TRAAK, Alaska

Transportation projects can help preserve environmental treasures while making them more accessible for public use. In 1996, Alaska Governor Tony Knowles established a "Trails and Recreational Access for AlasKans" (TRAAK) Board. The purpose of TRAAK is to encourage the development of new trails and recreational resources within Alaska. TRAAK projects focus on trails that safely tie neighborhoods, parks, and commercial areas together, as well as highway projects that incorporate bike and pedestrian trails, trail heads, pullouts, picnic areas, and other facilities. An important part of this effort was the establishment of the Alaska Trails System, a network of forty-one trails throughout the state that deserve special recognition for their recreational, scenic, and historic value. The group of preeminent trails includes such well-known trails as the Iditarod Trail from Seward to Nome, as well as water-based trails such as the Yukon River Water Trail. The program is funded through a dedication of 10 percent of all federal highway funds.

More Info: www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/aktrails/trailsys.htm

Unlimited Access for University Students, California

Universities around the country have discovered that one way to ease parking woes, congestion, and air pollution is to encourage students to take the bus. As a result, universities and public transit agencies across the country have united and created a program called Unlimited Access, which provides fare-free transit service for over 825,000 students, faculty, and staff members at more than fifty colleges and universities throughout the United States. The university typically pays the transit agency an annual lump sum based on expected student ridership, and students simply show their university identification to board the bus. 
UCLA began its Unlimited Access pilot program, BruinGO, with the Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines in the Fall 2000, and has extended it through June 2002. It allows for more than 60,000 UCLA students, faculty, and staff to ride any Big Blue Bus fare-free, at any time and anywhere - not just for trips to and from campus. BruinGO is unique in that the university students, faculty and staff swipe their free multipurpose BruinCards at the bus fare box to "pay," and the University pays the transit agency 50 cents per ride. The payment system also provides unparalleled data-collection opportunities. Each time a card is swiped, the electronic card reader records the card number, the bus route number, the direction of travel, and the time of boarding. When the boarding data are combined with university databases, researchers can potentially track ridership patterns along a number of different socio-demographic dimensions.

More Info: www.transportation.ucla.edu/bruingo/BruinGO.asp

Metro Square in Sacramento, California

Metro Square is a development of 46 single-family, detached homes built in 1998, located one mile from Sacramento's city center. But residents don't have to drive to downtown, as Metro Square has many neighborhood amenities within walking distance, including a convenience store, a supermarket, a school, a park, and public transit service. It also features connected streets, bicycle network markings, crosswalks and other traffic controls at intersections, traffic-calming measures, and shade trees along its sidewalks, all of which make it inviting to pedestrians and bicyclists. In fact, survey results indicate that Metro Square residents may be over four times as likely as residents in conventional Sacramento developments to accomplish daily tasks by walking and may take only half as many driving trips, driving a total of between only 50 and 60 percent as many miles.

More Info: www.nrdc.org/cities/smartgrowth/char/

MetroVanPool, Georgia

One way to reduce the impact of driving on air quality is to help commuters pool their resources and share a ride to work. In Atlanta, Georgia, the private company VPSI provides MetroVanPool service, coordinating over 119 vanpool routes serving 25 counties in the Atlanta metro area. The service puts together groups of between six and fifteen people who all live near each other, and travel to a common destination or work center. MetroVanPool provided over 12 million trips in the Atlanta area in 2000 alone, helping commuters avoid 19 million miles of solo driving. Metro Van Pool provides the vehicle, the insurance, and the maintenance in the program - the group provides a designated vanpool driver. The volunteer drivers have access to their van on evenings and weekends, and also receive a free ride to work. Passengers pay from $68 to $185 per month, depending on the distance traveled and the style of the van their group chooses. In all cases, the price is significantly below the costs associated with driving alone. For those who are concerned about getting home in case of an emergency, the service also provides a guaranteed ride home.

More Info: www.metrovanpool.com

Atlantic Steel XL, Georgia

Combining brownfields redevelopmentin downtown locations and alternative transportation incentives can be a win-win for business, cities and the environment, as the Atlantic Steel Project XL demonstrates. In this case, Jacoby Development proposed the creation of a mixed-use (residential, retail, office, and entertainment), transit-oriented development on a 138-acre brownfield site in Midtown Atlanta, formerly the home of Atlantic Steel. To provide adequate auto and transit access, the site plan requires construction of a bridge to connect the site to the local fixed rail transit system and highway ramps to improve highway access. Because infill development projects with transit access reduce driving, the entire project qualified as a Transportation Control Measure that helps meet Clean Air Act requirements.

