Impact Assessment And Evaluation In Transportation Planning

Impact Assessment and Evaluation in Transportation Planning contains a refreshing approach to transportation planning by integrating impact analysis and evaluation methodology. It is original in that impact assessment and evaluation are brought together in a coherent framework. It is novel in the history of transportation science and particularly suitable as a pedagogical text, since methodologies are illustrated with various case studies and examples. It is particularly suitable for practitioners and students who want to become acquainted with conflict analysis and plan/project evaluation in the area of transportation planning.

This guide was written as a quick primer for transportation professionals and analysts who assess the impacts of proposed transportation actions on communities. It outlines the community impact assessment process, highlights critical areas that must be examined, identifies basic tools and information sources, and stimulates the thought-process related to individual projects. In the past, the consequences of transportation investments on communities have often been ignored or introduced near the end of a planning process, reducing them to reactive considerations at best. The goals of this primer are to increase awareness of the effects of transportation actions on the human environment and emphasize that community impacts deserve serious attention in project planning and development-attention comparable to that given the natural environment. Finally, this guide is intended to provide some tips for facilitating public involvement in the decision making process.

"TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 741: Evaluation of Methodologies for Visual Impact Assessments evaluates visual impact assessment (VIA) procedures, methods, and practices that satisfy or exceed National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other requirements. The report documents VIA methodologies and approaches used in the United States and other countries, describes the decision making framework used to select specific VIA techniques for a given project, includes VIA best practice case studies from state departments of transportation, and highlights promising new developments in the field."--pub. desc.

This pioneering text provides a holistic approach to decisionmaking in transportation project development and programming, whichcan help transportation professionals to optimize their investmentchoices. The authors present a proven set of methodologies forevaluating transportation projects that ensures that all costs andimpacts are taken into consideration. The text's logical organization gets readers started with asolid foundation in basic principles and then progressively buildson that foundation. Topics covered include: Developing performance measures for evaluation, estimatingtravel demand, and costing transportation projects Performing an economic efficiency evaluation that accounts forsuch factors as travel time, safety, and vehicle operatingcosts Evaluating a project's impact on economic development and landuse as well as its impact on society and culture Assessing a project's environmental impact, including airquality, noise, ecology, water resources, and aesthetics Evaluating alternative projects on the basis of multipleperformance criteria Programming transportation investments so that resources can beoptimally allocated to meet facility-specific and system-widegoals Each chapter begins with basic definitions and concepts followedby a methodology for impact assessment. Relevant legislation isdiscussed and available software for performing evaluations ispresented. At the end of each chapter, readers are providedresources for detailed investigation of particular topics. Theseinclude Internet sites and publications of international anddomestic agencies and research institutions. The authors alsoprovide a companion Web site that offers updates, data foranalysis, and case histories of project evaluation and decisionmaking. Given that billions of dollars are spent each year ontransportation systems in the United States alone, and that thereis a need for thorough and rational evaluation and decision makingfor cost-effective system preservation and improvement, this textshould be on the desks of all transportation planners, engineers,and educators. With exercises in every chapter, this text is anideal coursebook for the subject of transportation systems analysisand evaluation.

This guide was written as a quick primer for transportation professionals and analysts who assess the impacts of proposed transportation actions on communities. It outlines the community impact assessment process, highlights critical areas that must be examined, identifies basic tools and information sources, and stimulates the thought-process related to individual projects. In the past, the consequences of transportation investments on communities have often been ignored or introduced near the end of a planning process, reducing them to reactive considerations at best. The goals of this primer are to increase awareness of the effects of transportation actions on the human environment and emphasize that community impacts deserve serious attention in project planning and development-attention comparable to that given the natural environment. Finally, this guide is intended to provide some tips for facilitating public involvement in the decision making process.

Standard Transport Appraisal Methods, Volume 6 in the Advances in Transport Policy and Planning series, assesses both successful and unsuccessful practices and policies from around the world. Chapters in this new release include Transport models, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Value of Travel Time Savings and reliability, Value of Statistical Life, Wider economic benefits, Multi-criteria analysis, Best-Worst Method, Participatory Value Evaluation, Ex-post evaluation, Sustainability assessment, Evaluating Transport Equity, Environmental Impact Assessment, Decision-Support Systems, Deliberative appraisal methods, Critique on appraisal methods, Appraisal methods in developing countries, Research agenda for appraisal methods, and much more. Provides the authority and expertise of leading contributors from an international board of authors Presents the latest release in the Advances in Transport Policy and Planning series