CE 451/551 Urban Transportation Planning and Modeling
Iowa State University
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· Syllabus, including lectures, labs and exam dates
· Examples of Excellent Lab Reports
General Course Information
Contact Information
Instructors:
Reginald R. Souleyrette, Ph.D.,
P.E.
Office:
Alternate Office: Center for
Transportation Research and Education (CTRE)
ISU Research Park
Phone: 294-5453
Email: reg@iastate.edu
Office Hours: MW after class. Please feel free to contact me or make an appointment by email.
Phillip J. Mescher, M.S., AICP
Office of Systems Planning
Iowa Department of Transportation
Ames
Phone: 239-1629
Email: pmescher@iastate.edu
Office Hours: TBD
Class Meeting Time and Place
Monday, Wednesday 8:00 - 8:50 am, 134 Town (lecture)
Tuesday, 10:00-11:50 am, 134 Town (lab)
Objectives
2003-2005 Catalog Data: (C E 451/ 551. Urban Transportation Planning and Modeling. (2-2) Cr. 3. F. Prereq:350 or 355. Transportation data sources and cost analysis; transportation system management; travel demand and network modeling; transport legislation and financing; intelligent transportation systems planning; sustainable transportation concepts. Use of popular travel demand software and applications of geographic information systems and global positioning systems. Term project required for graduate credit..
Goals: To provide the student with an intermediate course in the theory and practice of planning, programming, and modeling of urban and statewide transportation systems; to familiarize the student with the history and status of transportation planning activities as affected by national, state and local policy formulation and recent legislation.
Reading "Texts" and related Resources
Transportation planning models will be developed using a software package entitled "TransCAD Transportation GIS Software". Students will be provided two volumes related to the software to explain the modeling concepts and the software applications. Several additional resources are identified in the CE 451/551 Web pages. The TransCAD books are "loaned" to you. We need to collect these at the end of the semester.
Please do not Write or Mark in
these references unless you find a mistake that needs to be corrected (please
let me know so I can tell everyone to make the same changes).
TransCAD
Users Guide,(With supplement) Caliper Corporation,
Travel Demand Modelling with TransCAD 4.7, Caliper Corporation, Newton, MA.)
Additional resources.
Travel Model Improvement Program Clearinghouse (No specific reading assignment here as there are more than 50 full documents at this site. Check it early and then throughout the semester you should check for, and read, related material that would help you learn better, help you prepare lab reports, (e.g., cut and paste supporting figures, with appropriate credit given, etc.), or be useful to you in other classes/research).
Transportation Engineering Online Lab Manual
National Transportation Library directory (As in Clearinghouse above, you can examine dozens of resources, by interest groups, related to transportation data, models, analysis and more).
NCHRP 365, Travel Estimation Techniques for Urban Areas, Chapter 3: Trip Generation (I will provide hard copies of this, xx pages, estimated reading time: 1 hour
NCHRP 365, Travel Estimation Techniques for Urban Areas, Chapter 5: External Travel (I will provide hard copies of this, 12 pages, estimated reading time: 1 hour
A Transportation Modeling Primer (8000 words, estimated time: 2.2 hours)
Calibration and Adjustment of System Planning Models - December 1990 (This is short, but good. I suggest reading this as soon as possible, 6500 words, estimated time: 2 hours)
Model Validation and Reasonableness Checking Manual, 1997 (this is rather large. I suggest you being reading this right after exam 1, 28,000 words, estimated time: 8 hours) If you prefer, you can download a pdf version at http://tmip.fhwa.dot.gov/clearinghouse/docs/mvrcm/finalval.pdf
A Critical Review of the Trip-Based, Four-Step Procedure of Urban Passenger Demand Forecasting (2000 words, estimated time: 30 minutes)
Citilabs Webinar Series: Cube Dynasim (live webinars plus papers, presentations and archived videos)
Transportation
planning handbook. John D. Edwards, Jr., ed. 2nd ed.
Urban Transportation Planning in the
M.P. Meyer and E. J. Miller, Urban Transportation, McGraw Hill, New York, 2001.
Late Assignments
Labs are due at the beginning of the next lab class unless a lab is designated as a multi-week lab in which case they are due at the beginning of a new lab topic. Homework will generally be due one week after it is assigned.
Late labs or homework will be penalized 20% per week.
Evaluation Criteria
Examination #1: 20%
Examination #2: 20%
Homework/quizzes: 10%
Labs: 30%
Final Examination: 20%
* Graduate students' total grade will be adjusted upwards or downwards up to one letter grade based on a graduate project.
QUIZZES appear throughout the syllabus. The quizzes are from a US DOT overview document which reviews the basic transportation planning process steps. Many of these readings will be familiar. You must submit your answers to the instructor prior to, but not more than 2 days before the day they appear on the syllabus.