More Info: www.epa.gov/ProjectXL/file7.htm

Treasure Valley Community Partnership, Idaho

Though suburban sprawl may conjure up visions of LA or Phoenix, the rugged, southwest corner of Idaho also faces serious traffic and air quality problems stemming from poorly planned growth. But there is hope for Boise and its fast-growing suburbs. The Treasure Valley Community Partnership brings together business, community groups, and local government officials to make new connections between transportation and land use. Since its inception in 1997 at the urging of Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles, this formalized partnership has worked to improve the process of governance in the region so that all of its citizens are better served and policy decisions can be made in a more informed and strategic manner. Since 1997, the Partnership has tackled water quality, transportation, air quality, and public safety and will continue to work on rail transit, parks and open space, comprehensive planning and outreach. Current efforts to improve quality of life through better transportation planning are being addressed through a Transportation and Community and System Preservation Pilot Program (TCSP) grant aimed at finding ways to remove barriers to smarter transportation and land use choices.

More Info: www.tvfutures.org

Alternative Bus Fuel, Kentucky

In an effort to reduce physically and environmentally harmful emissions, as well as to reduce dependence on foreign oil, communities are finding creative ways to fuel their transit fleets. Bus commuters in the Cincinnati metropolitan area are getting to work under the power of French-fry grease. Transit agencies serving the Cincinnati and Covington region have begun powering their vehicles with "biodiesel" - a blend of discarded fast-food grease and regular diesel. Officials from the Ohio- Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments note that the half-million gallons of biodiesel to be used during particularly sensitive months (such as July and August) will generate fewer toxins and smog-forming pollutants while requiring few adjustments to diesel engines.

More Info: www.newuses.org/EG/EG-23/23CinnBiodiesel.html

Sustainable Development Strategy, New York

In 1999, staff of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, the downstate metropolitan planning organization, established several "sustainable development strategy" efforts in the Hudson Valley. They have brought local governments, state transportation agencies, citizens and local business communities together to examine how zoning, community design and transportation infrastructure plans can promote community goals. The approach is a promising one for making the essential land use-transportation connection in the context of home rule. Consultants hired by the MPO, state, or county conduct outreach, charrettes and scenario development. 
In Rockland County (northwest of NYC), the collaboration of the Town of Orangetown, NY State DOT and the county has produced a transportation and land use plan for the Route 303 corridor through community charrettes and meetings. The process has led the DOT to abandon a long-contested expansion of Route 303 and the Town to develop new land use plans that include a new "overlay zoning district" along Route 303 that limits new residential and commercial entrances onto the highway and requires off-highway connections between adjoining commercial lots. It also plans future mixed-use villages along the corridor and provides a cycling/walking path parallel to the roadway.

More Info: www.route303.net/index.shtml and www.202and6.com/home.html

Toll Pricing, New York

Variable toll pricing, also known as value pricing or congestion pricing, applies market forces to rush hour travel by charging peak-period drivers more than off-peak drivers. Measures like these both reduce congestion and serve to reduce energy use and protect the environment. 
The New York metro region has been a leader in using value pricing. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority set the trend in January 2000 when it approved a two-tier toll increase. The first increase created an incentive for electronic toll payments (E-ZPass) and offered significant discounts for off-peak travel. The second increase, set to take effect in January 2003, will make those incentives even more dramatic. Eventually, cash payers will pay 37 percent more than E-ZPass users and peak hour drivers will pay 13 percent more than off-peak drivers. In addition, the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey recently began charging higher tolls at rush hour at several of its bridge and tunnel crossings into Manhattan, including the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels. Tolls for peak-period drivers are $1.00 higher than for off-peak drivers.

More Info: www.tstc.org

Bike Commuting, Oregon

Bicycling is one of the cleanest and most energy-efficient modes of transportation available: and one of the best places to use a bike to get around is Portland, Oregon. Bicycling Magazine named Portland, Oregon as the best city for bicycling in the United States in 2001. Portland's success is due in large part to its extensive planning efforts, innovative projects, and close work with the local Bicycle Transportation Alliance and citizens. The City's master plan includes provisions for enhancing bicycling as a commuter option through increasing transit access and parking for bicycles. Currently, there are over 2,000 bike racks throughout the city, many centrally located near "Bike Central" locations, a network of facilities that provide bicycle commuters with permanent clothes storage, showers and other facilities, and secure bicycle parking. In addition, the city provides extensive information on safe bicycling, including a map of the best streets for bicycling. Portland has also initiated a program to paint "conflict" areas of bike lanes blue to heighten motorist and cyclist awareness of the potential for crashes.

