Transportation Element

Omaha Master Plan Jim Suttle, Mayor Report #____ Transportation Element PLANNING OMAHA DRAFT DRAFT Table of Contents TRANSPORTATIONTTRANSPORORTATATIONO ELELEMENTE EMENENTT 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Major Objectives of the Transportation Element 3 Establishing Broader Goals for Transportation Actions 3 Th e Reach beyond Transportation 3 Organization of the Transportation Element 6 2 Inventory and Needs Assessment 7 2.1 Roadway and Street Network 9 Functional Classifi cation 9 Street Network Characteristics 11 NDOR, Federal-Aid and National Highway System Roads 17 Bridges 19 2.2 Traffi c Volumes and Travel Patterns 21 Vehicle Mobility 21 Managing East-West Travel Demand 22 Traffi c Volumes and Roadway Capacity 23 Congestion and Supporting Street Network 26 2.3 Traffi c Control 30 Traffi c Control and Arterials 30 Unsignalized Control Methods 30 Marked Pedestrian Crossings 31 2.4 Roadway Safety and Accidents 32 Roadway Segment Crash Rate 32 Types of Accidents 32 Corridors with High Crash Rates 33 Intersections with High Crash Rates 35 Accidents with Fatalities 35 Accidents Involving Pedestrians 36 2.5 Pedestrian and Bicycle Systems 41 Sidewalks 41 Pedestrian Bridges 41 Off -Street Trails 43 On-Street Bicycle Lanes and Shared Streets 43 East-West Bicycle Travel Demand and Options 44 Bicycle Reach and Land Use Patterns 44 End-of-Trip Facilities 45 Omaha Master Plan - Transportation Element Omaha Master Plan - Transportation Element DRAFT 2.6 Transit 46 Current Conditions 46 2.7 Truck Routes and Freight 49 Truck Routes and Traffi c Congestion 49 2.8 Railroads 50 Assessing Community Impacts of Railroads 50 2.9 Aviation 52 Ground Access to Eppley Field 52 3 Summary of Outreach and Involvement Activities 54 3.1 Structure of Public Engagement Activities 54 November 2010 Visioning Exercise 55 March 2011 Design Workshops 55 September 2011 Prioritization Meeting 55 3.2 Key Stakeholder Groups 55 Bicycle-Pedestrian Advisory Committee 55 Design and Engineering Advisory Committee 55 Development Advisory Committee 56 Other stakeholder representatives 56 3.3 Development of Community Goals to Guide the Plan 56 3.4 March 2011 Public Outreach Activities 57 3.5 Previous Planning Eff orts 59 4 Developing New Project Ideas 60 4.1 Roadway Capacity Projects 61 4.2 Reorganizing the Cross-Section: Road Diets, Restriping Projects and Lane Reconfi gurations 62 Road Diets 62 Wide Outer Lanes 64 One-Way to Two-Way Conversions 65 Shared-Use Vehicle-Bicycle Streets 65 4.3 Expanding the Bicycle and Pedestrian Reach 67 On-Street and Off -Street Facilities Together 67 Harney Bikeway System 67 Omaha Master Plan - Transportation Element Omaha Master Plan - Transportation Element DRAFT Projects that Cross Barriers 70 Meaningful Connections from West Omaha 70 North Omaha 72 Rehabilitating the Omaha Boulevard System with a benefi t for cyclists 72 4.4 Transit Guideway Projects 75 4.5 Streetscape Projects 78 4.6 Transportation and Land Development Projects 93 Crossroads Mall and the Nebraska Furniture Mart 94 Dodge and I-680 96 North Omaha Redevelopment 98 5 Evaluation Process 103 5.1 Project Pre-Screening 103 Bicycle and Pedestrian Projects 103 Projects Closely Tied to Land Development 105 5.2 Project Evaluation Criteria 105 Goal 1: Provide balanced options for enhanced mobility 106 Goal 2: Attain a safe and healthy environment 108 Goal 3: Create livable and connected neighborhoods 111 Goal 4: Promote Economic Returns with Fiscal Sustainability 115 5.3 Use of Goal-Based Metrics 118 Patterns that emerged and how this aligns with political reality 118 5.4 Travel Demand Model Enhancement 120 Development of Scenarios 120 6 Recommendations 122 6.1 Project Recommendations 123 Project Opportunity Costs 123 Roadway Capacity Projects 123 Roadway Reconfi guration Projects 124 Bicycle Projects for the Capital Projects List 124 6.2 Transportation Policy Recommendations 126 Maintenance and a “Fix-It First” Approach 126 Bicycle Project Commitment and Plan Refi nement 126 Pedestrian Improvement and Sidewalk Commitment 127 Traffi c Control Infrastructure 127 Omaha Master Plan - Transportation Element Omaha Master Plan - Transportation Element DRAFT Development and Local Street Network 127 Applicability of the Street Design Guidelines 127 Coordination with NDOR and the Securing of Design Exceptions 127 Coordination with State and Federal Initiatives 128 Enhancement of Project Selection Criteria 128 6.3 Land Use Policy Recommendations 129 New Ideas for Development Facilitation 129 6.4 Policy Action Items 131 Comprehensive Infrastructure Study 131 Staff Working Group for Implementation 131 Complete Streets Policy 131 Metro Transit Development Plan 132 MAPA Regional Vision 132 6.5 Funding Options 134 Road Pricing and Tolls 134 Sales Taxes for Transportation 134 Use of Parking Districts and Business Improvement Districts 135 Demand-Responsive Parking Pricing 135 Project Right-Sizing 135 Omaha Master Plan - Transportation Element Omaha Master Plan - Transportation Element DRAFT Section 1 TRANSPORTATIONTRANSPORORTATIONTTION ELEMELEMENTENENTT Omaha owes much