University of California Transportation Center - 2008-2009 Research Grant Abstracts

UCTC Faculty Research Projects 2008-2009

Faculty Research:

The following projects, submitted by faculty members of the University of California, were evaluated and selected for funding based on a peer review process.

Eco-Driving: Pilot Evaluation of Behavior Changes in U.S. Drivers (Phase I – Driving Behaviors)

Principal Investigator:
Kanok Boriboonsomsin
UC Riverside
Email: kanok@cert.ucr.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: Among several strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles, “eco-driving” is one that has not received much attention, especially in the United States (U.S.). The core of eco-driving programs is to provide drivers with a variety of advice and feedback to minimize fuel consumption while driving. This project will design and develop an on-board eco-driving device that is capable of providing dynamic feedback to drivers. One feedback item is a real-time indicator of fuel-related information, e.g. fuel economy. This type of instantaneous feedback will allow the drivers to relate their driving style to their vehicles’ fuel economy, and adjust their driving behaviors accordingly to save fuel and reduce emissions. Another feedback item is a trip end summary of fuel cost, carbon dioxide emission, travel time, etc. on a trip-by-trip basis. By allowing drivers to realize and monitor their costs of driving, it may be possible that they change their travel behaviors in one way or another in an attempt to lower their travel costs. In this Phase I project, changes in driving behaviors as a result of eco-driving will be evaluated among U.S. drivers.

Key Words: Greenhouse gas emissions, fuel consumption, dynamic feedback, and driving behavior

Objective: The overall research objective is to design and develop an on-board eco-driving device that is capable of providing dynamic feedback to drivers, and then evaluate its impact on users’ driving behaviors.

Tasks:

Task 1: Literature and Technology Review;
Task 2: System Design;
Task 3: Prototype Development;
Task 4: Testing and Validation;
Task 5: Pilot Evaluation;
Task 6: Data Analyses;
Task 7: Reporting.

Milestones, Dates: Official start date August 1, 2008, end July 31, 2009

Student Involvement: Graduate Student Researcher

Technology Transfer Activities: Publications will be posted on UCTC’s Website and distributed in hard copy, in most instances free of charge.

Relationship to Other UCTC Research: new project

Potential Benefits: The ultimate outcomes from eco-driving will be the reductions in fuel consumption and CO2 emission from motor vehicles.

Direct Cost: $53,620

Experiments to Improve the benefits of freeway carpool lanes

Principal Investigator:
Michael Cassidy and Carlos Daganzo
UC Berkeley
Email:
cassidy@ce.berkeley.edu, daganzo@ce.berkeley.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: Recent evidence shows that a carpool lane reduces vehicle lane-changing maneuvers along a freeway and by so doing, can smooth and increase the discharge flows through its bottlenecks. The proposed research seeks to develop and field test traffic control strategies for freeways with carpool lanes that will amplify this so-called “smoothing effect” by inducing further reductions in vehicle lane changing near bottlenecks. Additionally, we will design and test new strategies that reinforce the beneficial effects of reduced lane changing by increasing carpool-lane utilization in bottleneck vicinities. Strategies will be tested on one or more freeway carpool-lane facilities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and will be refined and generalized. These strategies should reduce people hours and vehicle hours traveled in both a freeway’s carpool and regular-use lanes, and as such would reduce the environmental impacts of freeway congestion. Thus from this research we will (i) convincingly demonstrate the feasibility of environmentally-friendly control strategies for freeway carpool facilities; (ii) develop guidelines for the general deployment of these strategies; and (iii) better understand cause and effect relations (e.g. between lane-changing and bottleneck discharge) to further advance traffic theory and control.

Key Words: Freeway carpool lanes, Traffic control, Freeway bottlenecks, Traffic experiments.

Objective: To design and field test traffic control strategies for reducing people hours and vehicle hours traveled on freeway carpool-lane facilities.

Tasks:

Task 1: Site Selection;
Task 2: Preliminary Experiment Designs;
Task 3: Experiments and Design Refinements;
Task 4: Develop General Design Criteria (for Control Strategies).

Potential Benefits: The work will furnish design guidelines for controlling traffic on freeway carpool facilities in environmentally-friendly ways; demonstrate the effectiveness of these strategies; and uncover traffic flow details to advance traffic theory.

