HomeMy WebLinkAbout18_TRANSPORTATION_DEMAND_MANAGEMENT18.1Transportation Demand Management
transportation demand management
section
18
18.2 Bar Slash X Ranch LLC - Annexation and Stage Road PUD/Subdivision: Final Submission
1 Introduction
There are a variety of ways in which Transporta-
tion Demand Management (TDM) can be applied
to the free market component. Before discussing
these, however, it is necessary to understand
the trip generation expected from both the Stage
Road PUD/Subdivision and the Burlingame Village
affordable housing. Buckhorn Geotech, Inc. has
performed a trip generation study for us, and Table
1 (opposite page) shows the projected build-out
flows for both Harmony Road and Stage Road. This
analysis is somewhat more sophisticated than the
usual “trips per day” calculation, because it takes
into account the expected effects of Transportation
Demand Management and actual occupancies.
City of Aspen staff were consulted on these adjust-
ments. The end result is a “weighted average” that
projects the overall year-round impact.
Transportation Demand Management is a broad
term covering a wide range of methodologies. In
particular, it is important to note that its current use
includes both (1) management of peoples’ demand
for transportation in order to reduce overall traffic
volumes, and (2) managing the design of streets in
order to reduce accidents and improve the pedes-
trian experience. These goals can be at odds with
each other; i.e. speed bumps slow traffic to make
a safer pedestrian environment but also slow the
response times of emergency vehicles.
From the Bar/X ranch house, traffic volumes at
present seem very small. It is therefore quite sur-
prising to realize that the 7 units presently served
(Ranch = 4; Caudill = 1; Harvey = 2) are generating
nearly half of the projected volume at build-out.
The reason for this is that the existing units are
mostly occupied full time whereas, at build-out, a
significant proportion of the new free market units
are expected to be occupied only seasonally.
2 The Stage Road Subdivision TDM
Program
Following the commitments to TDM that were
approved in our preliminary submission, the fol-
lowing items constitute the final proposed TDM
program. They are shown diagrammatically on the
plansheet on page 18.9.
2.1 ADUs for Smart Growth
One of the principles of Smart Growth is to house
employees close to where they work, so as to
obviate the need for transportation. Bar/X Ranch,
like many ranches, has housed its core workers for
many years, and by adding ADUs to each of the
free market houses, full or part-time employees
who caretake, clean and maintain these houses
can be accommodated on-site. Unlike ordinary
Aspen ADUs which are restricted to 300 to 800
square feet, these ADUs may be 600 to 1,000
square feet. We believe that this will encourage
their occupation by couples and small families,
and thereby make it more likely that the day to day
service requirements of the houses can be largely
addressed by the ADU population.
Through the homeowners’ association we are
instituting financial incentives that will encourage
cooperation between homeowners so that these
ADUs may be occupied by people who provide a
full range of skills that can be shared between the
free market lots – cleaning, gardening, cooking,
nannying, chauffeuring, repair and maintenance,
gardening, etc. We believe that setting this up as
a voluntary program supported by a significant
financial incentive is the best way to engage the
free market homeowners’ participation to achieve
the desired outcome. We also believe that suc -
cessfully filling the ADUs with service workers will
be by far the biggest TDM contribution that we
could make.
2.2 Shuttle Van
The homeowners association is also required to
purchase a van with a minimum of 10 seats, and
keep it available to take employees to and from the
Intercept Parking Area, take kids to school, collect
groceries for several households, etc. While not
reducing overall trip demand, a shuttle combines
multiple trips into a single vehicle and thereby
reduces overall trip generation. It also contributes
to air quality improvement by reducing total vehicle-
miles of travel.
2.3 Traffic Calming
Traffic Calming includes a variety of roadway
design features that reduce vehicle traffic speeds
and volumes. Table 3 describes the most common
of these strategies. Traffic Calming is becoming
increasingly accepted by transportation profes -
sional organizations and urban planners. Although
Traffic Calming may not have a major effect on the
free market component traffic, in combination with
18.5Transportation Demand Management
the privatization of Stage Road it is likely to cut out
some frivolous journeys and “sight-seeing” trips
by non-residents. The Traffic Calming measures
we propose to adopt are indicated in bold in the
table.
Traffic Calming tends to reduce total vehicle mile-
age in an area by reducing travel speeds and
improving conditions for walking, cycling and transit
use. Residents in neighborhoods with suitable
street environments tend to walk and bicycle more,
ride transit more, and drive less than comparable
households in other areas. Traffic calming can also
provide large safety benefits. Experience indicates
that traffic calming reduces automobile crashes by
20% to 50%.
2.4 Tele-Access
Tele-Access refers to various ways that telecom-
munications (telephone, fax, email, websites,
video connections, etc.) can substitute for physi-
cal travel. This includes telework, telecommuting,
distance-learning, tele-shopping (internet shop -
ping), tele-banking (internet banking), electronic
government, and internet Business-to-Business
(B2B) transactions.