of its existence to transportation: its distances and, in the case of urban areas, a greater founding in the 1850s as a settler’s outpost adjacent to geographic extent in which relatively fast and easy travel Council Bluff s, Iowa was undertaken in part because of was possible. the latter city’s role as a terminus of several continental railroads. Omaha was eventually selected as the eastern Today, however, Omaha is beginning to appreciate end of the First Transcontinental Railroad connecting the consequences of this pattern of growth. An the western United States to the more populated and ever-increasing demand for east-west travel has industrialized areas of the east. Railroads continued led to a confi guration of the city’s main street as a to be an important foundation of Omaha’s economy, high-capacity, high-speed roadway intended to off er a as the development of a cattle stockyards complex compromise between a local street and an expressway (which eventually surpassed Chicago’s as the largest (and truly achieving neither objective). Beyond this in the world) made Omaha a national leader in meat street, increasing amounts of public resources must be packing and processing. Omaha’s railroad hub was a used for maintenance of a growing roadway system, strategic reason for this. Its early growth and prosperity leaving fewer and fewer resources for investment in was closely aligned with the railroads, and the city’s other transportation priorities. Th e city has seen footprint was generally defi ned by the location of the overall levels of health decline among its citizens as railroads and the reach of available transportation an automobile-dependent lifestyle has reduced the technology. natural opportunities for basic physical activity that come from living in more organically connected As with all American cities and urban areas, however, neighborhoods. the rise of the automobile as a form of household transportation in the 20th century had dramatic eff ects Th e Transportation Element of the Omaha Compre- on urban form in that it allowed an expansion of the hensive Plan is off ered as a diff erent approach to city’s built footprint and residential travel shed well these long-standing trends, one that is intended to beyond what existed before. Omaha began orienting its defi ne and formalize new strategies for coordinat- vehicular streets to the automobile as early as the 1920s; ing transportation investment with growth patterns, by 1960, the vast majority of travel on all city streets for enhancing and maintaining the transportation was by private automobile. Th is mode of travel allowed system, and for leveraging the resources committed to Omaha to expand easily, as a preference for suburban transportation eff orts to improve other aspects of the living led to families leaving more densely developed community’s profi le. neighborhoods near the city center in search of the spacious subdivision patterns of new suburban areas. Th e development of the Interstate Highway System throughout the United States only furthered this growth and expansion, allowing faster travel over longer Omaha Master Plan - Transportation Element Introduction DRAFT1 Th is Transportation Element should be an opportunity thriving city, only now it is much larger (both in terms for Omaha to consider not only its transportation of geography and population), features much more future but also a broader future for the community. dispersed employment, and has a transportation system Th e Element explores how the city will continue to almost entirely oriented to motorized vehicles. Th e grow and what policies and philosophical changes are illustrations below both show downtown Omaha, but required to make that happen. the modern view shows a street once traveled heavily by pedestrians and streetcars that is now tailored primarily To put this into perspective, consider the changes to automobiles—and even then only at the peak that have occurred over the last 100 years in Omaha. periods of travel. What was a prosperous city with an economy driven by rail transport, goods movement and agricultural Looking forward, Omaha should use this Transporta- distribution, all dependent on the vast intersection of tion Element as a means to reach a future that it wants railroads around the central city is still a prosperous and for the city, supported by the right kind of transportation system to make that future possible. Omaha in 1916 Omaha’s rapid growth from 1880 to 1920 led to the development of large office and civic buildings in its center. These were linked to the agriculture and transportation-related industries that defined the city’s economy, and they established a busy, vibrant urban center where streets carried a mix of vehicles, streetcars and pedestrians. Photo source: Library of Congress. Omaha in 2010 Omaha retains much of its historic built environment, but its streets have been converted for an entirely different set of priorities. Automobile use and traffic began to grow shortly after the photograph above was taken.

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