Direct Cost: $136,445

From Employment Centers to Mixed-Use Activity Centers: Commuting and Environmental Impacts

Principal Investigator:
Robert Cervero
UC Berkeley
Email: robertc@berkeley.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: Some U.S. edge cities are experiencing a second generation of development – a make-over of strategic infill, land-use diversification and often transit-orientation and pedestrian-friendly streetscape design. This research will use 1990 and 2000 census data to create a typology of Employment Centers (ECs) in the San Francisco Bay Area, focusing on changes in development scale, densities, land-use mixes, employment compositions, and site-design elements during the 1990s. EC prototypes, such as “second-generation mixed-use edge cities” and “single-use office parks”, will be identified using cluster analysis techniques. Changes in commuting choice and behavior during the 1990s will be measured for each EC prototype, using metrics related to modal splits, commute distances and durations, and VMT/employees as well as estimated fuel consumption, mobile-source emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions. Case-study work will probe the influences of market forces (e.g., housing targeted at professional workers) and planning interventions (e.g., rezoning; infrastructure provisions) in explaining why and how different ECs underwent different land-use and employment transformations during the 1990s. The research will shed important light on the broader transportation and environmental policy implications of land-use transformations among traditional employment centers in U.S. metropolitan areas.

Key Words: Edge cities; employment centers; commuting; land use; environmental footprint; planning interventions.

Objective: Examine the impact of employment-center transformations –from low-density, single-use office parks to mixed-use activity centers – on commuting choices and travel trends, and the roles of market forces and public policies in contributing to these transformations.

Tasks:

Task 1: Review literature;
Task 2: Define employment centers;
Task 3: Build typology of employment centers and changes in employment centers based on 1990-2000 changes in development scale, density, diversity, site design, and employment composition;
Task 4: Associate to changes in commute modal splits, trip durations and distances, VMT per employee, fuel consumption, mobile-source emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions to changes in employment-center compositions;
Task 5: Carry out case-study research to examine the role of market forces, planning interventions, and public policies in bringing about employment center transformations;
Task 6: Examine the policy implications of research findings;
Task 7: Prepare working paper report;
Task 8: Publish and present peer-reviewed articles.

Potential Benefits: Insights and supporting data on the transportation impacts of employment-center transformations that can be used for intermediate- and long-term planning and travel modeling.

Direct Cost: $61,910

Why Build Affordable TOD? A Toolkit for Educating Residents about TODs and Housing in the Bay Area

Principal Investigator:
Karen Chapple
UC Berkeley
Email: chapple@berkeley.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: The Bay Area is struggling with how to accommodate future growth—and looking to transit-oriented development (TOD) as a potential solution. Yet, existing research fails to address one of TOD’s greatest barriers: the unwillingness of residents to support either transit investment or affordable housing construction in their communities. This project will develop context-specific tools to “sell” TOD affordable housing to different communities. We will develop the tools by holding four focus groups with residents in four communities with planned or proposed TODs. These focus groups will help us (a) learn about the arguments used against affordable housing around TOD and (b) figure out which approaches residents respond most positively to. The focus groups will contribute to two products: materials for educating TOD communities, including brochures, powerpoint presentations, and talking points for the advocates; and a curriculum to “train the trainers” – i.e., train advocates to “sell” affordable housing near TOD. We will also conduct two sessions to test the curriculum and materials, one in a community where the GCC is active, and the other with the trainers themselves. The project will culminate with a symposium on affordable housing and TOD for a more general audience of transportation practitioners.

Key Words:TOD, affordable housing, educational tools.

Objective: This project will develop a toolkit to help gain public support for affordable housing near transit-oriented development.

Tasks:

Task 1: Conduct literature review and focus groups;
Task 2: Develop toolkit and curriculum;
Task 3: Test tools;
Task 4: Hold symposium.

Potential Benefits: The project will help make it more politically feasible to house much of the Bay Area’s new population growth near transit stations.

Direct Cost: $32,500

Sex, Race, and the Journey to Work: Tracking & Testing Convergence & Divergence Trends using a National Panel, 1985 to 2005

Principal Investigator:
Randall Crane
UC Los Angeles
Email:
crane@ucla.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: This study uses a powerful, newly assembled panel dataset to update and better integrate two related literatures regarding two key demographics of the trip linking housing markets to labor markets: The commute.