High bandwidth internet access will be provided to
all the free market lots as a buried utility. A survey
of 400 U.S. teleworkers indicates that telework
provides net reductions in vehicle travel averag-
ing 30 miles per telecommute day, and found no
evidence of increased sprawl. However, some
studies suggest that telecommunications and
transportation are complementary: telecommuni-
cations improvements tend to stimulate travel by
reducing costs and increasing opportunities. It is
therefore inappropriate to assume that electronic
communications always substitute for, and reduce,
physical travel. Telecommunications can have
complex and difficult to predict impacts on overall
vehicle travel.
Since Teleworking reduces commuting trips it can
significantly reduce congestion and parking costs.
Telecommuting and other forms of tele-access
increase consumer choice, convenience and finan-
cial savings. There are a variety of benefits from
telework, particularly related to employee satisfac-
tion and productivity. However, because a portion
of travel reductions are often offset by increases
in other types of vehicle travel and more dispersed
land use, road safety and environmental benefits
may be small, and sprawl may actually increase,
unless telework is matched with incentives to
reduce vehicle travel. Telework may increase
community livability by reducing vehicle traffic and
allowing more people to work and shop from home,
particularly in physically-isolated communities, or
people who have mobility constraints.
2.5 Ridesharing & Carsharing
We propose collaboration between the homeown-
ers associations for Burlingame Village and for
the free market units so as to coordinate available
ridesharing and carsharing. It would be possible
and desirable to do this through the internet.
2.6 Alternative Work Schedules
Purely to maximize convenience and efficiency,
homeowners will tend to set up work schedules
for their service workers that avoid peak traffic
times.
2.7 Delivery Alternative
Delivery alternative is the provision of an alternative
drop off if the recipient is not home to accept a
delivery. This avoids the delivery vehicle having to
make another trip. We propose, through the hom-
eowners association, to encourage this facility.
3 Intercept Parking Area and Bike/
Transit Integration
Between the Soldner property and Harmony Road,
adjacent to Stage Road there is a small area of
open space which is 750 feet (3 minutes walk) from
the bus stop at the MAA housing. In our preliminary
submission, we proposed that provision of parking
and safe bicycle storage in this area could have
created an intercept parking area. By encouraging
shifts to transit and ridesharing, intercept parking
facilities reduce urban highway traffic congestion
and worksite parking demand.
Unfortunately, the City of Aspen has since made
a commitment to Aspen Valley Land Trust to sub -
ject this area to a conservation easement and this
intercept parking area is no longer feasible.
18.6 Bar Slash X Ranch LLC - Annexation and Stage Road PUD/Subdivision: Final Submission
Background on Transportation Demand
Manangement (TDM)
Although some automobile travel is extremely
valuable, like most consumer goods, it experi-
ences diminishing marginal benefits. As per capita
automobile use increases, an increasing portion of
driving provides relatively little consumer benefit.
Few motorists want to drive more than they cur-
rently do, and many would prefer to drive some-
what less, given better transportation choices or
suitable financial incentives.
TDM can provide significant consumer cost sav-
ings. One study1 finds that households in more
automobile-dependent communities devote more
than 20% of household expenditures to surface
transportation, while those in communities with
more diverse transportation systems spend less
than 17%, repre-
senting savings
of hundreds of
dollars a year.
To the degree
that TDM pro -
vides finan -
cial savings
to people who
reduce driving,
improves land
use accessibil-
ity and afford-
able transpor-
tation choices,
it provide eco -
nomic benefits to consumers, particularly to those
with lower incomes.
Even the strategies with direct negative impacts
can benefit most motorists overall, due to indirect
benefits and financial savings. Motorists benefit
from reduced traffic and parking congestion, safer
roads, reduced pollution, reduced taxes and costs
on other goods, and the option value of having
better travel alternatives if they need them in the
future. For example, Traffic Calming restricts driv-
ing speeds and inceases journey time, but motor-
ists benefit from reduced crashes and greater
convenience crossing streets after they park their
car and become pedestrians.
Motorists also benefit from the existence of travel
alternatives, even if they don’t currently use them.
Improved travel choices can reduce the amount
of chauffeuring motorists must do for family and
friends, and motorists may valuing having options
that can be used in an emergency (a vehicle
failure, financial or medical problems that limit
driving), just as passengers on a ship value having
lifeboats that they may never actually use (this is
called “option value”).
International data show that, with good planning,
people in higher-income regions will choose less
automobile-dependent lifestyles. The portion of
trips made by automobile varies significantly from
city and country to another, depending on land
use and transportation policies, not just wealth,
as indicated in Table 2.
Burlingame Vil-
lage, because
of its compact-
ness and the
on-site provi -
sion of bus ser-
vice, is more
amenable to
TDM strate -
gies than the
Free Market
Component. In
addition, while
the population
of the Village
will be year-round residents, the majority of the
free market population is expected to be second
home owners and their guests. This kind of
population does not have the regular patterns
of commuter and school trips that TDM is best
at addressing. But, because this kind of popula-
tion tends to be in residence during the height of
winter and summer seasons, thus contributing to
the peak regional traffic volumes, it is important
to find appropriate TDM strategies that can be
applied. It should be noted, however, that this
population is generally unrestricted by ordinary
working hours and freer to choose its travel times
than the village population; as a result it will try to
avoid the busiest times.
