TTP282 Transportation
Orientation Seminar
Fall 2007
|
Seminars |
Fridays 11:00-11:50 am 2022 Academic Surge (ITS Conference Room) |
|
Instructor |
Office: 2142 Wickson Hall Office hours: TTh 1:00 – 2:30 pm (email ahead) e-mail: slhandy@ucdavis.edu |
This seminar is required for
first year Transportation Technology and Policy (TTP) students and is
recommended for first year transportation students in Civil and Environmental
Engineering. The goal of this seminar is to provide a broad overview of
the transportation field and to give students a general framework that will
help them understand how different topics within transportation fit
together. In addition, the seminar will
ensure students gain at least nominal exposure to basic concepts, standard practices,
and new innovations across the transportation field. The seminar offers
students the opportunity to get to know other transportation students, learn
about the interests of different transportation faculty, and reflect on their
own interests in the transportation field.
Requirements
The requirements for receiving a “satisfactory” grade at the end of the quarter
are as follows:
1. Attend
and participate in the seminar for each of the 9 sessions over the course of
the quarter. If a student cannot
attend one of the seminar sessions, he/she must explain his/her absence to the
instructor ahead of time, if possible.
The schedule, which is subject to change, is attached.
2. Complete
a journal over the course of the quarter.
This is an intellectual journal rather than a personal journal: the
purpose is to reflect on ideas presented in the seminar and to practice
formulating, developing, and articulating your own ideas.
Students must complete a
journal entry following each seminar. I
define a journal entry as at least 15 minutes of writing (by computer,
typewriter, or by hand). This is a
free-writing exercise: you should write spontaneously, authentically, and
without editing. If you prefer to
proofread and correct errors, please do so only after completing 15 minutes of free writing – not while drafting your entry.
Things you might right about
when writing your entry: How does the
material relate to things you’re learning in other classes? How does the material relate to your
experience, professional or personal?
Was anything particularly intriguing about the material? What questions do you have that weren’t
answered during the seminar?
Submit your journal entry to me at the beginning of
the next seminar, in hardcopy. Journal entries must be completed
satisfactorily to pass this course.
However, I will not assign grades to the entries or comment on writing
style or grammatical correctness. I will
read the entries and respond briefly to ideas you present or to questions you
ask.
3. Read what
you want. I’ll be posting articles and links of
potential interest on the course
website. Please forward articles to
me you think others might be interested in:
slhandy@ucdavis.edu
Schedule of Topics and Guest Lecturers
|
Week |
Date |
Topic |
Person |
Concepts Covered |
Related Courses |
|
1 |
Sept 28 |
Defining the problem and
who does what |
Handy |
Travel needs,
environmental impacts, financial constraints, responsibilities by level of
government, funding sources and flows |
TTP220, ESP/ECI 252,
ECI/ESP 163 |
|
2 |
Oct 5 |
Travel behavior |
Mokhtarian |
Concept of mobility, travel
as derived demand, positive utility of travel |
TTP200, ECI251; ECI254;
ECN145 |
|
3 |
Oct 12 |
State and federal policy
overview |
Handy |
SAFETEA-LU, CAAA, NEPA,
CAFÉ standards, emissions standards |
TTP220; ECI269; ESP/ECI 163; ESP/ECI 252 |
|
4 |
Oct 19 |
Regional transportation
planning |
Handy |
MPOs, RTPs, 4-step modeling,
conformity analysis |
ECI251, TTP220 |
|
5 |
Oct 26 |
Road design |
Greenberg |
Road hierarchy, Greenbook, context sensitive design, street standards,
traffic calming, |
ECI162 |
|
6 |
Nov 2 |
Road materials |
|
Paving materials and
techniques |
ECI179; ECI282 |
|
7 |
Nov 9 |
Veteran’s Day holiday |
|
|
|
|
8 |
Nov 16 |
Traffic control |
Zhang |
HCM, MUTCD, ITS |
ECI256 |
|
9 |
Nov 23 |
Thanksgiving weekend |
|
|
|
|
10 |
November 30 |
Vehicle technology and
alternative fuels |
Erickson/Ogden |
ICE basics;
efficiency/safety trade-offs; distribution channels; adoption |
TTP210, ESP/ECI 252 |
|
11 |
Dec 7 |
Automobile alternatives
and wrap-up discussion |
Handy |
Transit, bikes/peds, ICT, land use, auto ownership trends; climate
change |
ESP171; TTP220; ESP/ECI252; Transit course |
September
28:
Vision 2050: An Integrated National
Transportation System
October 5:
Pat’s
powerpoint presentation on Intro to Travel Demand
October 12:
Dan
Sperling on the Price of
Regulation
Handout on history of federal legislation
Handout on key provisions of key federal legislation
For background on federal policy:
SAFETEA-LU Homepage,
hosted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
Transportation
Air Quality - Selected Facts and Figures – from
CAFÉ Overview,
from NHTSA
NEPA overview,
hosted by FHWA
Environmental Justice,
hosted by FHWA
October 19:
Handout on Regional Planning
Metropolitan
Planning - Transportation Capacity Building Program, hosted by FHWA and FTA
Inside the Black Box - an overview of transportation
modeling, with a critique
Transportation
Capacity Building Program - Resource Index, hosted by FHWA and FTA
October 26:
Article
on update to the Greenbook
ITE’s
new report on Context
Sensitive Solutions
Caltrans Context-Sensitive
Solutions
FHWA’s Flexibility in Highway Design
November 2:
Pavement
and materials…
November 16:
Michael
Zhang’s presentation on traffic
control
November 30:
Article
from Joan Ogden on the potential
of hydrogen
December 7:
Article from
TRB
papers on history of bicycling
in Davis and factors that
explain bicycling
Short
article on the impact of
neighborhood design on walking and another one
Make-up assignment 1:
Pick
a transportation topic of interest to you.
Explore the TRB conference program ( http://www.trb.org/meeting/ ) to find at
least 5 relevant papers. In one-page,
describe the topic, list the presentations, and say a few words about how they
relate to the topic and why they are of interest.
Make-up assignment 2:
Write
a one-paragraph description of three potential thesis/dissertation topics. Be sure to articulate the research question
and provide the rationale for why this is an interesting and important
question.
Return to Department of Environmental Science and
Policy
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Last updated 12/07/07