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ItemEconomic and social sustainability of sidewalk infrastructure(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-08-27) Patel, DeepThe presence of sidewalks and quality of sidewalk infrastructure are important indicators of perceived pedestrian safety and the walkability of neighborhoods. However, a wide gap exists between the accessibility and quality of infrastructure provided for pedestrians compared to the infrastructure provided for motorized vehicles. While there may be numerous reasons for poor quality of pedestrian infrastructure across cities and neighborhoods, one of the main reasons is the lack of sustained operation and maintenance programs among these local government agencies. This study outlines an approach to quantify sidewalk infrastructure costs over an 80-year life cycle period. Equivalent annual costs for three different scenarios are allocated in part directly to property owners, with the remaining costs in each scenario recovered over time through an equivalent increase in property tax millage rates. The four sidewalk management scenarios are then examined in more detail to assess how implementation may differentially impact Atlanta’s 244 neighborhoods and their residents across income and ethnicity groups. The two somewhat surprising findings of the study are: 1) even though sidewalk infrastructure may have a lifespan of more than 40-years, the costs of owning and operating this infrastructure over an 80-year period with replacement are high; and 2) low income neighborhoods are negatively impacted when portions of sidewalk infrastructure management costs are allocated directly to property owners, rather than handling sustainable management through traditional property tax assessment methods.
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ItemEstimating managed lanes door-to-door travel timesavings using shortest path algorithms(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2019-08-27) Chang, Chia-HuaiImplementing managed lanes, such as high-occupancy toll lanes, within existing urban highway corridors has become increasingly common in cities that want to provide a reliable transportation option but lack sufficient right-of-way to construct new corridors. This study develops a framework that utilizes a shortest path algorithm to compare before and after commute routes and estimate the change in door-to-door travel time offered by managed lane facilities. Using this modeling approach, a case study is explored for the Northwest Corridor (NWC) managed lane facility located in the Atlanta, Georgia, region. The shortest path routines predict that the facility provides a 21.0% - 27.1% decrease in door-to-door travel time for the NWC managed lane users, and a 5.8% – 12.0% travel time decrease for non-NWC general-purpose lane users, for corridor travelers departing home between 6:30 and 8:30 A.M. (traversing the corridor between 6:30 A.M. and 10:00 A.M.). This framework can be easily customized and applied to any other commute route/time change assessment for major managed lane projects.
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ItemAssessing the potential of autonomous transit shuttles as a first-and-last mile public transportation solution(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018-07-27) Walls, Daniel BeckettAutomated vehicle (AV) technology has the potential to improve safety and vehicle energy efficiency, increase mobility, lower travel costs, and increase roadway capacity. Much of this potential, however, relies on how the vehicles are deployed and the resulting shifts in travel behaviors. If the travel cost and mobility improvements are realized, the success of AVs could come at the expense of public transit ridership. Facing this modal competition, there may be an opportunity for transit agencies to integrate AVs into their existing systems as a first-and-last mile solution for riders; merging the efficiencies of passenger rail and mass transit with the door-to-door convenience of personal vehicles. This research assesses such a scenario to model whether there would be travel time, cost savings, and other impacts to riders. Specifically, this research assesses the potential for on-demand, fully electric AV shuttles to serve as a first-and-last mile solution within 2.0-miles of all MARTA rail stations. A multi-modal routing platform was used to simulate trips and compare travel times between the proposed AV shuttle-transit service and the existing modal options of driving a conventional vehicle, walking to and from MARTA’s current bus and rail network, and using park-and-ride lots to access MARTA. The routing platform used for this research also includes an energy module and a cost module, allowing the modal options to be compared on energy consumption per trip, and cost to the traveler. Demographic information tied to the trip data was retained, offering a high-level picture of potential populations served. Nearly 7,000 trips were processed through the routing platform. On average, travel times for the simulated AV shuttle service were not competitive with conventional driving (when parking time is excluded), but they were competitive with park-and-ride, and showed significant travel time improvements over MARTA’s existing service. Driving also came in with the lowest average trip cost, excluding parking and sunk vehicle costs. In terms of energy consumption, the proposed AV shuttle service showed significantly lower energy use than the other modes. The AV shuttle service would offer other benefits as well, including expanding MARTA’s effective service area, travel time savings for transit captive riders, and improved transit service for minority populations.
