Abstract:
It is vital to small town economics to have good transportation access and mobility. Many small towns are not located along an interstate highway. Thus the preservation of capacity along surface highways is vital to each town served along the route. This paper presents an overview of an Access Management Study recently completed for a major arterial in Birmingham, AL, US-280. One of the major concepts presented is that the need for frontage roads for commercial development should be considered in the same way that a typical residential development must necessarily provide a street network. An investigation of frontage road costs as a “premium” cost of a range of typical commercial development projects is presented. The evaluation of regulatory processes available to implement this approach is considered. Finally, the concept of planning for “Placemaking” utilizing good planning and access management is discussed as a quality of life opportunity for smaller communities.