Gender: Dozens of studies indicate that while women as a group drive more each year, and tend to take more trips than men, the average male commutes further and longer. Recent studies show limited signs of convergence, but these vary markedly by race and place. Some have argued that the so-called gender gap in commuting actually only applies to white women, and then only to commute times.

Race: Spatial mismatch, an interpretive label for how commute lengths differ by the independent influence of race, is alternatively explained by housing discrimination, or by broader economic and cultural factors affecting the distances between minority (especially Black) neighborhoods and employment. Here, too, there have been recent signs of narrowing, though less so in the presence of job decentralization. While gender differences in labor market segmentation are central to this debate, they are rarely examined.

These highly interdependent trends have not been analyzed in tandem for individual-level, longitudinal national data containing rich detail on family structure. We will analyze the National sample from the American Housing Survey, comprising 11 waves from 1985 to 2005. The model specification conforms to urban form theory, the model estimation uses panel techniques, and the potential endogeneity of wages and land costs will be addressed statistically.

Key Words: Commute, Spatial Mismatch, Journey to Work, Sprawl, Decentralization, Suburbanization.

Objective: An improved understanding of how sex and race influence travel outcomes.

Tasks:

Task 1: Development of theoretical model of individual travel demand.
Task 2: Development of statistical panel model of household travel behavior and urban form, based on choice theories of home and job behaviors, and the roles of sex and race.

Potential Benefits: Inform public policies aimed at influencing the determinants & impacts of urban development.

Direct Cost: $66,418

Group Behavioral Process Identification in the Interaction Between Location Choice and Travel Behavior

Principal Investigator:
Konstadinos Goulias
UC Santa Barbara
Email:
goulias@geog.ucsb.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: This project fills a critical gap of knowledge in the land use, transportation and environment relationship. It exploits recently developed data collection methods to include questions about sense of place, personality, location choices, lifecycle stages, lifestyle choices, and travel behavior in a set of nested surveys for households. In the project we will test hypotheses about the relationships among attitudes, location choices, and travel behavior merging theoretical constructs from environmental psychology, geography, urban economics, and travel behavior. A key research aspect is the analytical identification and description of human interaction within households and the unraveling of the within the household roles in decision making. The project ends with recommendations for practice and research. First, it will provide guidance for large scale data collection projects by Metropolitan Planning Organizations in the US. Second, it will define the right approach to specify models for the recently emerging Integrated Land Use - Transportation - Environment (LTE) models. Third, it will identify limitations and opportunities in current claims about the potential of land use policies for travel behavior changes. Fourth, it will create a wider research program to develop a new generation of LTE models that are based on a stronger behavioral foundation.

Key Words: Travel behavior, land use, sense of place, survey methods.

Objective: Identify the behavioral relationships between locations choices and travel behavior.

Tasks:

Task 1: 3-stage survey design and implementation;
Task 2: Data analysis;
Task 3: Summary of findings and recommendations for practice and research.

Potential Benefits: Enhanced understanding of the land use transportation relationship and fine tuning of policies to make both greener.

Direct Cost: $39,936

Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Strategies for Interregional Travel

Principal Investigator:
Mark Hansen
UC Berkeley
Email:
mhansen@ce.berkeley.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: The warming of the Earth’s temperatures due to human activities, known as anthropogenic climate change, is a threat to the environment and human health. The transportation sector is a major contributor to anthropogenic climate change, being responsible for 27 percent of all domestic GHG emissions in 2003. Within this sector, urban travel has been the major focus of researchers and policymakers; to fill this gap, the proposed research focuses on interregional travel. Interregional travel emits pollutants in diverse regions, challenging current regulatory approaches and raising difficult jurisdictional issues. We seek to understand the contributions of interregional travel to transportation GHG emissions, and most importantly to develop methodologies for assessing emission reduction strategies that allow a diverse set of strategies to be compared. This study takes a multi-modal approach in that it considers both interregional line-haul travel and access to the line-haul modes, and also explores potential substitute modes. Furthermore, this research will estimate the relationship between implementation cost and GHG emission reduction for each strategy, to allow for a ranking of GHG emission reduction strategies for interregional travel as well as an estimation of the overall cost curve for GHG emission reduction.

