Office of Planning, Environment, & Realty (HEP)
Planning · Environment · Real Estate
FHWA Livability Contacts
Livability in Transportation: Why Now?
Livability in Transportation: Background
Purpose of the Guidebook
About the Guidebook
Guidebook Organization
Getting Started
Moving Forward
Palm Canyon Drive Before and After
Charlotte, NC Centers, Corridors, and Wedges Growth Framework
Route 50 Corridor Coalition: Preserving the Past to Protect the Future
2009 Renaissance Zone, Fargo, ND Map
Chattanooga Riverfront Parkway
Hillsborough Street Roundabout
MaineDOT: How to Create Scenarios for Useful and Usable Plans
Gateway Route 1 Scenario Deliberation
Sample Population Growth Analysis
Public Outreach and Community Meetings
Photo-Visualization of Possible BRT Alignments
Centers, Corridors, and Wedges Plan
Framework Elements for TOD in Charlotte
Map for NE Corridor and Station Area Plan Rendering for Scaleybark Station
Development Activity along LYNX Blue Line (for stations outside of Uptown) 2005-2013
MaineDOT: How To Create Scenarios for Useful and Usable Plans
Pennsylvania Township News Cover
LCI Study Locations (2000-2009)
Concept sketch from an LCI study
Centers, Corridors, and Wedges Vision Plan
Lynx Blue Line as it goes through Uptown Charlotte
Existing State Center Office Complex and Proposed State Center Master Plan with TOD
CNT's Transportation Model Data Inputs
Sample Page from the Maine Gateway 1 Adopted MOU
Potential Financial Benefits of a PPP Compared to a Conventional Financing Option
Plans for Traffic Calming Measures in the Town of Aldie
Land Use Intensity in Charlotte, NC
Impacts of the Response Program on Development
New Visions Philosophy Application
Hillsborough Street-Hillsborough-Pullen and Oberlin-Pullen Roundabouts
Hillsborough Street Intersection with Turn Lanes
Cathedral City-Adaptable Boulevard Design Concept
Cathedral City-Traffic Control Design Concept
Completed Palm Canyon Drive in the late 1990s
Chattanooga Riverfront Parkway-Map of Changes
Chattanooga Riverfront Parkway-Concept Sketch for Riverfront Parkway Street Design
Chattanooga Riverfront Parkway Today
Chattanooga's Redesigned Waterfront Under Construction
Hillsborough Street Improvements
Eugene BRT Visualization-After Photograph
"By focusing on livability, we can help transform the way transportation serves the American people-and create safer, healthier communities that provide access to economic opportunities."
-Ray LaHood, U.S. DOT,
Secretary of Transportation
The Livability in Transportation Guidebook's primary purpose is to illustrate how livability principles have been incorporated into transportation planning, programming, and project design, using examples from State, regional, and local sponsors. It is intended to be useful to a diverse audience of transportation agency staff, partners, decisionmakers, and the general public, and is applicable in urban, suburban, and rural areas. While several of the example projects address capacity and operational issues on major roadways, the Guidebook primarily explores how transportation planning and programs can improve community quality of life, enhance environmental performance, increase transportation and housing choice while lowering costs, and support economic vitality. Many of the case studies resolve capacity and operational issues through a multimodal network and systems approach, reflecting better integration of land use with transportation.
Partnership for Sustainable Communities. In June 2009, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, and U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced the new Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities to improve access to affordable housing, provide more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. The Partnership established six livability principles to act as a foundation for interagency coordination:
The Guidebook provides examples of communities and agencies across the country that have approached today's new livability in transportation context with innovative and practical strategies, using the transportation planning process to guide successful project implementation. Fostering livability in transportation projects and programs will result in improved quality of life; will create a more efficient and accessible transportation network; and will serve the mobility needs of communities, families, and businesses.
The Guidebook includes the executive summary, introduction, six "planning approach" chapters, and a conclusion. A separate appendix provides details about each of the case studies.
Visioning (Chapter 2). Transportation practitioners have learned to use visioning to work with a range of partners, address broader issues, and develop more integrated long-term solutions. A vision is by nature forward-thinking, unconstrained, comprehensive, flexible, inclusive and participatory, and linked to action. Visioning helps develop a clear understanding of potential future outcomes, outlines a range of choices, identifies potential impacts and benefits, and is implemented through public and private investment over time.
