01091771

Component

Many communities are turning to a more integrated land use and transportation planning process; however, roadway design resulting from this process oftentimes elicits resistance from both the engineering and planning communities as many local ordinances and design standards actually prohibit certain design parameters associated with smart growth. Nowhere does this disconnect seem to be more pronounced than in the realm of context-sensitive transportation design. Roadway designers can successfully develop roadway parameters that balance the needs of the motorist and other modes, while adhering to acceptable and proven design guidelines. In this paper, the following topics will be discussed: (1) The intent of local design standards and some of their unintended consequences; (2) The inherent flexibility within acceptable national design guidelines, and identify other resources available to the designer to establish design parameters; (3) A collaborative design strategy in which stakeholders and local officials are brought into the design process at its inception; (4) Examples where flexibility applied in this manner have resulted in roadway designs that holistically blend into and enhance the environment; and (5) An update on ongoing efforts to update design guidelines to address smart growth, such as the joint effort between the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) to address urban street design. As more communities embrace smart growth, the transportation design profession must adapt to alternative design strategies that result in roadways that are more consistent with the context in which they are constructed. The inherent flexibility in the accepted design guidelines, the ongoing work of groups such as the joint ITE/CNU venture, and the nature of the collaborative design process can insure success in designing livable transportation solutions.

01091711

English

8p

2007

3rd Urban Street Symposium: Uptown, Downtown, or Small Town: Designing Urban Streets That Work

CD-ROM

References (5)

Context sensitive design; Design standards; Highway design; Public participation; Smart growth; Stakeholders; Strategic planning; Streets; Urban areas

Flexibility (Adaptability)

Design; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Society; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure

TRIS, TRB

Mar 28 2008 1:56PM

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