Key Words: interregional travel, aviation, maritime, California, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, port access.

Objective: To extend current UCTC funded research on the evaluation of GHG emission reduction strategies for interregional travel and include long-haul access modes, cost per ton reduction, and a definition of GHG emission reduction strategies for interregional travel in the state of California.

Tasks:

Task 1: Systems Emissions Inventory;
Task 2: High Level Strategy Evaluation;
Task 3: Detail Assessment of Selected Strategies.

Potential Benefits: Policymakers looking to reduce GHG emissions from interregional travel will have a defined set of GHG emission reduction strategies with the highest reduction potential and a repeatable methodology for estimating the GHG emission strategies with the lowest dollar per ton reduction cost.

Direct Cost: $55,853

Theoretical and simulation studies of information throughput and communication delay of inter-vehicle communication networks

Principal Investigator:
Wenlong Jin
UC Irvine
Email:
wenlongjin@gmail.com

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: With the wide-spread of wireless communication units, it is probable to establish an inter-vehicle communication (IVC) network to collect and distribute traffic and other information in a distributed fashion. Key performance measures of such a system include information throughput and communication delay between a pair of source-destination pair. In this research we propose to study the performance of IVC in traffic streams on unidirectional roads, bidirectional roads, and road networks both theoretically and with simulations based on Network Simulator 2. We will investigate the impacts on IVC of different market penetration rates, transmission ranges, number of information source-destination pairs, and routing protocols. The research would be helpful for better understanding of the feasibility and benefits of an advanced traveler information system based on an IVC system.

Key Words: Inter-vehicle communication, information throughput, communication delay, Network Simulator 2, vehicular traffic dynamics.

Objective: With theoretical analysis and simulation-based studies, we attempt to understand information throughput and communication delay in an inter-vehicle communication network formed in various types of traffic streams with different other parameters.

Tasks:

Task 1: Literature Review;
Task 2: NS-2 simulation studies and theoretical analysis of information throughput and communication delay of IVC in unidirectional, bidirectional, and network vehicular traffic under various conditions;
Task 3: Detailed Assessment.

Potential Benefits: This research could help us better understand performance of IVC and design such systems.

Direct Cost: $48,971

Towards an Understanding of Intermodal Roles in Intercity Transportation

Principal Investigator:
Adib Kanafani
UC Berkeley
Email:
kanafani@berkeley.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: Intermodal integration has always been accepted as a sound principle, but has consistently faced daunting challenges. For one thing, the institutional framework within which policy is made and investment decisions are justified continues to be modally centered. At best, surface transportation modes are integrated in policy analysis and in legislation. But the barriers between surface and air or water modes remain insurmountable. Yet, it is clear that many transportation problems, both regional and metropolitan, can only be resolved if these three media are integrated. This research proposes to clarify and redefine the roles of various modes in the intermodal system and to explore the barriers to their integration. Using the California Corridor as a case study, the research proposes to analyze strategies for “stitching” the various modal elements together. The basic proposition is that this can be done by concentrating on facilitating the intermodal transitions that need to occur in origin-to-destination travel. It is also proposed that only an integrated intermodal system can play the role of supporting regional development goals. Modally fragmented systems or single mode systems can result in distortions in regional accessibility that may violate regional development goals. For example, the strong economies of scale that characterize air transportation result in a dispersion of economic growth to strong poles that can sustain efficient air transportation, leaving behind vast intermediary regions with very limited accessibility. Integrating rail and air transportation effectively can remedy this by creating a smoother regional accessibility profile, thereby removing the accessibility handicaps and permitting all regions to develop their comparative advantage more freely.

Key Words: Transportation Planning. Regional Transportation. Transportation Economics and Investment Analysis.

Objective: Develop an understanding of the roles of intermodal transportation in intercity travel. Defining Strategies for better intermodal transportation at the regional level.

Tasks:

Task 1: Literature Review;
Task 2: Re-defining the performance characteristics of highway, rail and air at the regional level;
Task 3: Analysis of barriers to intermodal integration;
Task 4: Analysis of approaches to intermodal integration;
Task 5: Policy Recommendations.

Potential Benefits: Innovative intermodal intercity transportation service.

