Government
Agency Sites and Information Sources...
The
UT Engineering Library provides a wonderful page of transportation
resources available in the library or on-line.
The
Texas
Transportation Institute's Urban Mobility Study provides data each
year on growing levels of travel and traffic in metropolitan areas around
the U.S. This study has been used to argue both for the need
for more road building and the futility of more road building.
The
official website for the Transportation
Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) provides just about everything
you wanted to know about TEA-21. The Fact
Sheets are especially helpful, as is the Summary
brochure. The Authorization
Table gives breakdowns of funding by category.
If
you want to access TEA-21 as it appears in the U.S.
Code itself, try this easy to use site.The
U.S. DOT's
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
homepage provides links to a number of useful pages. Several are
listed below:- National Transportation Statistics 2000
-National Transportation Library
-State and Local Information
-Transportation Studies
-Geographic Information Services
-American Travel Survey
-Databases
-Pocket Guide to Transportation (downloadable)
-State and Local Information
-Guide to Data Sources
-Transportation Highlights of G-7 Countries (downloadable report)
-North American Transportation Highlights (downloadable report)
Federal
Highway Administration's homepage- On-line version of "Flexibility in Highway Design"
- The 1999 Environmental Excellence Awards
- The 1999 Excellence in Highway Design Awards- The NEPA Process, with links to related topics- Information on displacements and relocation assistance:
- A description of the transportation decision making process as it relates to environmental regulations
- An overview of the project development process- How private property is aquired for federal highway projects
- A brochure on "Your Rights and Responsibilities as a Displaced Person Under the Federal Relocation Assistance Program"
- Information on outdoor advertising control
Visit
the website of the Federal Highway Administration's
Scenic
Byways Program:-A listing of All-American Roads, National Scenic Byways, and Byways by State
-Scenic Byway Intrinsic Qualities
-TEA-21 Fact Sheet regarding the National Scenic Byways Program
-Frequently asked questions
The
Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, funded by the FHWA, provides
expertise on materials and pavements, structures, safety, intelligent transportation
systems (ITS), even bikes and peds.
The
website of the Texas Department of
Transportation provides a wealth of information about highways in Texas,
state legislation and funding, and other activities of the deparment:
- Roadway Information
- Revenues and Expenditures
The
Transportation Research Board, a branch of the National Academy of
Sciences, has been encouraging research and innovation in transportation
for 75 years:
- The National Cooperative Highway Research Program
- Publications and bibliographic database
- Bookstore and electronic catalog
- Links to other transportation sites ---- especially to other organizations
Here's
a good resource on the travel demand models used by MPOs to forecast traffic
levels for regional plans and for specific projects:
- An Introduction to Urban Travel Demand Forecasting: A Self Instructional Text
Visit
the site of the American Association of
State Highway and Transportation Officieals (AASHTO), publishers of
"A Policy on the Geometric Design of Highways and Streets," commonly known
as "The Greenbook."
The
Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) is an international educational
and scientific association. ITE members are "traffic engineers,
transportation planners and other professionals who are responsible for
meeting society's needs for safe and efficient surface transportation through
planning, designing, implementing, operating and maintaining surface transportation
systems worldwide."
The website of the Transportation
Planning Division of the American Planning Association has information
on publications and useful links.
ITS
America provides an international clearinghouse for research and current
projects in the area of Intelligent Transportation Systems.
The
Planning Commissioner's Journal operates the plannersweb.com
site, with links to their Sprawl
Resource Guide and a report
on nine trends affecting communities.
The
Association
of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO) describes the role of
MPOs in the transportation planning process and provides links to MPOs
around the country and to useful transportation information.
Try the Texas Freeway
site, run as a hobby by an interested citizen it seems, for information
on all kinds of freeway projects around Texas, including lots of good historical
information, maps, and photos. Great stuff!
The
website of the Texas Department of
Transportation provides information on the agency's current highway
studies:
- I-35 Trade Corridor Study
- I-35 Major Investment Study
- SH-130 Major Investment Study
- MoPac Loop 1/US 183 Corridor Study- Here's the presentation from the Expert Technical Panel from September 2001
The
website for the Superstition
Freeway, now under construction in Phoenix, gives a history of the
project and details about construction. The full EIS
is
available on-line.
The
official site of The Big Dig, the biggest
single highway project ever, currently underway in Boston. Here's
the Beyond the Big Dig
site, hosted by the Boston.com site. Plus an article from the Washington
Post and one from Urban
Land .
A
report from the Washington Post on a current effort to upgrade Route
1 through Maryland.
Citizens
for Appropriate Rural Roads - CARR - has been fighting the construction
of I-69 between Evansville and Indianapolis through an effective grass-roots
effort. The Green
Scissors Campaign calls I-69 a "road to nowhere." The State
of Indiana has their own website in support of the project.
Corridor
H Alternatives is a nonprofit citizens group whose purpose is to promote
transportation systems which rpeserve and enhance the quality of life,
the natural environment, local business and community cohesion, local history
and culture in the Potomac Highalnds and Shenandoah Valley of West Virginia
and Virginia.
The Legacy Highway in Utah is being challenged in
The
Environmental
Law and Policy Center promotes "sound transportation" in Illinois and
other midwestern states. See their discussion of the
1997 federal court order requiring further study of the controversial I-355
tollway extension. The decision requires an accurate land use forecast
for the "no-build" scenario, among other things. The ELPC is also
involved in the I-69 battle.
