Resources

The AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning met on June 8-11, 2008, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can dowload the attached ZIP file of the climate change presentations (in PDF format) that were given at the meeting.

The AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning met on June 8-11, 2008, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can dowload the attached ZIP file of the Subcommittee reports, Federal Authorization and other presentations that were given at the meeting.

The AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning met on June 8-11, 2008, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can dowload the attached ZIP file of the presentations and materials used at the Peer Workshop on Integrating Innovative Finance and Transportation Planning held on June 8.

This AASHTO primer is an introduction to the issue of climate change and its implications for transportation policy in the United States. The paper is organized in five parts:

Part I summarizes the current state of scientific
knowledge concerning the causes and impacts of climate
change.

Part II provides an introduction to climate change policy
issues.

Part III discusses trends in GHG emissions from road
transportation.

Part IV reviews potential measures to reduce GHG
emissions from road transportation.

Part V identifies issues for further research.

The Capacity Building Task Force of the AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning is chaired by Kathy Ames of the Illinois Department of Transportation.

A Summary of Capacity Building Activities 2004-2007 and links to capacity building products is provided below.

A summary of the activities of the Task Force was provided at the 2007 AASHTO Annual Meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The report is available at StatewidePlanning.org under the "Capacity Building Task Force" Resources.

This synthesis presents information on visualization, which functions as a representation of proposed alternatives and improvements and their associated effects on the existing surroundings. It focuses on the best practices and experiences to date within transportation agencies that are developing and incorporating visualization into the project development process. The report provides an overview, details case studies, addresses the challenges of visualization, and compares the results with a similar study from 1996. This synthesis report was developed by conducting interviews with various transportation agencies, universities, and consultants throughout the United States. A survey questionnaire was distributed in advance of the interviews to assist in the preparation.

A rapid prototyping approach was used in the driving simulation laboratory at the Western Transportation Institute (WTI) to simulate approximately 22 miles of US 191 between the Big Sky Resort community and the northern mouth of the Gallatin Canyon. Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) designed and programmed Custom roadway tiles for the simulation as “as built” plans for the highway, topographic maps, and video taken from a vehicle driving the route. The simulations may be used to help the MDT develop and refine safety countermeasures for that roadway. The primary benefit of the visualization and rapid prototyping approach using interactive, immersive simulators is that it provides an opportunity for formative evaluation, allowing engineers to refine the design at an early stage in the system development process before significant resources are invested in the deployment.

The Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Federal Lands Highway Division (FLHD) is working to integrate design visualization as a mainstream tool to address design issues and communicate with stakeholders. "The goal is to facilitate the application of simple, low-cost techniques and tools that provide a high relative payback while supporting context sensitive solutions to design problems," says Mark B. Taylor, design discipline leader with FHWA's Central Federal Lands office. The goals of this technology deployment project are to assess the effectiveness of design visualization tools for a typical situation, evaluate the cost of visualization relative to the complexity of the project, and develop a framework for utilizing these techniques through in-house staff or contracted services.

The purpose of this guide is to introduce visualization tools and innovative practices to the Federal Lands Highway (FLH) designer with the goal that these techniques and tools will eventually be integrated into most FLH projects, and used whenever there are design issues or communication needs. The guide will help the designer learn to use commonly available software tools to produce visualizations that will help them better understand and communicate their designs. It is also intended to help the user better understand more advanced design visualization (DV) tools and techniques that are available, and allow more effective coordination with FLH visualization staff. The user will also be better equipped to provide required design and model data to outside DV consultants to facilitate the production of better and more effective presentations.

Consultation between the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and tribal governments in transportation planning has been advancing due to coordination and information sharing efforts being initiated by both ADOT and the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona (ITCA), an association of 19 member tribes. These organizations have been instrumental at building the technical capacity of state transportation planners and tribal members to undertake effective consultations within the transportation planning process. Both ADOT and ITCA have established staff positions to focus on improving state-tribal coordination and have developed internal mechanisms to facilitate communication.