Accessibility and Smart Scale: Using Access Scores to Prioritize Projects April 18, 2017 Accessibility and Smart Scale: Using Access Scores to Prioritize Projects
State Smart Transportation Initiative Practical Solutions to Move America Forward A network of reform-oriented state DOTs, founded in 2010 and housed at the University of Wisconsin. Executive-level Community of Practice Technical assistance Resource for the transportation community April 18, 2017 Accessibility: Towards a new multimodal system performance metric 2
Today s Speaker Chad Tucker Assistant Administrator Division of Transportation & Mobility Planning Virginia DOT Dan Hardy, P.E., PTP Principal Renaissance Planning Matthew Pettit Product Applications Engineer Citilabs April 18, 2017 Accessibility and Smart Scale: Using Access Scores to Prioritize Projects 3
SMART SCALE Virginia s Prioritization Process Measuring Accessibility Chad Tucker, Virginia Department of Transportation April 18, 2017
Building the Foundation for SMART SCALE
Virginia s Statewide Prioritization Process Legislation championed by Democratic Governor and the Republican Speaker of the House 2014 Virginia General Assembly 33.1 23.5:5 of the Code of Virginia Requires Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) use objective and quantifiable process for the allocation of construction funds Board allocates construction funds for the Commonwealth Programming of funds for capacity enhancing projects Intent for the CTB to select the highest ranking projects however, they maintain the authority to propose adjustments to the rankings. Policy developed over a 16 month period and adopted by Commonwealth Transportation Board in June 2015 - extensive stakeholder outreach 6
Three Key Goals Established goals for successful implementation: Performance outcomes guide project selection Provide stability to the Six-Year Improvement Program Establish project pipeline that links planning to programming Board direction: Simple and straightforward Does not require applicants to invest significant time and resources or require the use of consultants VDOT and DRPT staff will be available to provide support and tools for applicants in compiling data and information needed for application Electronic and map-based application process to manager funding requests and to facilitate automated population of key data elements https://smartportal.virginiahb2.org/ 7
Guiding Principles for Measures Analyze what matters to people and has a meaningful impact Ensure fair and accurate benefits to cost analysis Transparent and understandable Must work for both urban and rural areas Must work for all modes of transportation Minimize overlap in measures 8
Benefits of Smart Scale The team successfully developed and implemented what is likely the most transformative transportation legislation in Virginia the last 30 years. Improved transparency Enhanced accountability Better certainty for project sponsors and business community Project design focused on achieving most benefits for the least cost Provides political cover to allow planning and programming to proceed without intervention 9
SMART Scale Measures and Scoring 10
Factor Areas Goals that guided measure development Safety reduce the number and rate of fatalities and severe injuries Congestion reduce person hours of delay and increase person throughput Accessibility increase access to jobs and travel options Economic Development support economic development and improve goods movement Environmental Quality improve air quality and avoid impacts to the natural environment Land Use support transportation efficient land development patterns 11
SMART Scale Factors and Measures Safety Congestion Mitigation Accessibility Reduction in number of Fatal and Injury Crashes (50%) Reduction in rate of Fatal and Injury Crashes (50%) Increase in Person Throughput (50%) Decrease in Person Hours of Delay (50%) Increase in access to Jobs (60%) Increase in access to Jobs for Disadvantaged Persons (20%) Increase in access to Multimodal Choices (20%) Environmental Quality Economic Development Air Quality and Energy Benefit (50%) Impact to Natural and Cultural Resources (50%) Project Support for Economic Development Sites (60%) Improvement in Intermodal Access and Efficiency (20%) Improvement in Travel Time Reliability (20%) Land Use Transportation-Efficient Land Use (100%) 12
How Scoring Works 100 90 80 70 60 Everything is Relative 13 13
Everything is Relative Highest Value Dictates Scores Change here only affects one score Change here affects all scores The best project for that measure dictates the score for all other projects 14 14