Planning and Process (Chapter 3). Some transportation agencies have moved beyond established planning and project delivery processes to incorporate livability goals into the planning process, integrating mobility goals with other community needs. Innovative, participatory planning processes can reach more stakeholders, capture real input, and develop creative, integrated plans. Planning and process changes also help align fiscal realities with true costs of transportation projects, leading to improved project delivery.
Policy (Chapter 4). Updated agency policies can set the stage for long-term success in implementing livable transportation projects. Integrated policies can have a lasting and program-wide effect. Applying new policies to projects can help demonstrate an agency's intention and direction. Policy changes support the organizational change needed to implement livability over the long term, but require strong political support, staff engagement, a supportive organizational structure, and external partnerships.
Partnership (Chapter 5). A range of partnership structures have used innovative coordination strategies to advance common goals consistent with the livability principles. Spanning public, private, and nonprofit interests, these partnerships demonstrate collaboration across jurisdictions, within agencies, and with external stakeholders to meet their funding, policy, program or planning goals. Partnerships created early from the ground up can help translate shared visions and goals into realistic projects.
Design (Chapter 6). Delivering livability at the project level requires new design approaches, understanding who will use the system, including them in the design process, and incorporating their input into final design. A well-executed design process builds on early efforts in visioning, planning, and integration of transportation, land use, and housing, bringing them closer to implementation. Conventional design guidance and regulations may require design exceptions to incorporate livability. Some agencies have developed new approaches, policies, and standards to deliver integrated design.
Implementation and Funding (Chapter 7). Aligning transportation investments with livability goals can improve system performance and coordinate additional funding. A practical set of phased improvements coordinated with local development decisions can maximize the effectiveness of existing systems. Implementation of livability into transportation will include new policies at the State, regional, and local levels; strong public, private, and community partnerships; creative multimodal project design; and innovation in building, operating, and maintaining the system.
Conclusion. Building a partnership and process focused on livability can help identify affordable short-term multimodal capacity, safety, and operational improvements, while creating a long-term vision and phased implementation plan for a corridor, transportation system, or region. The strategies identified can be applied to a broad range of projects-from transit systems to regional scenario planning, neighborhood revitalization, rural main streets, county comprehensive plans or statewide policy development. At whatever scale, whichever agency takes the lead, an integrated planning approach can help jump-start short-term projects, support sustainable economic development, and serve as a longer-term model for revitalization of corridors, neighborhoods, cities, and towns throughout the region and State.
Increase Transportation Choices |
Promote Affordable Housing |
Enhance Economic Competitiveness |
Support Existing Communities |
Coordinate Federal Policies & Leverage Funding |
Value Existing Communities |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Part - Partly Supports Full - Fully Supports |
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Albany, NY-CDTC New Visions Transportation Plan |
Part |
Part |
Part |
Full |
Full |
Full |
Atlanta, GA-Livable Centers Initiative |
Part |
Part |
Part |
Full |
Full |
Full |
Cathedral City, CA-Palm Canyon Drive Streetscape |
Full |
Full |
Full |
Full |
||
Charlotte, NC-Integrated Land Use and Transit Planning |
Full |
Part |
Full |
Full |
Part |
Full |
Chattanooga, TN -Riverfront Parkway Transportation and Urban Design Plan |
Full |
Full |
Full |
Full |
||
Denver, CO-FasTracks |
Full |
Full |
Full |
Part |
Full |
|
Eugene, OR-Emerald Express Green Line Bus Rapid Transit |
Full |
Part |
Full |
Part |
Part |
|
Fargo, ND-Downtown Redevelopment |
Part |
Part |
Full |
Full |
Part |
Full |
Loudoun County, VA-Route 50 Rural Traffic Calming |
Full |
Full |
Full |
|||
Maine-Gateway Route 1 |
Full |
Part |
Full |
Full |
||
MD-MDOT Transit-Oriented Development Initiative |
Full |
Full |
Full |
Part |
||
PA-PennDOT Smart Transportation Program |
Full |
Full |
Full |
Part |
Full |
|
Raleigh, NC-Hillsborough Street Improvement Project |
Full |
Full |
Full |
Full |
||
VA/MD-Woodrow Wilson Bridge |
Full |
Part |
Part |
|||
National-Housing + Transportation Affordability Index |
Part |
Full |
Full |
Full |
||
"Livability means being able to take your kids to school, go to work, see a doctor, drop by the grocery or post office, go out to dinner and a movie, and play with your kids at the park-all without having to get in your car. 1"
-Ray LaHood, U.S. DOT,
Secretary of Transportation
