TTP282 Transportation Orientation Seminar
Fall 2011

 Seminars           

 Fridays 11:00-11:50 am

2022 Academic Surge (ITS Conference Room)

 Instructor             

 Susan Handy

 Office:  2130 Wickson Hall

 Office hours:  by appointment

 e-mail:  slhandy@ucdavis.edu

                                   

 

Syllabus


Go to...
Course objectives
Requirements
Schedule of topics and guest lecturers
Readings and other resources



Course Objectives

 

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 11 weeks 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 before the beginning of the next seminar through SMARTSITE.  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.  You must submit at least 8 journal entries (out of 9 sessions) to get credit for the seminar.  If you need to miss more than one session, you can complete make-up assignments (see below) to get to a total of 8 submissions.

 

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 – Subject to Change!

Week

Date

Topic

Person

Concepts Covered

Related Courses

1

Sept 23

Defining the problem

Handy

What’s the goal?

Who does what?

TTP220, ESP/ECI 252, ECI/ESP 163

2

Sep 30

Travel behavior

Mokhtarian

Concept of mobility, travel as derived demand, positive utility of travel

TTP200, ECI251; ECI254; ECN145

3

Oct 7

Road design

Handy

Road hierarchy, Greenbook, context sensitive design, street standards, traffic calming

ECI162

4

Oct 14

Traffic control

Chen for Zhang

HCM, MUTCD, ITS

ECI256

5

Oct 21

Road materials

Harvey

Paving materials and techniques

ECI179;

ECI259

6

Oct 28

Automobile alternatives

Handy

Transit, bikes/peds, ICT, land use, auto ownership trends

ESP171;

TTP220;

Transit course

7

Nov 4

Vehicle technology

Erickson

ICE basics; efficiency/safety trade-offs

TTP210; ESP/ECI 252

Nov 11

Veteran’s Day – no class

8

Nov 18

 Alternative fuels

Ogden

Energy pathways; lifecycle costs; adoption

ESP/ECI 252

Nov 25

Thanksgiving weekend – no class

 

 

 

9

Dec 2

 

Wrap-up discussion

Sperling

 

ESP/ECI252

 


Readings and Other Resources

September 22:
History of Bicycling in Davis

 

Vision 2050: An Integrated National Transportation System

Who does what handout

Powerpoint presentation on Who Does What

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 Federal Highway Administration

CAFÉ Overview, from NHTSA

NEPA overview, hosted by FHWA

Environmental Justice, hosted by FHWA

 

September 30:

Pat’s powerpoint presentation on Intro to Travel Demand

Mokhtarian and Salomon, “How Derived is the Demand for Travel? Some Conceptual and Measurement Considerations”

 

October 7:

Susan Handy’s presentation on Road Design 

New LA Model Design Manual for Living Streets

Article on update to the Greenbook

ITE’s new report on Context Sensitive Solutions

Caltrans Context-Sensitive Solutions

FHWA’s Flexibility in Highway Design

 

October 14:

Yi-Ru Chen’s slides on traffic control…

 

October 21:

John Harvey’s pavement presentation

 

October 28:

Susan Handy’s presentation on auto alternatives

Article from Susan Handy on what it’ll take to address our urban transportation problems.

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

 

November 4:

Paul Erickson on vehicle technology...

 

November 12:
No class

 

November 18:

Joan Ogden’s presentation on fuels

Article from Joan Ogden on the potential of hydrogen

 

November 25:

No class

 

December 2:

Susan Handy’s Wrap-Up presentation

            The Road Less Driven

            Highway Blues

Dan Sperling on the Price of Regulation

 

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. 

 

Make-up assignment 3:

Bike the Davis Bike Loop (http://daviswiki.org/Davis_Bike_Loop) and spend 15 minutes reflecting on the experience – things you thought worked, things that didn’t, things that surprised you, things you would change.

 

 


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Last updated 12/6/11