Table 1 Mode Split in Urban Areas2
Car Transit Cycling Walking Other
Austria 39% 13% 9% 31% 8%
Canada 74% 14% 1% 10% 1%
Denmark 42% 14% 20% 21% 3%
France 54% 12% 4% 30% 0%
Germany 52% 11% 10% 27% 0%
Netherlands 44% 8% 27% 19% 1%
Sweden 36% 11% 10% 39% 4%
Switzerland 38% 20% 10% 29% 3%
UK 62% 14% 8% 12% 4%
USA 84% 3% 1% 9% 2%
18.7Transportation Demand Management
Understanding TDM Strategies
The Free Market Component, to a much greater extent than Burlingame Village, is both a source and a
target of journeys. Large free market homes generate on-site jobs of cleaning and maintenance, and a
greater number of deliveries, especially from services such as FedEx and UPS. At the same time, there
will be year-round residents, both in the free market houses and the ADUs, who will have kids to take to
school, and groceries to buy, and will be much more like the Village population than the second home
population. Overall, therefore, the Free Market Component has a much more diverse set of transporta-
tion issues to address than the AH Village, and there is not any single TDM strategy that stands out
as particularly appropriate. Our proposed TDM Plan takes a “Chinese menu” approach and applies a
whole cluster of strategies to address this diversity.
Understanding Traffic Calming
Traffic Calming includes a variety of roadway design features that reduce vehicle traffic speeds and vol-
umes. Table 3 describes the most common of these strategies. Traffic Calming is becoming increasingly
accepted by transportation professional organizations and urban planners. Although Traffic Calming
may not have a major effect on the free market component traffic, in combination with the privatization
of Stage Road it is likely to cut out some frivolous journeys and “sight-seeing” trips by non-residents.
The traffic calming measures we propose to adopt are indicated in bold.
Speed humps, although the most common traffic calming measure, are difficult to construct on gravelled
roads. The most common approach is to bury a section of steel conduit so that the top of it protrudes 3
or 4 inches above the road surface, but erosion of gravel around the conduit tends to make the humps
increasingly difficult to cross and creates a major obstruction to emergency vehicles. Instead we are
are using cattle grids as rumble strips; these will have a similar effect to speed humps but without
slowing emergency vehicles.
Table 3 Traffic Calming Strategies and Devices
Type Description
Speed limits Reduced speed limits.
Speed alert and enforcement Radar-clocked traffic speeds displayed to drivers, and strong speed limit enforcement.
Vehicle restrictions Limiting vehicle types (trucks) or users (residents only) on specific roads.
Warning signs and gateways Signs & gateways indicating changing road conditions, and Traffic Calming devices in residential districts.
Speed tables, raised crosswalks Ramped surface above roadway, 7-10 cm high, 3-6 m long.
Median island Raised island in the road center (median) narrows lanes and provides pedestrian with a safe place to stop.
Channelization islands A raised island that forces traffic in a particular direction, such as right-turn-only.
Speed humps Curved 7-10 cm high, 3-4 m long hump.
Rumble Strips Low bumps across road make noise when driven over. Bar/X Ranch uses cattle grids.
Mini-circles Small traffic circles at intersections.
Roundabouts Medium to large circles at intersections.
Pavement treatments Special pavement textures (cobbles, bricks, etc.) and markings to designate special areas.
Bike lanes Marking bikelanes narrows traffic lanes.
Curb extension “pinch points” Curb extensions, planters, or centerline traffic islands that narrow traffic lanes to control traffic.
“Road diets”Reducing the number of traffic lanes.
Horizontal shifts Lane centerline that curves or shifts.
Chicanes Curb bulges or planters (usually 3) on alternating sides, forcing motorists to slow down.
2-lanes narrow to 1-lane Curb bulge or center island narrows 2-lane road down to 1-lane, forcing traffic for each direction to take turns.
Semi-diverters, partial closures Restrict entry/exit to/from neighborhood. Limit traffic flow at intersections.
Street closures Closing off streets to through vehicle traffic at intersections or midblock
Stop signs Additional stop signs, such as 4-way-stop intersections.
“Neotraditional” street design Streets with narrower lanes, shorter blocks, T-intersections, and other design features to control traffic speed and volumes.
Perceptual Design Features Patterns painted into road surfaces and other perceptual design features that encourage drivers to reduce their speeds.
Street Trees Planting trees along a street to create a sense of enclosure and improve the pedestrian environment.
Woonerf Very low-speed residential streets with mixed vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
18.8 Bar Slash X Ranch LLC - Annexation and Stage Road PUD/Subdivision: Final Submission
This page intentionally left blank