Direct Cost: $64,949

Effects of Transportation Corridor Features on Driver and Pedestrian Behavior and on Community Vitality

Principal Investigator:
Elizabeth Macdonald
UC Berkeley
Email:
emacdon@berkeley.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to identify quantifiable performance measures for transportation corridor design features related to safety, economic vitality and community quality of life. The results of this study will support Caltrans planning, design, and implementation of transportation corridors responsive to the contextual environments of Caltrans partner communities and will provide a model for transportation and urban planners and designers. The research study features a comprehensive literature review and analysis of relevant research from multiple academic disciplines. The literature review will also identify innovative professional practices, gaps in the research and directions for further research. An Advisory Group composed of leading experts in the field will assist the research team with analyzing the literature, shaping the performance measures, and framing new approaches to evaluating the costs and benefits of various investments in state highway system right-of-ways and associated community environments. A key aspect of the study will be to identify a Caltrans corridor on which to conduct a study using the developed performance measures. Initial roadway types for study are urban arterials, “main street” highways, and interstate highways. The study will investigate how individual design features and the shaping of whole environments can influence specific behaviors and benefits.

Key Words: Performance measures, design features, contextual environments.

Objective: To develop quantifiable performance measures for highway corridor design features based on an analysis of relevant academic research from a wide range of disciplines.

Tasks:

Task 1: Comprehensive Literature Review
Task 2: Establishment and Interface with an Advisory Group;
Task 3: Development of a Study Website;
Task 4: Development of Performance Measures;
Task 5: Field Testing of Performance Measures through analysis of a Caltrans corridor.

Potential Benefits: A series of clearly defined quantifiable performance measures that can be used to ascertain the performance of transportation corridor design features that address safety, economic, quality of life and environmental objectives.

Direct Cost: $71,525

Near Source Modeling of Transportation Emissions in Built Environments Surrounding Major Arterials - PHASE II

Principal Investigator:
Marko Princevac
Mitch Boretz
UC Riverside
Email: marko@engr.ucr.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: Though much of the research on the environmental health effects of vehicular emissions has been around freeways, there is reason to suspect arterials as a major source of risk. Especially considering present-day trends of infill development, patterns of built form around arterials may trap elevated concentrations of air pollutants (e.g., street canyons created by multi-storey condominiums and office buildings) in close proximity to residences. Bringing together expertise in transportation and land use planning and environmental modeling, the research team proposes an unprecedented analysis of the environmental impacts of major arterials. Using a fine-scale wind field and dispersion model (Quick Urban and Industrial Complex), the team will simulate the transport of vehicular particulates (1 and 2.5 micron diameter) around five heavily-traveled Southern California arterials chosen to correspond to five land use types. The model is able to account for the effects of the micro-environment (i.e., built form and other infrastructure) on pollutant transport. The field-calibrated model will then be used to simulate the effects of: (i) alternative land development strategies (e.g., varying building height and setback requirements, infill patterns, zoning) and (ii) alternative transport policies (e.g., idling time reduction, stoplight synchronization, truck traffic scheduling and rerouting). The research will enable us to assess the urgency of incorporating arterials into the environmental planning programs of resource, land use, and transportation agencies, and will provide a method for doing so.

Key Words: particulate emissions, transportation, health impacts, arterials

Objective: We will develop, field test, and apply a modeling method for understanding how traffic patterns and the built environment concentrate fine particulates (PM1.0) on a block-by-block basis near major arterials within urban areas, and provide policy recommendations based on the insights from the modeling method.

Tasks:

Task 1: Select five arterials;
Task 2: Quick Urban and Industrial Complex (QUIC) computer model setup, including representations of the built environment from five selected arterials;
Task 3: QUIC model runs;
Task 4: Fluid chamber setup including representation of built environment from five selected arterials;
Task 5: Caline4 model setup for background emissions modeling;
Task 6: Caline4 runs;
Task 7: QUIC-Caline integrations for computer simulation of particulate dispersion near five arterials;
Task 8: Field measurements of particulate concentrations at five arterials;
Task 9: QUIC model validation from comparison of laboratory (fluid chamber) and field measurements with initial QUIC model runs;
Task 10: validated (and re-calibrated) QUIC model runs;
Task 11: Policy simulations;
Task 12: Report writing.

