complex questions of equitable resource allocation. Reaching answers to these questions involved the developing of consensus on a series of compromise solutions that would best reconcile the competing demands of different claimants. The first conference in February 1975 reached agreement on five principles which dealt with regional multimodal strategy, incremental planning, managing of the existing system, framework for evaluation, and public involvement. Cost effectiveness and usable segments were other areas of Administration's (UMTA) description of the implementation of 1976 was to review the Urban Mass Transportation Administrations (UMTA) description of the implementation of the proposed policy as well as to review on the revised policy on Urban Mass Transportation Investment. A number of related issues were discussed at both conferences. Documents prepared by UMTA as background to the conferences are discussed.
This synthesis will be of interest to transportation planners, environmental analysts, and government officials at the federal, state, regional, and local levels. It describes the state of the practice with respect to the procedures and methodologies used by planning agencies at all levels to plan and evaluate alternative multimodal passenger transportation and to integrate these plans with related land use and environmental issues. This report of the Transportation Research Board describes the federal studies and guidelines that are available and presents the findings of an extensive survey of state, regional, and local agencies to identify the evaluation methods that are being used in the practice. Selected case studies for five types of modal evaluation are presented: intercity corridor, regional study, regional screening, urban corridor, and regional programming.