This study assessed the application of multimodal performance measures and indicators in the highway design process of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).
Traditionally, the Highway Capacity Manual has been used for measuring the performance and operation of highways and other transportation facilities. Measures such as automobile and truck delay and travel speed played significant roles in establishing the appropriate size and configuration of road facilities. However, over the last thirty years, federal and other policies have shifted transportation planning and design from an auto-centric focus on building out and maintaining the highway network to integrating multimodal transportation systems. For this study, the concept of multimodal included active transportation (pedestrians, bicycles), freight, and transit, as well as single occupancy vehicles.
The researchers reviewed the published research on the processes that support effective multimodal design and on the development of performance measures to assess multimodal goals for specific projects and integrated transportation systems.
Next they investigated the state of the practice by interviewing multimodal planning and design experts. They also reviewed the design manuals, guidebooks, and handbooks of leading departments of transportation to better understand the methods and performance measures they have used to implement multimodal design.
Building on that, they examined six case studies of multimodal projects across several WSDOT regions in Washington state. They evaluated how those projects have integrated best practices for multimodal planning and performance measurement, as well as opportunities for improvement. The projects ranged from an intersection study in North Wenatchee that was in the early planning stages to completed projects such as a diverging diamond interchange at I-5 and SR 510 in Lacey. All of the projects involved improvements to highway intersections, and all of them used alternatives to traditional traffic signals.
The report presents lessons learned from the literature, multimodal practice leaders, and the six WSDOT multimodal case studies.
Report: WA-RD 917.1
Authors:
Borna Arabkhedri
Daniel Malarkey
Yuanjie Tu
Don MacKenzie
UW Civil and Environmental Engineering
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: John Tevis
WSDOT Project Manager: Jon Peterson