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Pedestrian and Bicyclist Connectivity in the High-Speed Rail Alternatives Analysis
Principal Investigator:
Jonathan Mueller, Oregon State University
Summary:
The United States needs to make wise investment choices to ensure the transportation needs of its population are met with the limited funding available. High-speed rail (HSR) is cited as a modern transportation alternative because it has several benefits that make it an attractive transportation option for the 21st century including energy efficiency, speed, a competing modal option to flying and ...
The United States needs to make wise investment choices to ensure the transportation needs of its population are met with the limited funding available. High-speed rail (HSR) is cited as a modern transportation alternative because it has several benefits that make it an attractive transportation option for the 21st century including energy efficiency, speed, a competing modal option to flying and driving, safety, and city center to city center travel to support land use patterns. When new rail systems are designed, the designs need to consider all users and provide a multimodal solution to allow easy access for pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as other alternative modes such as car share and transit. Currently, the Federal Railroad Administration that oversees HSR development in the US does not have set guidelines for what needs to be considered in the analysis of selecting a preferred alignment for HSR development. When connectivity, or how well alternative transportation networks integrate with proposed HSR alignments, is considered in the selection of proposed alignments, it is done in a qualitative manner and not considered in the quantitative analysis. This research presents a methodology for quantifying the connectivity of proposed rail alignments to pedestrian and bicyclist networks and demonstrates how this information can be considered in the alternatives analysis process for selecting a preferred rail alignment.
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Project Details
| Project Type: | Dissertation |
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| Project Status: | Completed |
| End Date: | June 30, 2014 |
| UTC Funding: | $7,500 |