The Center for Transit-Oriented Development (CTOD) continues to be engaged on multiple topics, from research to technical assistance to sharing of best practices in policy and implementation. Over the past few months we’ve continued our applied work in regions across the country, a new national publication, and several research projects that will bear fruit over the fall and winter.

At the beginning of August, we released a new publication in our “TOD 200” series, focused on regional planning for TOD. “TOD 204: Planning for TOD at the Regional Scale” highlights the approaches and coalitions that have successfully advanced regional TOD planning across the country. The booklet identifies eight key strategies, and includes case studies from a number of regions. We are at work on the next two booklets in the series, one focused on planning for “family-friendly” TOD, and the second on how investments in high-speed and intercity rail can foster TOD. The TOD 204, as well as the rest of the booklets in the series can be found at www.ctod.org.

In addition to these best practices resources, CTOD has been engaged in efforts across the country, including:

Working with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in the San Francisco Bay Area to rethink their groundbreaking TOD Policy, adopted in 2005 with CTOD support. This work includes trying to address transit-accessible employment access as well as housing.

In the Twin Cities, working in collaboration with ULI Minnesota, Hennepin County, and the jurisdictions along the planned Southwest LRT Corridor to develop a corridor-level approach to TOD in coordination with ongoing transit planning. We’re also working with a range of stakeholders, led by the Twin Cities office of LISC, to develop a comprehensive affordable housing action plan for the Central Corridor as construction has begun on the LRT line.

A comprehensive upgrade to the National TOD Database (toddata.cnt.org) incorporating the 2005-2009 American Community Survey, an expanded set of stations including recent TIGER grant recipients and potential High Speed Rail station locations, and other additional datasets, which should be publicly available in November or December of this year.

Initiating our comprehensive webinar series on TOD issues (see more information elsewhere in this newsletter)

We’re looking forward to an exciting fall of new products and resources to help communities planning for transit and TOD. In the next few months we’re working on:

Several projects in Los Angeles, including corridor planning on the Orange Line BRT corridor and work with Metro on creating a new Sustainability Framework;

A national analysis of TOD trends since 2000, including who is living and working near transit, and how communities around transit are changing,

Regional technical assistance projects in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Twin Cities and Denver, with ongoing conversations in many other places, and

Other updates and new resources on TOD.