Saturday, June 19, 2010

The "deadly duo": Level of Service (LOS) & travel projections


National Complete Streets Coalition 6/16/10 News:
More on the Balancing Act: What to Do about LOS?

Putting a priority on completing the streets for all users almost invariably means turning away from or downplaying the single traditional measure of the success of a roadway: automobile Level of Service, determined through sometimes questionable traffic projections. Wayne Senville of Planning Commissioner's Journal writes two thoughtful blog posts of the problems with Level of Service and travel projections, drawing on a recent Project for Public Spaces workshop by Gary Toth. The same theme was sounded in a recent APA Planners Training Service workshop on Complete Streets, in which renowned engineer Walter Kulash derided the 'grades' assigned to different levels of congestion. The Complete Streets: Best Policy and Implementation Practices report also discusses changing a community's view on congestion, and the potential for alternative LOS measures.

Click here for the blog on level of service, and here for the travel projections blog.

It's important that the elected officials on the MPO board understand the flexibility they have as they develop the County's 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan, due to be completed by 12/31/10. Below is the message we sent to all MPO members, along with articles.

From: Darla [mailto:dletourneau@bikewalklee.org]
Sent: Saturday, June 19, 2010 3:36 PM
To: MPO Members
Subject: Ideas for LRTP: LOS & traffic projections


MPO Members,
As a follow-up to the discussion at yesterday’s MPO meeting about the need for the upcoming 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) to reflect the new transportation paradigm and a vision for Lee County’s future, I wanted to share with you some recent thoughts from Gary Toth (a national preeminent expert in transportation planning & land use) on Level of Service (LOS) and traffic projections, which can be useful in thinking about how to approach our LRTP.

Darla Letourneau
Steering Group
BikeWalkLee

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