Montgomery County, PA

What's the Connection Between Land Use and Transportation?
There are far more cars on the roads these days than ever before in history. More people are depending upon cars to get to their destinations. And greater numbers of people are commuting longer distances to work by automobile. It's common for families to own two or more cars. As larger numbers of people drive to work, stores, and recreation, congestion and traffic delays have become commonplace. Added to these traffic headaches are lost time, decreased work productivity, increased costs, air pollution, rampant energy and natural resource consumption, and a growing sense of frustration.
Part of the problem has to do with social changes and busy schedules and part with inevitable growth and population increases. Yet a more basic part of the problem is the way our communities have been, and continue to be, designed and built. Our suburban development patterns are a result of being designed solely to accommodate the automobile. Consequently, suburban developments are usually sprawled and scattered, with separated land uses and low densities. Together these create development patterns that foster automobile dependency.
While the suburbs remain an attractive living environment, suburban development patterns have not been updated to allow for other transportation choices. Alternate transportation options would be beneficial for even a small percentage of routine trips. Developments that are far apart, with homes, stores, schools, and offices isolated from each other, do not have to be the norm. There are often no sidewalks in developments or connecting uses. When they are provided, they are often noncontinuous, and the distances between destinations are far. Our communities have become more and more difficult to get around, and alternative transportation choices (taking transit, bicycling, or walking) do not exist. In short, our communities are in some ways becoming less livable.
Negative impacts from overdependence on the automobile include traffic congestion, air pollution, and energy consumption. Less tangible impacts include lost time, higher costs, and decreased quality of life.
By providing for land use and development that accommodate transportation choices - walking, bicycling, using buses, as well as using the automobile - we can plan for and build living environments that are environmentally sound and save resources. We can create far more hospitable neighborhoods than those in which we now live. We can create neighborhoods that provide nearby services to which we can walk, bicycle, or take a bus. We can design neighborhoods that enhance our quality of life and foster a sense of community and independence for residents and visitors. By creating transportation choices for residents, we can decrease commuting time, diminish traffic congestion, and improve the environment.

"Planning land use in relation to transit can be a powerful force in managing and directing growth and change." -Planning for Transit-Friendly Growth (p.4) by SOM et al., for New Jersey Transit, June 1994.

Site Design for Transportation Choices
Current suburban development patterns are generally the result of a lack of designing for choices and of having been built solely to accommodate the automobile. For the most part, new residential development, office complexes, and shopping centers have been designed for cars alone, with little consideration for other modes. Garages, driveways, and streets are the most prominent features of most suburban residential developments. Commercial and retail centers are surrounded by a sea of parking spaces. In many cases, access for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit vehicles has not been provided or is virtually impossible. Moreover, studies have shown that simply putting in new bus service, for instance, is not enough to encourage people to take the bus, especially in communities dominated by the car. The challenge is to create environments where people not only are able to, but want to use alternate transit options such as walking, bicycling, or taking a bus.
Many of the necessary site design elements needed for creating transportation choices include pedestrian design features. Creating environments that are conducive to walking is vital for creating transportation choices. Some of the other common site design guidelines include:
- Placing retail and office buildings near the roadway.
- Locating parking to the rear and sides of retail and office buildings.
- Locating pedestrian-oriented retail uses along the roadway.
- Orienting buildings toward transit stops.
- Minimizing the distance between a building entrance and transit stop.
- Providing a direct and connected pedestrian walkway system between neighborhoods and transit stops.
- Providing a functional hierarchy and connected street system in developments.
- Configuring streets to allow for through and efficient movement of buses or other transit vehicles.
- Linking adjacent developments to each other.
- Discouraging excessive free parking in some instances by reducing the overall number of required parking spaces or permitting off-site and shared parking facilities.
Specific facilities for pedestrians, bicycles, and buses are also important for creating transportation choices. While improving the layout of buildings and streets is critical to creating a transit-friendly environment, certain facilities should be provided to make it easier to use other transportation modes. Some of the more important include:
- Providing adequate geometrics (turning radii, width, and pavement depths) on designated roads serving developments to accommodate transit.
- Providing and appropriately siting transit shelters and other transit stop facilities (such as bus turnouts). Providing generous landscaping, paved walkways, and safe street crossings.
- Providing bicycle-friendly facilities such as lanes, paths, and bicycle racks. Accommodating persons with disabilities in buildings, walkways, and transit facilities.
-Giving a high priority to transit passenger safety and security when designing transit facilities and the surrounding areas.
Through the physical layout of buildings and streets and pedestrian, parking, and bus facilities, site design guidelines will help to intentionally shape development to support transportation choices.

