Transit-Oriented Development: Lessons Learned

A transit-oriented development (TOD) is a mixed-use residential and commercial area designed to exploit access to public transport, and habitually incorporates features to encourage transit ridership.  A TOD usually has a center with a transit station or stop like train station, metro station, tram stop, or bus stop, bounded by relatively high-density development with increasingly lower-density development spreading outward from the center. 

Wells + Associates has completed 185 studies of projects within ½-mile of 60 of the existing 86 Metro stations, another 22 studies at seven of the 12 stations along the planned Silver Line extension in Northern Virginia (including all four stations in Tyson’s Corner), and several of the stations along the planned Purple Line and Corridor Cities Transit way in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Throughout this experience we have learned many things from TOD which are listed below: 

1. Mutually Supportive: Metro and TOD are mutually supportive.
2. Metro is the centre of things: Metro is the centerpiece of transit-oriented development (TOD) in metropolitan Washington. TOD's are vibrant, compact, mixed-use, walk able communities.
3. Density Is Good:  Density should be high in the immediate locality of station.
4. Green Transportation: TOD's are more sustainable than other forms of development because they increase transit use and decrease auto use, vehicle-miles of travel (VMT), and greenhouse gas emissions.
5. Residents, Workers, and Visitors Use Metro: High-quality Metrorail, Metro bus and other different feeder bus services are attractive and comfortable alternatives to the private automobiles.
6. Location Matters: Transit ridership decreases as distance from the station increases.

For original source Click Here.

Build your career as Traffic Consultant with Wells + Associates

At Wells +Associates, we are committed to exceeding our customer's expectations every day. To deliver on that promise, we hire the best and most talented professionals in the traffic, transportation and parking services industry. 

Job Openings

*Experienced Transportation Engineer

Position Description and Requirements

This position is located in Silver Spring, Maryland. The minimum requirements include:

• B.S. degree in Civil Engineering
• PE License preferred
• 2 to 5 years of experience in traffic engineering
• Knowledge of traffic analysis software, including HCS, Synchro, VISSIM, and CORSIM a plus
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite

Project experience shall include traffic impact studies and analyses, site access and circulation studies, corridor studies, and parking studies. Must be proficient in Highway Capacity Manual techniques and Synchro, Applicant must be detail oriented, and possess strong written and verbal communication skills. Position requires travel to job sites , meetings, and other offices as necessary.

*Entry-Level Transportation Planner/Engineer - Expires May 6, 2014

Position Description and Requirements

 This position is located in Tysons, Virginia. The minimum requirements include:

• B.S. degree in Civil Engineering
• 0 to 2 years of experience in traffic engineering and/or transportation planning
• Knowledge of traffic analysis software, including HCS, Synchro, VISSIM
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite

Project experience and/or course work shall include traffic impact studies and analyses, site access and circulation studies, corridor studies, and parking studies. Applicant must possess strong written and verbal communication skills. Position requires travel to job sites and meetings, as necessary.

To read more Click Here

Transportation Planning, Services, Consultants

Transportation planning, or transport planning, is involved with the evaluation, assessment, and design and sitting of transport facilities (generally streets, highways, bike lanes and public transport lines). Models for planning include rational actor, transit oriented development, incremental planning, organizational process, and political bargaining.

Transportation services and facilities support and fundamentally shape major activity centers, cities, towns, suburbs, and metropolitan regions.
Streets, trails, and open spaces frame the blocks within which structures are built. Traditional, fine-grain, connected networks of arterial, collector, and local streets offer multiple route choices, disburse traffic over multiple streets, and provide more capacity than contemporary, sparse, collector-and-cul-de-sac networks.

We have successfully prepared short-, intermediate-, and long-range transportation master plans for downtowns/central business districts, large land parcels, institutions, cities, towns, and sub-regions. Our clients include private real estate developers, institutions, and public agencies.

We have prepared hundreds of transportation master plans, in more than 30 states, for private real estate developers, public agencies, and institutions.

 

Services include:

• Transportation master plans
• Campus master plans
• Sustainable transportation planning
• Corridor Plans
• Comprehensive/master plans
• Travel demand forecasts
• Pedestrian planning
• Bicycle planning
• Transit planning
• Parking studies
• Parking planning and design
• Transportation Management (TMP)/Travel Demand Management (TDM) Plans

To view original source Click Here

Parking Consultants

  
“We provide Parking Lot Designs and planning services to all public and private agencies.”

Parking is the most essential component of urban and suburban transportation system.

Enough parking should be provided to adequately accommodate employee, customer, resident and visitor demand without spilling over into adjacent neighborhoods. Too much parking should be avoided to discourage excessive driving, unnecessary construction and operating costs, and negative environmental impacts.

Parking lots and garages should be designed to be easy to use and economical. Shared parking can reduce peak-parking requirements by as much as 40% urban areas and mixed use suburban projects.

MJWells and Associates, as a Parking Consultants offer following services:

• Shared Parking Studies
• Parking Management
• Data Collection
• Revenue Control Studies
• Parking Supply and Demand Studies
• Parking Garage Design
• Conceptual Design
• Parking Variances
• Valet Parking Plans
• Access/egress Studies
• Circulation Studies
• Signing and Striping Plans
• Expert Witness Testimony

To read more Click Here.

Transportation Demand Management

Transportation demand Management, Travel Demand Management, Traffic Demand Management all the TDM is and application strategy or set of policies which are applied to reduce travel demand or redistribute this demand in space or in time. It is an art to modify travel behavior to avoid costly expansion of the transportation system.

TDM is a principle that provides everything that is essential in designing transportation and physical infrastructure so that alternatives to driving are naturally encouraged and our systems are better balanced .TDM thus underlies most of the important new initiatives of today. TDM cannot be managed by team of 2-3 people; it requires corporation of many actors who may include developers; landowners; employers; business associations; and municipal, county, regional, and state levels of government.

TDM Measure Box

•  Including or improving pedestrian-oriented design elements
•  Including and improving public transportation infrastructure, such as subway entrances, bus stops and routes.
• Subsidizing transit costs for employees or residents.
• Bicycle-friendly facilities and environments, including secure bike storage areas and showers.
• Providing traveler information tools, including intelligent transportation system improvements, mobile and social applications.
• Flex-time work schedules with employers to reduce congestion at peak times.

To read more Click Here.