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Context Sensitive Solutions and Transportation Planning. the Detection of Land-use, Historic and Cultural Resources, Community Features and Their Integration into the Planning Process
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Dumas, Jeremiah Walker, Jason |
| Copyright Year | 2008 |
| Abstract | Word Count: 221 Paper Body Word Count: 3048 Images/Tables:8 @ 250/each: 2000 Total (paper and images): 5048 J.Dumas, Walker, O’Hara, Stich 2 ABSTRACT With safety and the efficient movement of people and goods as a tenet for most transportation projects, it is possible to understand how community and quality of life become secondary aspects of the transportation planning process. With escalating construction and fuel cost; it is becoming more important that new corridor developments respect and integrate the surrounding community context.With safety and the efficient movement of people and goods as a tenet for most transportation projects, it is possible to understand how community and quality of life become secondary aspects of the transportation planning process. With escalating construction and fuel cost; it is becoming more important that new corridor developments respect and integrate the surrounding community context. “Context sensitive solutions (CSS) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that involves all stakeholders to develop a transportation facility that fits its physical setting and preserves scenic, aesthetic, historic and environmental resources, while maintaining safety and mobility. CSS is an approach that considers the total context within which a transportation improvement project will exist." (FHWA) At this point, CSS applications are rare and most State Department of Transportation’s (DOT) are exploring ways to incorporate CSS. As part of a larger USDOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) grant we have explored alternatives for the detection of community, land-use, historical and culturally significant features using spatial technologies so that these features can be evaluated and integrated into the planning process. US Highway 49 in Mississippi was the original test bed for the project with secondary testing occurring on Interstate 69 SIU 9. This paper details the methodologies and resulting applications for community feature location, extraction and the integration of these results into the planning process. J.Dumas, Walker, O’Hara, Stich 3 INTRODUCTION With safety and the efficient movement of people and goods as the guiding tenets for most transportation projects, it is possible to understand how community and quality of life become secondary aspects of the transportation planning process. With escalating construction, material, and fuel cost, alternative uses and the maximization of existing corridors are becoming viable alternatives along with efficient new corridor alternatives that respect the surrounding community. In response to a national recognition of the disconnects between community and traditional transportation projects and planning, context sensitive solutions were developed that understand and respect the area through which transportation projects traverse (1). MerriamWebster (2) defines context as “the interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs.” This seems simple enough and although most design and planning professionals practice the art of context inventory and management, it is proving to be a difficult tactic for transportation planners and engineers to include areas and features located outside the traditional corridor alternatives (3). With today’s increased environmental awareness, community involvement and urban revitalization projects, it is becoming more imperative that community and environmental features found in the projects surrounding context become an integral part of the planning process (4). Traditionally, these features are inventoried by ground survey, public and citizen engagement and information gathering, and by the layering of easily obtainable geospatial datasets. Given the advent of more advanced geospatial data, tools, and techniques, it is now possible to utilize these tools in a way that breaks the corridor barriers and integrates context and larger urban and natural features into the planning process. BACKGROUND In 2005-2006, the Mississippi State University Department of Landscape Architecture worked in conjunction with the GeoResources Institute and the Mississippi Department of Transportation to determine development alternatives for highway by-passes in the towns along Mississippi Highway 49 (Hwy 49) between Jackson and Wiggins, Mississippi (see Figures 1 and 2). This project is in response to the planned expansion of the facility from a four-lane facility with uncontrolled access to an interstate level system with controlled access. Multiple communities along the corridor developed and expanded in response and reliant on the many access points and intersections. With the planned expansion to a controlled access facility, multiple retail, commercial and industrial facilities will lose their direct connection to the roadway and become dependent on frontage road scenarios. This paper is not stating the case for or against the change, but it is important to realize the multiple impacts associated with a facility change or upgrade not only to the immediate corridor, but to the surrounding community context as well. In order to analyze the impacts of the facility enhancement on the surrounding land use, developments and community, one must first understand the surrounding road networks, existing land uses, densities, development patterns, historical and cultural features, green and open spaces, and key environmental factors. Hwy 49 traverses both rural and urban environments. For the sake of this study, the inventory area included a one (1) mile buffer area on each side of the right-of-way (ROW) centerline for the rural areas and everything within the city limits for the |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.ncrste.msstate.edu/sepp_presentations/TRB_2009_PAPERS/NCRST_SEPP_TRB_2009_DUMAS_CSS_PAPER.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.ncrste.msstate.edu/sepp_presentations/TRB_2009_ABSTRACTS/TRB2009_CSS_TRB_09-3832.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
