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Downtown San Bernardino The City of San Bernardino is the county seat of San Bernardino County and part of the Inland Empire, one of the largest, fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the U.S. While San Bernardino and Riverside Counties are known for their rapid, low-density, suburban growth patterns, many Inland Empire communities are now reexamining this growth model in the face of concerns about air quality and climate change and the growing demand for walkable, transit-accessible neighborhoods. San Bernardino is one City at the forefront of this trend, taking advantage of the growing interest in downtown living to draw new public and private investment into its historic core. The City’s downtown revitalization efforts are the subject of this case study. Local Context In its efforts to revitalize the downtown, San Bernardino is capitalizing on a strong public sector employment base and high transit ridership rates. San Bernardino was once the economic and cultural heart of…

The research examines behavior and motivation of TOD residents, employees, and employers in their mode choice and identifies best practices to promote TOD-related transit ridership.

I. Introduction  Interest in fostering development around rail transit stations has many jurisdictions considering the best ways to plan for multiple modes of transportation in these areas. Efforts to increase the intensity and mix of development around rail station areas are intended to capitalize on the public investment in rail transit, boost ridership, increase rail access to homes and businesses, create environments that support the use of alternative modes, and foster economic development. In many areas, the increased density creates concerns about how to balance the needs of automobile users with pedestrians, cyclists and transit users, particularly as development is phased in over time.    Traditional approaches to evaluating transportation system performance include level of service (LOS) measures, which are detailed in the Highway Capacity Manual. The most commonly used measure is the automobile level of service at the intersection level, which is based on volume to…

Foreword For many Americans density is associated with ugliness, crowding, and congestion, even though it can be shown that, when properly planned and executed, higher density can save land, energy, and dollars. Moreover, many people—including some trained planners and designers—have difficulty estimating density from visual cues or distinguishing quantitative (measured) and qualitative (perceived) density. We tend to overestimate the density of monotonous, amenity-poor developments and underestimate the density of well-designed, attractive projects, thereby reinforcing the negative stereo•types. A primary objective of this work is to correct these misperceptions. This book was commissioned by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy to help planners, designers, public officials, and citizens better understand—and better communicate to others—the concept of density as it applies to the residential environment. The need for such a work is borne out repeatedly by participants in…

In order to show the ridership benefits of TOD, we examined the best empirical information available for adjusting vehicle trip generation rates and estimating transit ridership. Fortunately, a fair amount of empirical evidence has been gathered in California over the past decade on TOD’s ridership impacts. The approach taken parallels somewhat that employed for the Air Resources Board’s URBEMIS model that aims to evaluate the potential emission-reduction benefits of smart-growth strategies. The URBEMIS model provides a range of “adjustment factors” for reducing estimated vehicle trip volumes by specific percentages based on characteristics of built environments – including the 3Ds of density, diversity, and design. We propose that the evaluative tool, like URBEMIS, will begin with standard ITE vehicle trip generation rates to estimate the potential reductions in vehicle use a TOD offers compared to a conventional suburban development (the basis of the most use ITE trip…

The research reported here offers a new assessment of the fiscal impacts of transit oriented development associated with development of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail system. The analysis considers development near existing and planned light rail stations. Our findings support the conclusion that the transit-oriented developments associated with DART Rail stations offer substantial fiscal impacts for local taxing entities.

This report provides an update on the status of urban planning and real estate development in the vicinity of existing and planned stations within RTD’s transit system. It provides a summary of development projects that have been built, are under construction, or are being planned within an approximate half-mile of stations, as well as an inventory of land use planning and rezoning efforts being conducted by local government jurisdictions in station areas.

Houston’s Midtown could be home to new city residents, a vibrant and prosperous neighborhood serving as the center of gravity for Houston’s entrepreneurial professionals. All the elements are in place for this neighborhood to take off: prime location between downtown, the Texas Medical Center, and the Museum District; an excellent street network; and high-quality service by METRORail. Unfortunately, a few barriers are keeping Midtown from developing to its full potential. These include: lack of a clear development strategy around the transit stations; parking ordinances that restrict development options; and the high cost of construction.