TransPlex/Focus on Community - Team Challenge Descriptions

Regional/Urban Activity Center

Promotional Description: You are a planner in one of Florida’s dense regional activity centers and are receiving seemingly contradictory demands from the public and local businesses. You need to identify strategies that can effectively support both parties. How do you balance the mobility needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users with the mobility needs of freight movement that supports economic activities? What strategies and technologies can you implement to create an environment where all types of users can safely and comfortably use the transportation system?

Challenge Objective: Identify strategies and technologies that could be applied to create an environment where all users can safely and comfortably utilize the transportation system, focusing specifically on balancing the differing mobility needs of people (especially pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users) and freight.

Your Role: You are a planner working for the associated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO).

Existing Vision/Comprehensive Plan Direction: The major city has an economic development oriented vision that supports any type of new development or redevelopment as driven by the private sector. However, the vision strongly supports single family neighborhoods (and the associated quality of life) that surround the downtown core. The two smaller cities have visions to retain their current community character while supporting infill development and redevelopment on non-residential sites. There is a regional vision for the area that identifies this location as an urban center.

Assumptions:

 Land size – The area consists of three incorporated municipalities – one large and two smaller. The downtown area of the larger city serves as a major employment center. It consists of 15- to 18- story buildings with commercial uses on the ground floor and office or residential uses on the upper floors.

 Surrounding Area – The areas surrounding the downtown are “first-tier” suburbs and consist of one- to two- story residential, with single story non-residential uses lining the major arterial network. The downtown is less than five miles from a SIS seaport. Some industrial/warehouse uses remain on the edge of the area. Trucks must travel through a portion of the area to access the interstate.

 Transportation System – Roadway right of way is constrained to what is currently available. Easements and minor contributions for transit, on-street parking, or other beneficial uses are possible when redeveloping a site. TransPlex/Focus on Community - Team Challenge Descriptions

 Community Outlook:

o There is an increase in the number of people that walk and bike in the community. Some for work travel and many more for non-work trips, especially to the restaurants and gathering spots in the downtown. The number of safety incidents of all types have been increasing.

o Congestion between the port and the interstate and congestion on the interstate has created delays significant enough that shippers are considering moving their operations to another port in a neighboring region.

Additional Information:

 Infrastructure:

o The area was developed with a grid of roadways. Most roads are two- and four- lanes, with some six-lane arterials providing connection to the interstate. A majority of the four- and six- lane roads have narrow sidewalks (~5ft) with street furniture, light poles, etc. blocking portions. Some roads have shoulders. (Curb and gutter in downtown. Swales in residential areas.)

o The interstate runs through the area with several interchanges providing access.

o The major city provides bus transit service within all three communities. The most frequent route offers service every 30 minutes, with 15 minutes for peak periods only. (Service runs 15 hours per day during the week, with less service on weekends.) The city desires to have passenger rail service initiated on the tracks that run downtown. About 25 percent of the stops have benches or shelters and nearly all of the buses stop in the travel lane for riders.

o The major arterials are state facilities and minor arterials are maintained by the county, with the cities’ having responsibilities for local roads.

o There is a rail line that runs through the cities for goods movement.

o Housing stock in this region is at the end of its insurable life providing significant redevelopment opportunity throughout the region.