More Info: www.trans.ci.portland.or.us/Traffic_Management/Bicycle_Program

Great Road, Rhode Island

In Rhode Island, the Town of Lincoln recognized that a local transportation corridor, the Great Road, was also a major historic resource that required preservation. The road is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the oldest road in the Blackstone River Valley. It is a touchstone of U.S. colonial history and a boon to statewide tourism efforts. The community worked with state officials to secure federal Transportation Enhancements funds to preserve the road's historic character. The town was able to protect open space around the Eleazer Arnold House (1867), preserving a meadow and preventing development of a strip-mall. The project also led to the restoration of the exterior of the 1812 Moffitt Mill, a significant and highly visible historic landmark on the Great Road. New pedestrian walkways improve pedestrian access to both the Mill and the Eleazer Arnold House.

More Info: www.nationaltrust.org

Caprock Canyons State Park Trailway, Texas

Transportation Enhancement funds were used by the State of Texas to convert a 65-mile stretch of abandoned railway to a multi-use facility, providing access for pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians. Passing through numerous towns north of Lubbock, the 12-foot wide trail provides opportunities for alternative transportation and a scenic trail to view the canyons. The conversion sought to preserve as much of the original character of the area as possible, including the use of wooden timbers to support the interior of the 772- foot Clarity tunnel where a colony of Brazilian free-tailed bats now make their home. In addition, the trail preserves 46 bridges of the original railway. With facilities and parking available at eight sites along the trail, Caprock is convenient for recreational users and commuters alike.

More Info: www.dot.state.tx.us/insdtdot/orgchart/des/enhance/projcat8.htm and www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/caprock/article.htm

Envision Utah, Utah

Quality of life is about more than a community's physical infrastructure - it's about the opportunity for citizens to be involved in the decisions that affect their lives. Formed in 1997, Envision Utah demonstrates this important principle. It is a unique and dynamic partnership of citizens, business leaders and policy-makers, working together to plan a Quality Growth Strategy for the Salt Lake City region. It offers a vision to protect Utah's environment, economic strength, and quality of life. The four-phase planning process used a baseline inventory, modeling using sophisticated maps, and surveys, workshops, and planning sessions involving thousands of residents. 
One of Envision Utah's projects is to help with transit-oriented development by providing specific tools and resources needed to implement changes in codes, zoning ordinances and general plans. Envision Utah will work with select communities, to plan transit-oriented developments that will serve as destination points, with shops, housing, and office space within walking distance of the new TRAX lightrail line. Envision Utah seeks to plan growth in a way that preserves critical lands, promotes water conservation and clean air, improves region-wide transportation systems, and provides housing options for all residents.

More Info: www.envisionutah.org

Zion National Park Bus System, Utah

Once as crowded as a downtown street during rush hour, Zion National Park is now serene and natural again thanks to an innovative new inner-park transit system. In order to ease congestion, multi-passenger shuttle vehicles operate as the only motorized transportation in the 6.5-mile Zion Canyon. Visitor comments indicate that the open-air buses allow them to enjoy Zion's lofty formations such as The Great White Throne, The Watchman, Grotto Picnic Area, Angels Landing, and Weeping Rock with nothing to obstruct their view. The transportation system also includes remote parking in town and a "town loop" to eliminate congestion on the streets of Springdale at the park's south entrance. Visitors can still use private vehicles to tour the park on Utah Highway 9. The National Park Service is now pursuing alternative transportation plans in a number of popular parks in order to improve the natural experience for visitors.

More Info: www.nps.gov/zion/trans.htm

Scenic Byways, West Virginia

West Virginia's support for Scenic Byways is almost unmatched in the country. More than 10 projects were designated and funded in 2001 alone by the National Scenic Byways Office. One example is the Midland Trail. Cutting across central southern West Virginia, the Midland Trail, old U.S. Route 60, is one of the oldest routes in the United States. Its designation by the State of West Virginia as a Scenic Highway recognizes its integral role in the history and development of our nation. The designation also acknowledges the Trail's unique scenic, natural, recreational, historical, and cultural qualities. Across centuries, the Midland Trail has served multitudes of buffalo, Native Americans, westward-moving pioneers, U.S. Presidents, Senators, and armies on the march. 

More Info: www.byways.org and www.scenic.org