America's transportation industry has built one of the world's largest and best highway networks, connecting people, businesses, and communities across the country, linked with extensive public transportation systems in major metro areas. However, we have not yet put the same effort into completing a system that works as well for walking, wheeling, or taking transit in most communities. While nearly four-fifths of Federal transportation funding goes to highway projects, almost 85 percent of people and jobs are in metropolitan areas, 2 which offer the potential for significant improvements in multimodal travel choices. Since metropolitan regions are also where most trade, industry, and congestion occur-and where aging infrastructure requires significant reinvestment-a balanced approach can help maximize the effectiveness of existing transportation investments. The same is true for towns and villages in rural areas, which are struggling to remain economically competitive while preserving community character and maintaining viable mobility options. By targeting transportation funding to support reinvestment in existing communities, we can build more choice, convenience, and cost-effectiveness into the transportation system. Developing complete street networks that provide connectivity and accessibility for all modes is a good place to start. As changing demographics and evolving markets increase demand for compact, walkable neighborhoods with a range of housing choices, transportation planning, programming, management and operations can help ensure that walking, biking, and transit are safe, convenient, and realistic choices for more people, making transportation systems more accessible, efficient and equitable.
In a time of economic challenges and fiscal constraint, limited transportation funds can be more effectively focused on projects that support economic revitalization and community development, while improving transportation and housing affordability and quality of life. By increasing multimodal mobility and access in the existing system, the overall costs of moving people, goods, and services can be reduced, enhancing economic competitiveness. Transportation investments that support community livability can also have multiple co-benefits. Compact, connected communities encourage regular walking, wheeling, and transit use, reducing the need for auto travel-while making trips shorter for those who choose to drive. Less driving helps reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other pollution, lowering energy use and reducing dependence on foreign oil. Compact, connected development patterns require less land and pavement, reducing stormwater runoff, groundwater pollution, and loss of wildlife habitat, fields, and forests. The daily exercise associated with more active transportation choices has been shown to improve human health, reduce obesity and health care costs, and encourage community social interactions. Even those who drive to a mixed-use "park-once" district (or traditional downtown) find they can get exercise and social connections without having to drive between every destination-if a safe walking and wheeling network is in place.
By incorporating livability principles into transportation plans and programs, communities can maximize the efficiency of existing transportation investments while providing better access within and between activity centers. Livability approaches can also be a catalyst for reinvesting in aging suburban corridors, restoring complete streets and networks, and revitalizing rural small towns. A transportation system that provides reliable, safe access to jobs, education, health care and goods and services is every bit as important to rural communities as it is to urban areas. Rural communities present unique mobility challenges, and the types of transportation options needed in rural areas can be different in order to ensure access for older citizens to services and activities, and to improve connections and service between communities. Linking transportation investments to compact development and revitalization strategies can preserve natural and cultural resources, while better preparing communities to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Making sure that people of all ages have real choices to walk and wheel in the course of daily living, and making communities age-friendly, can support active living, and help improve health and quality of life.
This Guidebook provides examples of communities and agencies across the country that have taken on these challenges by approaching today's new livability in transportation context with innovative and practical strategies, using the transportation planning process to guide successful project implementation.
Incorporating livability into transportation planning, programs, and projects is not a new concept. Communities, developers, advocacy groups, businesses, and neighborhood residents have been working for generations to make places more livable through transportation initiatives with varying degrees of support from local, regional, State, and Federal agencies. These initiatives have used a range of names to describe an overlapping set of objectives and strategies-livability, sustainability, smart growth, walkable communities, new urbanism, healthy neighborhoods, active living, transit-oriented development (TOD), complete streets, and many others. While advocates for each approach or "brand name" might find differences, most transportation industry practitioners understand the common element is that transportation planning is no longer a stand-alone exercise. Increasingly, transportation planning and project development are being more fully integrated with broader community goals, addressing a wider range of needs and leveraging the effectiveness of other programs. As the examples in this Guidebook demonstrate, linking transportation planning with land use decisions, environmental protection, and economic development can lead to more comprehensive, cost-effective solutions and broad community support.
