PL-14 Transportation Planning Fundamentals for California Streets

Class Information

Instructor Information

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CEUs:  CEUs: 2.40

This class has been postponed. New dates will be posted soon.

This class is offered in partnership with the California Department of Transportation, Division of Local Assistance. Registration fees are subsidized with funding from the Cooperative Training Assistance Program. Reduced rates are available to employees of California's city, county, regional, and other public agencies only.

Credits

This course grants 2.4 CEUs and 24.0 AICP CMs. (AICP CMs pending approval)

Description

In today's environment, local streets and roads need to be planned, designed, built or retrofitted, operated, and maintained to provide safe, comfortable, and environmentally sustainable travel for all users of all ages and differing levels of mobility. Ideally these local streets and roads should provide for all modes, including walking, bicycling, taking transit, and driving. Local streets and roads must be operationally functional to allow for emergency response, road maintenance, and overall truck movement of goods.

This course covers the planning and conceptual design of sustainable, multimodal, local streets and roads; the history of multimodal surface transportation planning in the US; the policy environment for sustainable, multimodal transportation; how to integrate multimodal transportation into the local urban planning process; and how to design local streets, intersections, crossings, and interchanges consistent with the sustainable, multimodal approach. The course's discussion of the legislative environment is focused on California. The course spans the full range of key areas from characteristics of the local roadway system, analysis of flow and capacity, traffic/transportation operations, traffic control devices, pedestrian/bicycle facilities, and surface transit operations to traffic safety and advanced analytical methods.

The course is taught by a team of professional engineers and planners who practice in the private and public sectors with a collective experience exceeding 100 years. Key learning concepts to be highlighted throughout the three days of intensive training include: managing conflict between/among surface modes, striving for a balanced approach to promoting multiple modes along the same right-of-way (ROW) or crossing each other, promoting safety between modes and for each mode on local streets and roads, options for separating or prioritizing modes in layered networks, planning for multimodal travel at the local level wherever possible, managing multimodal transportation operations efficiently, promoting economic development and livability (in addition to access and mobility), and the best practices in multimodal surface transportation infrastructure planning and sustainable land development for livability.

Click here for a detailed outline.

Topics Include

  • The Multimodal Transportation Planning Process and Legal Framework
  • Data Collection, Quantitative Analysis, and Travel Forecasts
  • Environmental Analysis and CEQA New Trends (SB 743)
  • Evaluation and Prioritization of Multimodal Transportation Projects
  • Public Participation & Involvement, Dealing with Controversy
  • Freeway Multimodal Considerations
  • The New Transit/Multimodal Role for Arterials and Collectors
  • Multimodal Traffic Signals
  • Pedestrians and ADA Accommodations: It's the Law
  • Pedestrian Safety and Economic Development
  • Residential Streets: Livability and Quality of Life
  • Multimodal Auditing Techniques and Walking Tour
  • On-Street Bicycling and Ensuring Bicycle Safety
  • Bicycle Paths: Putting it All Together
  • Surface Mass Transit Planning Concepts
  • Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) & Light Rail Transit (LRT) Design Elements and Issues

    • What You Will Learn

    Attendees will gain an understanding and appreciation of the necessary balance of all surface modes in building, operating and maintaining a functional and multi-modal infrastructure. Multi-modal streets that make effective and efficient use of rights-of-way represent an essential framework for developing and maintaining vital urban and suburban centers and neighborhoods. Trainees will learn the planning role of multimodal surface transportation in the U.S. today, and the processes that are used to achieve planning objectives, including how data is collected and used in multimodal transportation analyses. Attendees will gain an understanding of how regional plans and forecasts affect local land use and transportation plans. They will also learn how environmental analyses and public participation fit within the multimodal transportation planning process, including key impacts on existing networks, legal requirements, and how to resolve conflicts of multimodal transportation projects. In addition, attendees will:
  • Learn the basic principles for highway operations in California, the latest innovations of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in freeway multimodal functions, and how to relate regional travel pricing policies to successful multimodal operations (e.g., Bay Area)
  • Learn about parallel relationships of multimodal measures on arterial and collector streets for proper freeway operation and multimodal interactions, as they meet over critical junctions such as signalized intersections
  • Learn a full range of treatments for pedestrian and bicycle movement in urban and suburban communities alongside a successful movement of vehicles, including bus priority considerations and success stories throughout the state and nation, with a focus on available tools and design techniques in harmony with the complete streets concepts
  • Learn about the effects of parking considerations as well as innovative pricing programs (e.g., SF Park) and how they influence modal choice and healthy economic development
  • Learn the key design and operational strategies to improve the safety and mobility of bicyclists in a multimodal environment and gain an understanding of which bikeway design options are appropriate for land use contexts in the state
  • Learn how the various transit modes are essential components of well-planned communities from big cities, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, to suburban municipalities to small towns
  • Learn key planning, design, and operational elements pertaining to LRT and BRT in a multimodal operational environment (e.g., Gold Line LRT, Van Ness BRT)
  • Learn how to better integrate public transit modes with each other, with other modes of surface transportation, and with land use; and the role of the state's metropolitan regions and local governments in this integration

    • Who Should Attend

    This course is intended for local (i.e., cities and counties) urban planners, transportation planners, and planning technicians, as well as transportation and land use consultants. Both new and experienced planners will benefit from this course. The course is primarily appropriate for urban and suburban perspectives, but may be relevant to rural areas that are subject to urban growth challenges.

    Required Materials

    Attendees are required to bring a basic scientific calculator (e.g., featuring logs, square roots) for the problem-solving exercises. An engineer's scale is also recommended.
    This class includes a walking tour on day two. Please wear comfortable shoes.

    Suggested Pre-Course Reading Assignments

    We highly recommend for all attendees to skim the things that interest them most from the reading list below before the class.

    For More Information

    About our courses and credits, see our FAQ
    About payments, refunds, confirmations, and accessibility, see How to Enroll
    Or email us with your questions at registrar@techtransfer.berkeley.edu

    Cancellation Policy

    To cancel your registration and receive a refund less a $75 processing fee, you must notify TechTransfer at least five (5) working days before the course is scheduled to begin. Notifications must be made in writing and sent by email to registrar@techtransfer.berkeley.edu. We reserve the right to charge the full course fee if proper notification is not sent to TechTransfer. We don't offer refunds for classes with registration fees of $75 or less.

    In lieu of canceling your registration, you have three additional options: you may (1) transfer your registration to another class, (2) receive a tuition credit for the total amount, useable toward a future class, or (3) send a substitute in your place. Please contact us at least 5 full working days before the class is scheduled to begin so we may process your request.

    If you’ve registered for a self-paced class, you cannot receive a refund once you start the class.

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