Significant changes must occur in human interaction with the natural environment if the world is to move towards a state of sustainability. While the need for such change is widely recognized, planning in many sectors continues to lead to development that is unsustainable. Urban transportation planning is one such sector. Little attention has been given by sustainability-oriented researchers to the problem of resistance to change. Conversely, little attention has been given by organizational change theorists to local government planning organizations’ indifference to the sustainability imperative. As a consequence, while a great deal of research has examined the need to control the automobile in urban areas, little has been written about why such control still does not happen -- even when policies call for it. Vancouver, British Columbia is recognized for its progressive attempts to move towards sustainability. This progressive situation creates an environment in which barriers impeding change towards sustainability can be studied. While Vancouver’s municipal and regional policies explicitly call for a reversal in priorities which have traditionally favoured automobiles over transit, bicycles and pedestrians, operational decisions still favour the automobile. Most significantly, roads continue to be widened and new expressways are built to accommodate more automobile traffic. A qualitative case study approach was used to inquire into transportation planning in Vancouver. An analysis of documents and of interviews with key informants suggests that a system of institutional barriers exists which has structural, cultural, and human resource dimensions. Unsustainability is a function of organizational inertia which is not only supported by, but also takes advantage of and fosters, the wider political individualistic culture. Specifically, there are several reasons for the disjunction between Vancouver’s transportation policies and the decisions which are being made in transportation infrastructure development: an institutional structure which separates land-use and transportation planning, impedes comprehensive decision-making, and lacks mechanisms to publicize and assess cumulative environmental impacts; the existence of an organizational culture which seems to condone the use of subversive tactics to promote an informal transportation plan which perpetuates traditional, automobile-oriented values, beliefs and assumptions; and the lack of conceptual knowledge and skills necessary for organizational change to occur. The practical implications of these findings are that, in cases like Vancouver’s, sustainability can be fostered by three categories of mutually reinforcing actions: education, structural change, and planning practice. The actions in each category can build momentum towards second-order change using a social learning process to overcome societal values, beliefs and assumptions which promote an automobile-dominated transportation system.

The TMA Traffic Operations Survey was developed, which focused on traffic operations services and transportation system management practices of TMOs. The survey had the following structure: background, membership, services, and follow-up. The survey was emailed to 157 TMOs around the nation and 35 responses were received, a 22.2% response rate. Of the participating organizations only five (17%) organizations provided traffic services including traffic control improvements, signal timing, and collection of traffic data. These findings determined that a minority of organizations are involved in traffic operations. The multiple organizations that are involved in traffic operations provided data on their websites including incident alerts, live traffic views, and real-time traffic or shuttle information. Very few of the organizations that used data to provide traffic operations services generated the data themselves. The research results determined that few organizations are actively attempting to assume a role in traffic operations.

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No description available.

The development of the motor-vehicle as a means of transport has had a distinctly dichotomous impact upon our present society. Whilst it has helped to remove the natural obstructions of distance and space for any individual, it has also created many problems, especially within the urban environment, for which there seems to be no immediate solution. If such solutions are to be forthcoming in the near future, it necessitates several immediate courses of action, all of which in their own turn demand a greater amount of research and consequently a greater understanding of the problems involved.

Given the regional nature of freight movement, the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) is one of the most appropriate agencies to deal directly with this challenge. However, most metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) have little experience planning for freight. There is a need for a planning framework that MPOs can use to incorporate freight considerations into the planning process. The purpose of this research is to analyze the freight planning efforts of a number of MPOs and provide a conceptual framework for integrating freight into transportation planning. The methodology used to conduct this research was the case study approach. Information regarding the freight planning activities of several large MPOs were obtained both through collection of available on-line documents and, when appropriate, through direct contact with MPO representatives. Subsequently, this was reviewed and summarized into case studies that noted the nature of the freight planning activities, the process by which MPOs conducted studies, and the components of those studies. Finally, a conceptual framework for incorporating freight into transportation planning was developed based on the data collected and the case studies. As a result of these studies, it was concluded that MPOs are beginning to address freight movement concerns, but there are still deficiencies in their planning processes that the conceptual framework could highlight. These deficiencies are primarily in the areas of performance measure development, the implementation of freight programs, and the appearance of only nominal freight planning efforts. In addition to these deficiencies, there are certain obstacles that must be addressed and overcome. These include a lack of data, the level of sophistication found in freight modeling, the participation of freight stakeholders in the planning process, and the lack of freight-specific dollars for transportation investment.

Due to a lack of adequate funding for transportation projects, decision-makers are facing the challenge of selecting which projects are pursued and which have to be deferred. Project prioritization is widely used as a tool to evaluate and rank projects, but methods differ greatly across the nation. This thesis documents the methods used by metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in the seventy-five largest metropolitan areas in the United States. The research was internet-based and focused on the material discussed in the long-range plan. This research is valuable in the development of the practice of project prioritization through the identification of common approaches and deficiencies. By understanding prioritization experiences, failures, and accomplishments, MPOs can adopt those approaches that best provide the information needed and desired by decision makers to establish project priorities.

Thesis (PhDHumanMovement)--University of South Australia, 2005.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University (Canada), 1995. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 57-03, Section: A, page: 1347. Adviser: F. L. Hall.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.