Although most successful livability initiatives and projects generally have been implemented at the regional and local level, there has also been a long history of Federal and State support for related efforts. The U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) have initiated a number of programs and approaches to protect the human and natural environment, increase mode choice, improve safety, and foster livable communities. Much of this support has focused on Metropolitan Planning efforts, scenario planning, and programming that links local and state planning. Support has included development and broad promotion of a Context Sensitive Solutions approach; support for walkable communities, traffic calming, and Safe Routes to School; inclusion of land use and economic development factors in transportation planning and in project evaluation criteria for funding transit capital investments; program support and expanded funding eligibilities for TOD; incentives for engaging private investment in joint development projects near transit; to recent policy support for incorporating safe and convenient walking and bicycling facilities into transportation projects to meet the needs of all users and modes. The U.S. DOT efforts have also included developing programs such as the Transportation, Community, and System Preservation (TCSP) Program, which funded a number of innovative planning efforts linking transportation, housing, land use, and environment; and enhancement projects that are required components of applicable FHWA and FTA funding programs. The U.S. DOT has initiated research and planning to address climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as sustainability, in transportation.
Livability became a popular topic in the 1980s as planners began studying shifts in development patterns from the decline of urban centers to rapidly growing suburban areas. At the time, a controversial issue in transportation planning was the extent to which major highway investments-coupled with very limited availability of alternative modal options-were helping to encourage the development of low-density, single-use, car-dependent settlement patterns, and whether it was economically worthwhile to move infrastructure from cities to suburbs. Numerous studies challenged traditional growth assumptions-including a series of landmark reports that highlighted regions that were "pioneering a wide range of innovative efforts to make communities more livable" 3 and promoting sustainable growth in jobs, housing and transportation in economically, environmentally, and socially smart ways. Advocacy groups and coalitions including arts, preservation, and community organizations also focused on social and environmental equity challenges.
Efforts in the late 1980s and early 1990s highlighted the importance of community and urban design as a tool for solving integrated transportation, land use, housing, and environmental challenges. This included the birth of new urbanism, a coalition of urban designers, developers, and transportation professionals; community-based programs to create more walkable communities; traffic calming projects; and public-private efforts to expand transit and TOD. Publicly-funded transit programs were increasingly viewed as critical community anchors and catalysts for more concentrated economic growth and development. In 1996, FTA published Building Livable Communities with Transit, which outlines key steps in the transportation planning and project development process to promote investments more strategically tuned to communities' needs. 4 A range of these community design concepts, coupled with the growing popularity of innovative public policy, flexible funding, and environmental preservation strategies, were also adopted by many States and local governments. Although the result of these policies and innovative planning strategies was collectively referred to as smart growth, several States used their own brand name for similar initiatives (e.g., Quality Growth, Keystone Principles.). Since the 1990s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has run the Smart Growth Program, providing technical assistance to localities and States, research and publications, support for conferences, and an awards program that continues today.
Partnership for Sustainable Communities. In June 2009, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, and U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced the new Interagency Partnership 5 for Sustainable Communities to improve access to affordable housing, provide more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. The Partnership established six livability principles to act as a foundation for interagency coordination (see figure below). Fostering livability in transportation projects and programs will result in improved quality of life, create a more efficient, more accessible transportation network, and serve the mobility needs of communities, families, and businesses. The interagency promotion of livability aims to help America's neighborhoods become safer, healthier, and more vibrant. The Partnership will encourage livability principles to be incorporated into Federal programs, while better protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change.