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ItemAdvancing strategic focuses through performance-based evaluation – the growth of state dot approaches(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017-08-01) Sperling, Elliot AsherAs a result of the enactment of the 2012 national surface transportation legislation, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), performance-based approaches have substantially grown in importance and use. States are examining their existing processes to ensure increases in transportation system performance over time. Certain states have developed internal processes that demonstrate use of a performance-based approach that effectively integrates both planning and programming decisions to meet agency-based objectives and national performance targets, and aligns with agency strategic goal areas. Through this research a national survey was developed and implemented to identify state transportation agency practices, which use multi-objective decision analysis (MODA) approaches to evaluate and prioritize strategic investments across asset categories. Agencies that are more advanced in project evaluation are able to quantify project values before they are funded to ensure that they are in alignment with an agency’s overall goals and, at the same time, demonstrate worthwhile investments to the taxpayers in an environment of fiscal constraint. Recent shifts towards more data-driven approaches in project evaluation are providing far more objectivity and certainty to project sponsors, and have led to more collaborative transportation processes for planning and programming. By linking state-based and national performance goals to evaluation methods, states will be better positioned to improve performance over time for their multi-modal transportation systems and better meet public expectations with the limited amount of resources and funding that are available. With growing uncertainties over future travel demands, the introduction of new technologies, and the phasing out of old technologies, strategic approaches will grow in importance.
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ItemParking policies for resurging cities: An Atlanta case study(Geomrgia Institute of Technology, 2016-08-01) Pringle, Jeshua D.Parking policies lie at the intersection of land use and transportation. Although often overlooked by traditional planning and engineering methods, parking can serve as an amplifier for an area’s success or failure. The impact of parking can be revealed through a critical look at the history of parking and its role in decentralizing the urban core. The incorporation of parking into zoning regulations, and a commitment to shaping cities to accommodate the automobile, has contributed to the sprawling development patterns seen across the United States. Parking, and the policies that govern parking, are a reflection of a city’s priorities. Cities that provide ample free parking incentivize travel by automobile; yet, dense urban cores are capable of efficiently supporting travel by alternative modes. On the other hand, cities that manage parking through regulations, technology, and pricing can achieve a better balance in commute mode choice. As cities across the U.S. experience a resurgence of their urban core, the policies that govern parking should be re-evaluated to reflect those cities’ future priorities. This thesis evaluates policies that shape the way parking is managed in cities and assesses the potential impact of these policies in the central business district of Atlanta, GA.
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ItemEffect of high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on mass vehicle emissions: an application to I-85 in Atlanta(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-07-10) Kall, DavidHigh Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes were recently proposed for I-85 in Atlanta as a way to relieve congestion and provide a reliable commute time for single occupant drivers that are willing to pay a toll. It is important to evaluate the air quality impacts of such a proposal to meet environmental regulations, such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Transportation Conformity Regulations. The goal of this study is to understand how vehicle mass emissions change as a result of implementing HOT lanes on I-85 in Atlanta . This is done by considering a number of factors affect mass vehicle emissions, such as vehicle activity, vehicle speeds, vehicle age distributions, and vehicle class distributions. These factors are incorporated into a base scenario, which models the current condition on I-85 with HOV lanes, and a future scenario, which models the implementation of HOT lanes on this corridor. The base scenario mainly uses data from a data collection effort by Georgia Tech during the summer of 2007 on the I-85 corridor, while the future scenario makes alterations to these data using information from other cities that have already implemented HOT lanes. The MOBILE-Matrix modeling tool, which was recently developed by Georgia Tech [16], was used to run the emissions analysis using the input factors from these data sources. This tool calculated mass emissions for five pollutants: HC, NOx, CO, PM2.5, and PM10. The results show very small increases in mass emissions for NOx, CO, PM2.5, and PM10, and very small decreases in mass emissions for HC. Therefore, the implementation of HOT lanes on I-85 in Atlanta is unlikely to violate the Transportation Conformity Rule. For NEPA purposes, this analysis could be used to make the case that air quality impacts are not significant, and therefore further detailed analyses are not required.
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ItemImpossibility of Transit in Atlanta: GPS-Enabled Revealed-Drive Preferences and Modeled Transit Alternatives for Commute Atlanta Participants(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007-11-15) Zuehlke, Kai M.This thesis compared revealed-preference automobile morning work commute trip data from GPS-equipped instrumented vehicles of Commute Atlanta participants with transit commute alternatives identified in the regional planning model transit network. The Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual (TCQSM) travel time level of service (LOS) measure for transit was applied to these GPS automobile and modeled transit data. To quantify system-level transit availability, the TCQSM service coverage LOS was applied to the Atlanta region and Atlanta s transit service area LOS was calculated as C. Most of the commuters in this study would experience transit-auto travel time LOS of F. The analyses revealed that revealed automobile travel times were 45% shorter than the model-reported automobile travel time skims for the same origin and destination zones. Transit traces, calculated by manually tracing the trips from origin to destination via the most preferable transit mode, were about 24% longer than the minimum travel-demand-modeled transit skims. Only about 9% of commuters drove directly to work more than 95% of the time and only 6% of commuters left home within five minutes of their median departure time more than 95% of the time, indicating that the convenience and flexibility of the automobile is likely to be a significant element in these commute mode decisions. Commuters perceive the total transit trip time as between being 1.25 and 2.5 as long as the actual (modeled) time, and only about 25% of commuters could take transit without having to transfer. The calculated total cost of driving to work exceeded the cost of transit, but automobile operating costs alone did not exceed transit costs for about half the sample.