"Transit-supportive developments offer an alternative to automobile-dependent developments." -Building Livable Communities (p.3) by The Center for Livable Communities, Aug. 1996.

Taking the Show on the Road
MCPC went on the road with its slide show on Creating Transportation Choices in Montgomery County. The half-hour presentation involves a narrated two-screen slide show that focuses on the connection between land use and transportation (how a decision on one affects the other and how both affect available transportation options). It describes how to more effectively link land use and transportation through specific zoning and site planning techniques.
The presentation highlights how to effectively plan for alternatives to the automobile and shows why we need to accommodate and balance all modes of transportation. It talks about how to provide options for walking, bicycling, and using buses when developing our communities, while also accommodating the car. The presentation has two parts. The first looks at current problems and why it is important to create transportation choices. The second focuses on how to incorporate the proposed concepts into land use planning through zoning, comprehensive and site planning, and design. If your organization would like us to present our slide show, contact Steven Nelson (610) 278-3730 or Mary Grace Panzak (610) 278-3747.

"Congestion is perhaps the most pressing transportation issue at both the regional and national levels. Given all of the environmental, right-of-way and funding concerns, it will not be possible to build our way out of congestion." -The Honorable Howard Yerusalim, P.E. Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 1991.

Land Use Planning and Transportation Choices
Land use planning and zoning, which decide where different types of development should be placed, are perhaps the most important elements in creating more transportation choices for residents. The appropriate type and mix of development, at suitable densities, in the right location are essential to providing choices. Study after study has shown these are the most significant factors (other than cost) people use to select their transportation mode. If the destination is nearby, they can choose to drive, walk, or bicycle to it. If densities are high enough in an area, bus service (and perhaps trains) can be provided. No amount of bus service, sidewalks, or bike paths can coax people away from their reliance on the car if the proper land use pattern isn't in place.
Planning for transportation choices begins with a community's comprehensive plan and continues with its zoning ordinance, subdivision and land development ordinance, and official map. The comprehensive plan lays out the goals and policies for providing choices and should recommend where and how new development should be built. For optimum choices, a transit corridor should be planned along a roadway with existing or planned transit. The maximum width of this corridor should be a quarter- to a half-mile distance on each side of the road. Within this corridor, transit-, pedestrian-, and bicycle-friendly development should occur in designated places. More auto-oriented development should not occur in this area but should be located adjacent to it. The comprehensive plan also should recommend areas where this type of development is not appropriate.
The ordinances and official map specify the types, densities, and location of development; heights and locations of buildings; parking requirements; and location of bicycle and pedestrian networks. They also describe the necessary amenities (such as landscaping and bicycle racks) needed to make a place more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly. One of the possible zoning ordinance tools that can be used to implement these ideas is the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR), which was featured in the Fall 1996 issue of Planning Perspectives.

"The current automobile-based system is not sustainable, it is: Too expensive and difficult to expand, generating massive congestion, highly polluting, resource-intensive to build and maintain, too consumptive of land, and disruptive to communities." -A Network of Livable Communities, (p. 3) by The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, George Maurer, 1996.

Additional Resources

Creating Transportation Choices in Montgomery County by the Montgomery County Planning Commission.
Guidelines For Transit Sensitive Suburban Land Use Design by Edward Beimborn and Harvey Rabinowitz, with Peter Gugliotta, Charles Mrotek, and Shuming Yan.
Transit-Oriented Development Design Guidelines by Calthorpe Associates.
Transit-Supportive Development in the United States: Experiences and Prospects by Robert Cervero.
Stuck in Traffic, Coping with Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion by Anthony Downs.
Preliminary Draft Handbook: How Can Transit Work For You? A Handbook For Planning Transit-Oriented Communities in New Jersey by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
For a complete listing of additional resources, see Appendix C (Bibliographic References) in Creating Transportation Choices in Montgomery County by the Montgomery County Planning Commission.

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