Area Type Weighting Factor Congestion Mitigation Economic Development Accessibility Safety Environmental Quality Land Use Category A 45% 5% 15% 5% 10% 20% Category B 15% 20% 25% 20% 10% 10% Category C 15% 25% 25% 25% 10% Category D 10% 35% 15% 30% 10% 15
Sample Project Scoring 16
Chad Tucker Virginia Department of Transportation Transportation and Mobility Planning Division 1401 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219 O: 804-786-2974 chad.tucker@vdot.virginia.gov 17
SMART SCALE ACCESSIBILITY APPROACH APRIL 18, 2017
DISCUSSION TOPICS Smart Scale technical approach to accessibility Considering multimodal approaches Key findings and future opportunities 19
ACCESSIBILITY APPROACH The number of jobs reachable within a given travel time on a given network, where: JOBS = Number of Jobs reachable from each Census Block (transit, peds) or Block Group (auto) TRAVEL TIME = within 45 (auto) or 60 (transit) minutes over an actual network (using peak period speeds for each mode) DECAY = Factor reflecting decrease in value of opportunities that are farther away (based on traveler surveys) 20
Data Sources for Accessibility JOBS: (2025 employment by CBG): TAZ level data for MPO areas In Non MPO areas, started with Info USA data (2013) and used population projections to project 2025 jobs NETWORK: AUTO: HERE (Navteq) network WALK: HERE network modified with available data and comfort index TRANSIT: GTFS where available + digitized service data from service providers TRAVEL TIME: HERE data for No Build speeds (AM Peak) VDOT Congestion Factor analysis for Build speeds GTFS data for transit (+ walk access to transit) DECAY: based on traveler surveys 21
No-Build Accessibility - How Access to Jobs Tool analyzes existing accessibility to jobs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 22
No-Build Accessibility - How Access to Jobs Tool moves to next block, assessing existing accessibility 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 23
No-Build Accessibility - How Access to Jobs Process is repeated for all block groups to establish existing accessibility to jobs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 24
Build Accessibility - How Access to Jobs Tool then analyzes change in access to jobs based on proposed improvement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 25
Build Accessibility - How Access to Jobs Tool moves to next block group, calculating change in job access 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 26
Build Accessibility - How Access to Jobs Process is repeated for all block groups increase in access for each block group is summed and used to score projects 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 27
CONCEPTS ORIGINATED IN VTRANS PLANNING EFFORTS Auto Accessibility Map (Access to jobs in 45 minutes from each Census Block Group) Richmond Region Transit Accessibility Map (Access to jobs in 45 minutes from each Census Block Group) Walk Accessibility Map (Access to jobs in 45 minutes from each Census Block Group) 28
ROLE OF DISTANCE DECAY Accessibility to Jobs Without Distance Decay Accessibility to Jobs With Distance Decay Hampton Roads Region 29
CATCHMENT AREA CONCEPT Catchment area helps normalize for region size and boundaries Weighted average improvement addresses block size variability Smaller region Larger region 30
CONSIDERATION OF DECAY CURVES Separate auto decay curve for northern Virginia (DC region) 31
EXAMPLE OF ACCESSIBILITY INCREASE Fairfax County Parkway & Popes Head Road Interchange 32
Increase in jobs accessible SMART SCALE LINKING ACCESSIBILITY TO DELAY PER-CAPITA CHECK Useful check on time savings per vehicle versus access Size of circle is catchment area pop+jobs Patterns generally sensible (although circles along y-axis are from Batch 4 model data where time saved not readily attached to a link ) Results also affected by location in region: large circles at ~{500,150} reflect projects at regional edges high speed increase but far from centrality of jobs 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 Smart Scale Projects 0-500 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000-500 Time saved by project (seconds) 33
Big picture ideas from Smart Scale scoring TOTAL DELAY COMPARED WITH PER-CAPITA ACCESSIBILITY Check on total delay versus access Patterns generally sensible delay score incorporates volume, accessibility score is still per-capita High congestion mitigation with low accessibility include same regional edge projects. 34