The Partnership is already making significant progress in coordinating programs and aligning available funding with the livability principles. The U.S. DOT's recent $1.5 billion Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grant Program included reviews by an interagency team, and awarded more than 50 high priority innovative transportation projects across the country. Twenty-two of these projects will promote livable communities by creating transportation options and improving access to economic and housing opportunities. A second round of TIGER funding is under way (at the time of this guidebook's publication), and will be coordinated with award of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Challenge grants for accessible affordable housing. Similarly, FTA is allocating funds to innovative Bus, Bus Facility, and Urban Circulator projects-including streetcars-to further advance the six livability principles. Using available funds that do not require new appropriations, FTA will deliver tangible livability improvements within existing programs. This initiative will demonstrate the value of these investments to achieve the livability principles while helping to inform the next surface transportation program reauthorization. The new HUD Sustainable Communities Grant Program will provide approximately $100 million for regional integrated planning initiatives. HUD and U.S. DOT are also cooperating in a joint $75 million competitive grant program that will be awarded to projects that link transportation improvements with housing development. For the first time, HUD and U.S. DOT are participating in EPA's annual technical assistance projects under their Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA) Program. The SGIA Program helps communities incorporate smart growth strategies into their policies and projects.
The Livability in Transportation Guidebook's primary purpose is to illustrate how livability principles have been successfully incorporated into transportation planning, programming, and project design, using examples from State, regional, and local sponsors, applicable in urban, suburban, and rural areas. It is intended to be useful to a diverse audience, including staff from FHWA, FTA, State departments of transportation (DOTs), Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), transit agencies, local governments, other partnering agencies, community organizations, advocacy groups, business and developers, academic institutions, and the general public.
While several of the projects address capacity and operational issues on major transportation facilities, the Guidebook-like overall livability initiatives-primarily explores how transportation planning and programs can improve community quality of life, enhance environmental performance, increase transportation and housing choice while lowering costs, and support economic vitality. Many of the case studies resolve capacity and operational issues through a multimodal network and systems approach, along with better integration of land use with transportation to lessen the need for automobile travel.
Since the overall topic area is comprehensive and complex, the Guidebook is not a detailed, step-by-step "how-to" guide for planning or implementing specific projects. Instead, it is intended to be an overview on the importance of livability in transportation, to encourage transportation practitioners to think more broadly about project goals, enlist more partners, and develop more integrated solutions that support community livability. By highlighting elements in the case studies that worked well-practical strategies, processes, applications, and common techniques, it should encourage the reader to "try something new" to promote livability in transportation. The Guidebook illustrates how good planning practice has been applied to a variety of transportation projects that are consistent with the livability principles, and provides examples for local practitioners undertaking similar projects.
The case studies in this Guidebook represent a variety of projects ranging in scale and community context. Each demonstrates how the livability principles can be used to address and overcome planning and project implementation barriers.
The Guidebook was developed with the recognition that livability means different things to different communities, and that planning and implementation need to be tailored to the needs of individual communities. The case studies vary across modes, types of planning, facilities, and location. They are applicable to a broad range of users-from transportation practitioners to community advocacy groups-allowing readers to select from a variety of "livability in action" examples, depending on a given planning or implementation challenge.
The Guidebook consists of the following sections:
Albany, NY-CDTC New Visions Transportation Plan |
X |
X |
X |
X |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Atlanta, GA-Livable Centers Initiative |
X |
X |
||||
Cathedral City, CA-Palm Canyon Drive Streetscape |
X |
X |
||||
Charlotte, NC-Integrated Land Use & Transit Planning |
X |
X |
X |
X |
||
Chattanooga, TN -Riverfront Parkway Transportation and Urban Design Plan |
X |
X |
||||
Denver, CO-FasTracks |
X |
X |
||||
Eugene, OR-Emerald Express Green Line Bus Rapid Transit |
X |
X |
||||
Fargo, ND-Downtown Redevelopment |
X |
|||||
Loudoun County, VA-Route 50 Rural Traffic Calming |
X |
X |
X |
X |
X |
|
Maine-Gateway Route1 |
X |
X |
X |
X |
||
Maryland DOT Transit-Oriented Development Initiative |
X |
X |
||||
Pennsylvania-PennDOT Smart Transportation Program |
X |
X |
||||
Raleigh, NC-Hillsborough Street Improvement Project |
X |
X |
||||
Virginia/Maryland-Woodrow Wilson Bridge |
X |
X |
||||
National-Housing + Transportation Affordability Index |
X |
X |
