Transportation planning to promote a sustainable community Teresa Scott, P.E. Director of Public Works City of Gainesville, Florida Member, APWA Center for Sustainability ong-range transportation planning through the metropolitan planning processes has historically been separate from local land use planning. In the Gainesville Urbanized Area we were not satisfied with the long-range transportation plan that resulted from models running on the adopted local land use plan. The community envisioned a multimodal system that provided a high modal split of non-auto trips; but the models identified more multi-laning of major corridors seen as only dividing the community and encouraging nonwalkable corridors. In the 1990s we began exploring opportunities to evaluate alternative land use and transportation system modeling scenarios that would allow the community to decide what type of land use they would support to obtain the transportation system they envisioned. Out of this effort the Livable Community Reinvestment Plan was developed. This plan has been updated and refined over the years but has held firm to the vision of reinvesting in the existing infrastructure and promoting sustainable development. Vision Statement for the 2035 Livable Community Reinvestment Plan The Gainesville Urbanized Area will have a multimodal transportation system that integrates land use and transportation planning and investments to promote community wellbeing through good and healthy relationships with the region’s other communities and natural systems. Specific outcomes will be:
1. Sustainable, safe, secure, energyefficient and livable land use
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patterns and complementary context-sensitive transportation networks that provide mobility choices within and between compact, mixed-use, multimodalsupportive development; 2. Balanced east-west Gainesville Urbanized Area growth to reduce socioeconomic disparity through increased transportation mobility and accessibility; 3. Transportation infrastructure investments that direct growth to existing infill and redevelopment areas; 4. Greenbelts to preserve natural and agricultural lands between all municipalities in the Alachua County region through compact land use patterns served by express transit service and park-and-ride facilities; and 5. A network of Rapid Transit Facilities connecting regional employment centers in order to enhance the economic competitiveness of the area. A key question that was considered in the development of the 2035 transportation project needs plan was “Should
transportation investments be made to reinforce and support future growth in the core part of the urbanized area where transportation alternatives already exist, or should transportation investments be made to improve accessibility and mobility in the urban periphery or outlying areas, where much of the county’s future growth is expected to occur?” An Accessibility Matrix for Planning Strategies (below) was developed to illustrate one of the key objectives of the plan; to move people and jobs from areas with poor sustainability and accessibility to areas with excellent sustainability and accessibility. There were four network alternatives analyzed: (1) Transit/BRT Emphasis; (2) Highway Emphasis; (3) Transit/Streetcar Emphasis; and (4) Hybrid/Demand Management Solution. The Hybrid network alternative was ultimately selected as the objective of improving mobility and accessibility along major corridors served by a Bus Rapid Transit network and development of a streetcar service that will connect downtown Gainesville, the University of Florida and retail/student housing areas to the
TRANSPORTATION ACCESSIBILITY
LAND USE SUSTAINABILITY
Low
Medium
High
Low
Area with poor sustainability & accessibility (Improve or leave as is?
Area needed to improve land use and more intensively
Area needed to improve land use
Medium
Area needed to improve transportation more intensively
Area needed to improve both land use and transportation
Area with potential (improve land use)
High
Area needed to improve transportation
Area with potential (need to improve transportation)
Area with excellent sustainability & accessibility