CONSIDERING NON-MOTORIZED ACCESSIBILITY REFLECTING QUALITY OF SERVICE Use a factored pedestrian speed as surrogate for Quality of Service (QOS) Literature indicates pedestrians more likely to walk (and walk farther) where higher quality sidewalks exist 35
CONSIDERING NON-MOTORIZED ACCESSIBILITY QOS linked to roadway classification, number of lanes, and posted speed. Systematic improvements based on lookup matrix approach Additional speed benefits for meaningful improvements (predefined list) With Sidewalk 6+ Lanes 4 Lanes 2 Lanes Speed Speed Speed Functional Class >55 41-55 31-40 <=30 >55 41-55 31-40 <=30 >55 41-55 31-40 <=30 1,2 Freeway/Major Highway 3 Major arterial 4 Minor arterial/collector 5 Local Without Sidewalk (or no sidewalk data available) 6+ Lanes 4 Lanes 2 Lanes Speed Speed Speed Functional Class >55 41-55 31-40 <=30 >55 41-55 31-40 <=30 >55 41-55 31-40 <=30 1,2 Freeway/Major Highway 3 Major arterial 4 Minor arterial/collector 5 Local Key Prohibited 0.0 MPH (not shown above - separate field identifies whether pedestrians prohibited or not) Available 1.5 MPH Low 2.4 MPH Medium 2.7 MPH High 3.0 MPH 36
CONSIDERING NON-MOTORIZED ACCESSIBILITY Network approach applies to pedestrians also City of Hopewell 37
CONSIDERING FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS Literature review (and NHTS validation) Hatchet vs. scalpel Auto/transit/ped scoring approaches Network Strategic Plan Next generation Bike LTS Blending transit IVT/OVT 38 Example of auto project informing Network Strategic Plan
IMPEDANCE Perceived time Out of pocket costs Perceived costs Perceived comfort Meta analyses say these are important elements of travel behavior. How should they be reflected? 39
FINER NETWORK GRANULARITY Terminal time for all modes Static details (i.e., GTFS versus confidence in 13% of sidewalk inventory) Operational details Promise of big data 40
RELATED METRICS Accessibility can help predict VMT, mode share 41
RESOURCES http://smartscale.org 42
SCORING 400+ PROJECTS IN 1 MONTH 43
Building Data for Virginia Statewide Network (45 mile buffer) 30+ Regional Networks (Transit and Roadway) 44
Building Data for Virginia Custom ArcGIS Web App to find correct dataset
Leveraging Virginia s Local Data Why measure accessibility of today s population and employment when project won t be built till tomorrow? Virginia 2025 46
Multi-Mode Accessibility Analysis Smart Scale requires Auto, Transit, and Walk analysis Streamline analysis within Sugar 47
Multi-Mode Accessibility Analysis Smart Scale requires Auto, Transit, and Walk analysis Streamline analysis within Sugar Accessibility Scores for every travel mode 48
Leveraging Cloud Processing AWS Super Machines 400+ Projects 49
Enabling Custom Decay Curves Allowing customization with usability 50
Enabling Custom Decay Curves Allowing customization with usability Local Geographies 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 Auto HBW Nova Auto HBW Statewide 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 51
Enabling Custom Decay Curves Allowing customization with usability Local Geographies Trip Purpose 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 Auto HBO Auto HBW 0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 52
Enabling Flexible Project Analysis Link ID Speed From Speed To Walk LOS From Walk LOS To 913934400 37.9 37.9 1 1 108596944 37.9 37.9 1 1 1121839556 37.9 37.9 1 1 1121839557 37.9 37.9 1 1 1121965392 37.9 37.9 1 1 108596940 37.9 37.9 1 1 967690194 37.9 37.9 1 1 108596942 37.9 37.9 1 1 1144099343 11.4 11.4 1 1 1144099344 11.4 11.4 1 1 1121965393 37.9 37.9 1 1 1144796914 11.4 11.4 1 1 967690195 37.9 37.9 1 1 967690196 37.9 37.9 1 1 913934398 37.9 37.9 1 1 1144796911 11.4 11.4 1 1 1144099325 11.4 11.4 1 1 1144099326 11.4 11.4 1 1 967690197 37.9 37.9 1 1 Projects can be coded through update tables Roadway Travel Times Walk Level of Service 53
Enabling Flexible Project Analysis Projects can be coded through intuitive network editing Transit Lines Pedestrian Paths Roadways AM Peak Headway PM Peak Headway Off Peak Headway Run Time Dwell Time
Enabling Flexible Project Analysis Projects can be coded through intuitive network editing Transit Lines Pedestrian Paths Roadways AM Peak Headway PM Peak Headway Off Peak Headway Run Time Dwell Time Matthew Pettit, Citilabs mpettit@citilabs.com
THANK YOU! A recording of this webinar will be on the SSTI web site tomorrow. To find out about future SSTI webinars, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter. www.ssti.us @SmartTransp Accessibility and Smart Scale: Using Access Scores to Prioritize Projects April 18, 2017 Accessibility and Smart Scale: Using Access Scores to Prioritize Projects