Use the following
subject heading on quiz emails:
subject: quiz x
where
x is the quiz number (one email per quiz please)
format for body of email: one line
for each answer (they need not be numbered)
Note: failure to submit quizzes in the
required format and at the required time will result in a zero for the quiz.
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Students with Disabilities
"Please address any special needs or special accommodations with me at the beginning of the semester or as soon as you become aware. Those seeking accommodations based on disabilities should obtain a Student Academic Accommodation Request (SAAR) from the Disability Resources (DR) office (515-294-6624). DR is located in Room 1076 of the Student Services Building."
Lab Reports
You are required you to present your results in writing in good technical writing style. Getting the answer is usually only half the work.
· Include a title sheet with a title, your names, lab# and date.
· Lab reports should be explanatory with text, maps, graphics, or other specifically required materials per the lab instructions. Label all figures and tables, and refer to them by number in the text.
· Labs should be free of spelling or grammatical errors.
· Always use page numbers.
· Present all results in the main body of the report. Lengthy printouts may be attached as appendices, but do not use appendices as an easy way to avoid integration of materials into the text. If you have an appendix, don't write "the answer is in the Appendix." Make sure you refer to all appendix material by number, somewhere in the text. Your reader should be able to easily find the results in the body of the report.
· An introduction section should include a brief overview of the topic and layout the structure of the report. A table of contents is appropriate if you have several sections of a lengthy lab report.
· A background section should discuss details that the reader needs to understand the rest of the report.
· Include a section detailing any problems you had, your solution to the problem, plus any recommendations for improvement of the particular lab exercise.
· Spell-out all abbreviations or acronyms the first time.
· Proof-read your work.
· Reports that are confusing, sloppy or difficult to read will be penalized 20% from the start.
· Submit your lab assignments in hard copy format to Phil Mescher and also email them to your instructors (reg@iastate.edu, cc to pmescher@iastate.edu) unless otherwise instructed. Note: Lab 1 hardcopy only. Please use as a subject of the email: “lab” so I can filter your responses. Note: labs (hardcopy and digital) are due at the beginning on the following lab period and if late, will receive a penalty.
Plagiarism/Citation: ANY work that is not your own must be clearly marked as having been taken from another source. This includes all figures and tables. Do not be vague … you cannot simply include a reference number at the bottom of an entire section that is taken from another source. Use quotation marks for single sentences or less; use indent from left and right and small font for longer sections taken from other work. Use Author/date reference format, e.g., (Souleyrette, 2005) and include a reference list with enough information for me to be able to find the original source. Penalty for improper citation: 1st offense: warning, 2nd offense: you cannot get an A for the course, 3rd offense: you will be reported to University Administration for disciplinary action.
Prerequisites by Topic
1. A basic understanding of highway transportation concepts.
2. A basic understanding of economic analysis.
3. A basic understanding of statistical methods and probability.
4. A working knowledge of PCs and Windows operating system, MS Word, Power
Point and Excel.
Graduate Project (required of those taking 551 only) 2007 version
To receive graduate credit for this class, 551 students must have an additional work component (beyond that required for the undergraduate students). This fall, the additional component will be to take on the role of “table moderator” in an activity that Professor David Plazak has arranged for his CRP 545 class.
The activity will culminate with a “Road Trip” role playing/planning meeting, to be held on Tuesday, October 30, from 3:30 – 5:00 PM in the Design College, room 411 (probable location). A pizza supper and discussion will follow the event. The event is to be led by Del Huntington and Marc Butorac from Kittelson and Associates, a Portland-based engineering consulting firm. See below.
During the event, about 50 students will be separated into about 7or 8 tables, one for each of you. You will be preparing for the event, helping to conduct the event, and then writing a short (2-3 page) report about the experience which also asks you to comment on potential improvements (report due one week later). You may suggest additional resources to be used at the event for the next time. Include a list of references (at least 10) in addition to your report.
Please mark Tuesday, October 30, 3-6 pm, on your calendars. We will get you more information about preparation as we get it. We expect to get “table moderator” packets about a week before the.
Road Trip: A Journey through the World of Roadway
Facilities
Management
This facilities management workshop is designed
to describe facility management through an interactive role playing exercise.
The facilitators of the workshop will present facility management as a
systematic approach to access management, intersection design options, and cross
section considerations, describing how different constituents view the process
of controlling the location, spacing, design, and operation of driveways,
median openings, and public street connections to a roadway.
Facilitator Del Huntington of Kittelson &
Associates, Inc. will present the participants with a real‐world scenario where
problems with an existing roadway are described and the participants represent
various constituents to proactively manage a facility with a wide variety of
potential solutions. The hands‐on exercise will be conducted with groups of 6‐10 and will result in
a summary of strategies and actions that can be employed in future projects.