Environmentalists in Utah are trying to stop
the Legacy Highway, a 120 mile freeway proposed by the Governor that
would run along the shores of the Great Salt Lake. The
Mayor of Salt Lake City and a coalition of 100 individuals and environmental,
civic and public advocacy groups have filed a federal lawsuit on the grounds
that the new freeway will increase traffic, congestion, sprawl and air
pollution in the region. The Sierra
Club is filing a separate lawsuit on conformity grounds.
Mountains
to Sound Greenway Trust is the official caretaker of the Interstate
90 National Scenic Byway in Washington State.
The
route66.com
site celebrates the 75th anniversary of this historic highway. Or
try the route66.org
site
to link the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma, where you can order your
own Route 66 souvenirs. Here's a recent New
York Times article on Route 66, with links to related articles and
other sites. And here's a Special
Resource Study on Route 66, completed by the National Park Service
in 1995.
Here's
an article from the
Dallas Morning News on I-70 through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado.
This 12.5 mile stretch of interstate has been called the country's most
environmentally-sensitive road.
Here's
the website for the 710 Freeway
Fighters, who oppose an extension of the 710 freeway through historic
Pasadena, California.
A report on planning efforts for the new Cypress
Freeway, that replaced the structure that collapsed in the Loma Prieta
earthquake in 1989.
Advocacy
and Activist Groups...
TransAct
is maintained by the Surface Transportation Project and provides links
to the websites of a wide variety of advocacy groups as well as reports
and information on current transportation issues.
The
Sierra
Club website contains many links organized under the subheadings: Transportation,
Induced Travel, Bicycling & Walking, Livable Communities, and Land
Use, Sprawl & Conservation:The
Natural
Resrouces Defense Council (NRDC) has been active in promoting alternatives
to sprawl and the use of road pricing.A
link to Scenic America, "the only national
nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing the scenic
character of America's communities and countryside:"The
Defenders
of Wildlife has launched a Habitat
and Highways campaign.Follow
this link to read a report entitled, "Road
to Ruin: The 50 Most Wasteful Roads in America." Coauthored by Taxpayers
For Common Sense, a nonprofit organization "dedicated to cutting wasteful
government spending, subsidies and tax breaks through research and citizen
education."The
Michigan
Land Use Institute is an effective advocate for alternatives
to road building and has been a loud critic of highway bypasses around
small towns in Michigan.
Citizens for a Better Environment, based in
Wisconsin, has published "A
Citizen's Guide to Influencing Road Decisions."
The
Metropolitan
Area Research Council, based in Minneapolis, is a non-profit research
firm studying growing social and economic disparity and inefficient growth
patterns ("sprawl") in metropolitan areas using GIS maps to document demographic
and development patterns.
The Thoreau Institute argues
against the removal of a freeway
in Portland in its series on "The
Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths: How Smart Growth Will Harm's
America's Cities."
The
Sprawl
Watch Clearinghouse provides links to articles and other websites addressing
the problems of sprawl.
The
American Automobile Association (AAA ) is a federation of 98 motor
clubs providing its more than 40 million members in the United States and
Canada with a full line of travel, financial and automotive-related services.
Also advocates for highway spending, monitors gas prices, etc.
The
American
Highway Users Alliance is a non-profit organization "serving since
1932 as the united voice of the transportation community on highway safety
and mobility." Download the report by Cambridge Systematics,
"Unclogging America's
Arteries: Prescriptions for Healthier Highways."
This
site provides links to a variety of organizations with an interest in trucking.
Here's
a fun one: how much space do 40 people take up if they're in cars?
or in a bus? or on bike?
More and more sites address the problem of sprawl and the role of transportation
policies in creating sprawl. For starters, try the Sprawl
Watch Clearinghouse and the Smart
Growth Network . Also try the Brookings Institution's Center
on Urban and Metropolitan Policy. And here's a presentation from
the University of North Caroline at Charlotte on "Highway
Investment and Sprawl: Fact versus Fiction"
Public
Roads is the bi-monthly newsletter of the FHWA. The Summer
1996 issue includes a paper on the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 and
the
creation of the interstate system.
Here's
the FHWA's own website on the Dwight
D. Eisenhower Interstate System with lots of good background.
Check out the Roadfan.com website,
with maps of early proposals
for the interstate system and lots of other fun stuff. As long
as you're at it, try the geography.about.com
site on the interstates.
Roadside
Architecture in 1950s America: Reflections of Society provides
a window back to the highways of the pre-Interstate era, including
histories of the Burma-Shave signs, motels, and gas stations.
Lots of links to other interesting sites, including site on Levittown,
that classic 1950s suburb.
The
Victoria Policy Insitute published a widely-cited study on the full
costs of transportation and promotes efficiency, equity and clarity in
transportation planning.A
number of highway
development articles ranging from discussions on TEA-21 to highway
preservation (from the publishers of Landscape Architect and Landscape
Contractor Magazines)
Informal site with interesting material regarding 3-Digit
Interstate Highways in the United States. Includes background
on nomenclature and history. Use the "Go to I-:" function to research any
3-digit interstate.A
link to an article that highlights outstanding aspects of 19
highway segments of the Interstate System. Written by an Information
Liaison Specialist at the Federal Highway Administration.The
website of the Texas Department of
Transportation lets you find out about the latest road conditions and
get information about things to do in Texas:
- Roadway conditions
- "Travel Texas"
Find
out more about "slug lines," the
east-coast version of "casual carpooling" where drivers let strangers get
into their car for the purposes of qualifying as a carpool and thus taking
advantage of carpool lanes. Here's another "slug
lines" website.
A
story on soundwalls
from Planning, the magazine of the American Planning Association.
Here's a course at UC Berkeley on Automobility.
Check out the topics and reading list.
S. Handy
University of California Davis
Last modified on November 12, 2002