Preface
Multimodal Transportation Planning introduces readers to the principles and practice of integrated land use and transportation planning. The primary focus of the textbook is on planning for the mobility needs of all transportation system users, with an emphasis on pedestrian, bicycle, automobile, and transit modes. A related focus is on reducing society’s dependence on the automobile for personal travel. Although mentioned in various chapters, planning for the movement of freight is not a focus, but may be included in future editions.
Providing individuals with a choice of clean, efficient, and affordable mobility options is a key strategy for reducing the effects of climate change, improving public health and safety, and achieving more equitable and livable communities. To address these policy objectives, students are expected to have a working knowledge of multimodal transportation planning in contemporary practice. In response, graduate urban planning and engineering programs are beginning to address multimodal transportation planning and sustainable transportation in their curricula.
The motivation of the textbook is to provide Universities with a practical resource for use in teaching multimodal transportation planning and related courses, such as sustainable transportation, in graduate-level urban planning and engineering programs. Despite the growing importance of multimodal planning in contemporary practice few if any textbooks are devoted specifically to its practice. Instead, relevant materials must be found in a variety of sources that are often costly or difficult to locate, and most offer only a partial view of this complex and comprehensive field of study. In addition, many Universities offer transportation planning courses that are highly technical and targeted to the engineer, while lacking courses on multimodal planning best practices and policies for students of planning.
The University of South Florida (USF), Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR), developed this OER textbook to help address this need. The textbook also supplements a model curriculum for graduate-level multimodal transportation planning courses developed by two of the authors in 2015 for the National Institute of Transportation and Communities (Williams, Claridge [Boyd], and Carroll, 2015). Each chapter of the text is devoted to an important topic or theme in multimodal transportation planning and begins with specific learning objectives and ends with key takeaways and a self-test to reinforce learning and retention.
Readers of the text will be able to gain knowledge that supports a variety of learning objectives. Key themes and objectives relate to conveying an understanding of the relationship between land use and transportation, the difference between traditional methods and multimodal planning best practices, and the importance of evaluating performance from an accessibility and quality of service perspective. Related objectives and topics include understanding the relationship between travel behavior and the built environment and the relationship between roadway function, land use context, and roadway design. Additional strategies and topics include travel demand management to support multimodal options, key factors impacting transit usage, and the importance of managing roadway access, curbs, and parking.
It is our hope that this book helps prepare future transportation professionals plan for healthier, more equitable, and sustainable transportation systems. The book first identifies some of the contemporary issues in transportation to frame the need for multimodal transportation planning. Subsequent chapters highlight concepts and methods in multimodal transportation planning in more detail and describe transportation demand management, transportation and urban form, roadway network planning, walking and cycling, public transportation, and funding and performance measurement.
This text is only an introductory foundation for advancing understanding of the complex and interrelated matters that comprise multimodal transportation planning. Solving today’s critical issues in transportation will require a comprehensive approach to planning education and a well-trained, multidisciplinary workforce. This textbook is a step toward accomplishing that goal.
