00939795

Component

Unlike years ago, the majority of residents in metropolitan areas today both live and work in low-density suburban settings. In the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, the once typical pattern of suburb-to-city commuting has become atypical, superseded by a more dominant pattern of suburb-to-suburb travel. Recognizing the mismatch between the area's existing hub-and-spoke Metrorail system and the rising prominence of suburb-to-suburb travel, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation initiated a study to test the feasibility of a circumferential rail transit system paralleling the Capital Beltway in Northern Virginia. Such a system would connect the spokes of the existing radial Metrorail lines serving the D.C. metro area. Faced with the challenge of studying and planning rail transit service in the Capital Beltway corridor, the study team has sifted through myriad transit technology and alignment alternatives to arrive at the best option. Underlying important questions related to the type of technology and the physical location of the alignment, however, is the more fundamental question of what objective(s) a suburban rail transit system should aim to achieve. At one extreme, the introduction of fixed rail transit into a low-density suburban setting might be viewed as a boon to existing communities, linking neighborhoods to other parts of the region and offering the potential to serve as a catalyst for more concentrated, urban growth. At the other extreme, suburban transit might be considered as a more functional "collection and distribution" system. In this model, the transit system's primary aim would be to serve as a fast, efficient linkage between other points in the local transportation network. Because of the very different spatial and technical requirements related to these two suburban transit philosophies, including station location, station spacing, operating characteristics, and station amenities, it is difficult to plan a suburban fixed rail transit system that would serve well as both a "community development-oriented" system and a "collection and distribution" system. In this paper, the authors relate their experience on the Capital Beltway Corridor Rail Feasibility Study to demonstrate their approach to studying suburban fixed rail transit. They discuss their findings and shed light on "lessons learned" along the way.

The CD-ROM contains the proceedings of the sixth, seventh and eighth conferences. The eighth conference proceedings were published in October 2001.

English

p. 96-105

2002

Eighth TRB Conference on the Application of Transportation Planning Methods

Figures (5) ; Photos (2)

Communities; Feasibility analysis; Rail transit; Suburbs; Transportation corridors; Transportation planning; Urban development; Urban growth

Circumferential rail transit system; Collection and distribution system

Northern Virginia; Washington Metropolitan Area

Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; Terminals and Facilities; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

TRIS, TRB

Mar 19 2003 12:00AM

• A BEST PRACTICE TRUCK FLOW ESTIMATION MODEL FOR THE NEW YORK CITY REGION
• A PRACTITIONER'S ALGORITHM FOR QUASI-DYNAMIC TRAFFIC ASSIGNMENT
• ADDRESSING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE (EJ) THROUGH COMMUNITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT (CIA)
• AN ANALYSIS OF TRAFFIC GROWTH RATES ON THE TEXAS-MEXICO BORDER
• B-NODE MODEL: NEW SUBAREA TRAFFIC ASSIGNMENT MODEL & APPLICATION
• CONGESTION PRICING AND ROADSPACE RATIONING: AN APPLICATION TO THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY BRIDGE CORRIDOR
• CORRIDOR SIMULATION STUDY FOR THE BRIDGE OF AMERICAS, EL PASO, TEXAS
• DEVELOPMENT OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY FOR GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION'S MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION PLANNING TOOL
• ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF RAISED MEDIANS IN TEXAS: METHODOLOGY AND CASE STUDY RESULTS
• ENHANCING PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT THROUGH THE FULL UTILIZATION OF COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
• FINANCING THE REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN: BALANCING EXPECTATIONS WITH FISCAL CONSTRAINT
• FLEXIBLE FUNDING: TRENDS AND POSSIBILITIES
• FLORIDA URBAN LAND USE ALLOCATION MODEL (ULAM)
• GIS APPLICATIONS USING DIGITAL ORTHOPHOTO DATA
• HIGHWAY ECONOMIC REQUIREMENTS SYSTEM FOR INDIANA: STATEWIDE PLANNING APPLICATIONS
• IMPLEMENTING THE LAND USE AND TRANSPORTATION POLICY IN OREGON'S 1999 HIGHWAY PLAN
• IMPROVED PLANNING DATA COLLECTION USING HANDHELD COMPUTERS
• LAND DEVELOPMENT AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR INTERCHANGE AREAS
• LESSONS LEARNED: ACCESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS IN SELECTED STATES
• MAKING LIFE EASIER FOR PLANNERS, ELECTED OFFICIALS, AND THEIR CONSTITUENTS: VISUALIZING THE INTERACTION OF TRANSPORTATION AND LAND USE
• MODIFICATIONS TO TRADITIONAL EXTERNAL TRIP MODELS
• ORIGIN AND DESTINATION ESTIMATION IN NEW YORK CITY USING AUTOMATED FARE SYSTEM DATA
• PROCEEDINGS OF THE EIGHTH TRB CONFERENCE ON THE APPLICATION OF TRANSPORTATION PLANNING METHODS, CORPUS CHRISTI, APRIL 22-26, 2001
• PROVIDING PUBLIC ACCESS TO TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS AND FUNDING WITH A VISUAL, INTERACTIVE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
• PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT PLAN FOR THE KELLY PARKWAY CORRIDOR STUDY
• PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT: "DO YOU HAVE A 'POLICY' OR A 'PLAN'?"
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• RECENT EXPERIENCE WITH TIME OF DAY MODELING
• RECOMMENDED GUIDELINES FOR THE CALIBRATION AND VALIDATION OF TRAFFIC SIMULATION MODELS
• STATEWIDE PLANNING TOOL TO SUPPORT MULTIMODAL DECISION-MAKING
• SURVEY DATA REPAIR USING HOT-DECK IMPUTATION PROCEDURE
• TCSP: DEVELOPING INNOVATIVE COMMUNITY BASED PLANNING TOOLS
• THE NORTHWEST ARKANSAS TRANSIT ASSESSMENT STUDY
• THE ROLE OF FIXED COMMITMENTS IN SHAPING ACTIVITY-TRAVEL PATTERNS
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• TRANSPORTATION DECISION MAKING PROCESS
• TRAVEL DEMAND MODELING AND CONFORMITY DETERMINATION: THE ATLANTA REGIONAL COMMISSION CASE STUDY
• USING A TRADITIONAL TRAVEL DEMAND FORECASTING MODEL TO PERFORM VARIABLE PRICING ANALYSIS
• USING TRANSIMS IN TRANSPORTATION DECISION MAKING
• VALUE PRICING PROJECTS AROUND THE UNITED STATES