Potential Benefits: This research will examine an overlooked source of transportation-related health risk, fine particulate emissions along major arterials, developing a modeling method and examining land use and policy implications that will give insight into how development patterns and transportation policies can be adapted to reduce particulate concentrations that might otherwise arise as urban areas grow denser.

Direct Cost: $37,693

Public Acceptance of Congestion Pricing: Understanding Citizen Preferences

Principal Investigator:
John Quigley
UC Berkeley
Email:
quigley@econ.berkeley.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: "Political feasibility" has been cited as the major obstacle to road pricing for three decades. But almost all the evidence on views of citizens about congestion pricing is anecdotal. This project will provide the first hard quantitative evidence on citizen preferences about road pricing. We will analyze the one clear example of a popular vote on congestion tolls, taken after an experiment in congestion fees had been implemented and after citizens had had the opportunity to observe and absorb its costs and benefits.

We will analyze the 2006 Swedish referendum on road pricing by merging voting information on over four hundred election districts with socioeconomic information about the residents of those districts and with engineering estimates of the distribution of time savings and incremental fees across origins and destinations in the Stockholm Metropolitan Area. These engineering data, as well as other qualitative indicia, were available well before the referendum vote was held.

Key Words: Road pricing, political feasibility, self-interested voting, referendum.

Objective: This project will verify the extent to which the time savings enjoyed citizens and the out-of-pocket costs they pay affect their acceptance of road pricing.

Tasks:

Task 1: Merge voting, socioeconomic, and engineering data;
Task 2: Devise models;
Task 3: Estimate models;
Task 4: Interpret results.

Potential Benefits: This project will provide the first credible quantitative evidence measurement of “political feasibility” in road pricing.

Direct Cost: $57,609

Large Scale Real Options Models for Network Investment Planning and Operational Risk Hedging

Principal Investigators:
Amelia Regan
UC Irvine
Email:
aregan@uci.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: A real option model for investments made in a network is considered as a method for addressing managerial flexibility in transportation planning. A continuous network investment deferment model is formulated with longitudinal stochastic OD flows and each payoff is determined by the continuous network design problem. It is a bilevel program with an upper level Bellman equation for dynamic programming and a lower level based on the continuous network design investment allocation and user-optimal route choice. Each OD demand flow evolves as an independent, discretized geometric Brownian motion. A heuristic approach based on Monte Carlo simulation and Iterative Optimization Assignment is considered, using a sampling strategy to overcome it inherent computational inefficiency. The option value is decomposed into the basic deferment option and a newly defined network option. Network exposure is expanded as an application to operational risk hedging to consider the impact of failed links on the expanded net present value. A solution for a Sioux Falls, SD network example with zero drift is compared to the stochastic demand scenarios in earlier literature as well as the standard exposure with the investment exposure.

Key Words: Large scale network design, real options, optimization of future investments.

Objective: We develop large scale real options based models for transportation network investment planning and operational risk hedging.

Tasks:

Task 1: Develop efficient algorithms (heuristics) for solving networks of realistic sizes;
Task 2: Include other network objectives, such as mixed network design or facility location;
Task 3: Examine at other types of network design strategies, such as ramp metering, signal setting, or congestion pricing;
Task 4: Considering other real option strategies, such as project abandonment, entering or exiting a market, etc.;
Task 5: Develop a model suitable for multimodal networks that includes freight design; and regional transportation management with multiple network operators sharing a fixed budget to improve their respective networks.

Potential Benefits: We develop operational models for planning network investments for large scale networks.

Direct Cost: $80,187

Mitigating the Social and Environmental Impacts of Multimodal Freight Transportation Corridor Operations - PHASE II

Principal Investigator:
Stephen Ritchie
Jean-Daniel Saphores
UC Irvine
Email:
s-ritchie@uci.edu
saphores@uci.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract:The San Pedro Bay Ports (SPBP) of Los Angeles and Long Beach in Southern California are one of the major container port complexes in the world: in 2004, for example, the SPBP processed over 36% of the U.S. container trade. However, the SPBP complex is also a major source of air pollution caused largely, on the land-side, by diesel locomotives and trucks that transport containers to and from the ports. The resulting annual health costs may exceed $2.5 billion. Low income and minority communities along the major Alameda corridor, a 20-mile railroad line that connects the SPBP to the transcontinental rail network east of downtown Los Angeles, are particular affected. This study will create a tool that will quantify links between SPBP freight traffic, air pollution, and the health of local communities. This tool will help evaluate the effectiveness of various alternatives (such as congestion pricing to decrease peak container traffic flows, biofuels for trucks and locomotives, or intermodal and route shifting of container traffic) in order to mitigate the environmental and health impacts of SPBP activities. Expected results include new insights into the spatial, socioeconomic, public health, and social justice consequences of alternative SPBP multimodal freight operations strategies.

Key Words: Port, air pollution, air quality, freight, container, corridor, truck, locomotive, simulation, social impact, environmental impact, public health, social justice

Objective: This study seeks to create a tool that will shed light on the links between Alameda Corridor freight traffic from the SPBP, air pollution, and the health of local communities, and in so doing help to evaluate the effectiveness of various alternatives (such as congestion pricing, biofuels for trucks and locomotives, and intermodal and route shifting of container traffic) to mitigate the environmental and health impacts of port activities.

Tasks:

Task 1: Assemble relevant data and code PARAMICS network;
Task 2: Select corridor strategies to be simulated;
Task 3: Run PARAMICS simulations;
Task 4: Assemble emission factors for road and rail traffic;
Task 5: Model the dispersion of criteria pollutants in the corridor;
Task 6: Assemble demographic data and public health impacts;
Task 7: Assess environmental justice implications for corridor population;
Task 8: Write final Summary report and academic papers.

Potential Benefits: The expected benefits include new insights into the spatial, socioeconomic and public health air quality impacts, and thus social justice consequences, of alternative SPBP freight operations strategies in the Alameda corridor, and development of a tool that will be useful for ongoing policy analyses pertaining to this corridor and which could be adapted and/or expanded for analysis of other corridors and strategies.

Direct Cost: $130,921

Unhiding the Cost of Residential Parking

Principal Investigator:
Donald Shoup
UC Los Angeles
Email: shoup@ucla.edu

External Project Contact : All UCTC projects are co-sponsored by Caltrans, Contact CoCo Briseno, Caltrans, 1120 N St., Sacramento, CA 94305, tel. 916 324-2440

Abstract: Minimum parking requirements in zoning codes provide a large subsidy to drivers and impose high costs on housing developers. I will use data from housing developed under the Los Angeles Adaptive Reuse Ordinance (ARO) to estimate how minimum parking requirements subsidize driving and the increase the cost of housing. The ARO provides a natural experiment to evaluate the effects of minimum parking requirements. My preliminary results suggest that minimum parking requirements for downtown housing impose a cost of between $23,000 and $44,000 per dwelling unit and subsidize driving by at least 15¢ per mile driven. The research findings will have strong implications for efforts to reduce overall vehicle miles traveled; for plans to integrate transportation and land use goals; and for attempts to create accessible communities in dense downtowns. I expect the research to be of particular use to city planning agencies and transportation policymakers.

Key Words: Parking, subsidies, vehicle ownership, vehicle miles traveled.

Objective: The goal is to estimate how unbundling the cost of parking from the cost of housing will reduce vehicle ownership and vehicle travel.

Tasks:

Task 1: Gather information on the buildings that have been refurbished under the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, specifically the total costs of converting the buildings and the costs of providing parking for them;
Task 2: Administer a survey to both residents of Adaptive Reuse dwellings and other downtown dwellings. The survey will seek to ascertain whether residents of ARO dwellings do in fact drive less and/or own fewer automobiles than residents of other downtown dwelling units, and if so whether the availability of parking plays a role in this difference;
Task 3: Using the data from steps 1 and 2, I will estimate both the “parking tax” that minimum parking requirements place on new infill developments, and the “parking subsidy” that accrues to drivers whose parking costs are hidden in their rent;
Task 4: Interview planners, developers and elected officials in order to identify the institutional and cultural obstacles to changing how we plan for parking. If unhiding the cost of parking would provide large benefits, why is progress toward that goal so slow?.

Potential Benefits: The research will enable planners elected officials to estimate the transportation and land use benefits of unbundling the cost of parking from the cost of housing. It will also identify political obstacles to unbundling, and suggest paths around those obstacles.

Direct Cost: $60,354