Urban Circulator Roundtable: Shaping Cities One Challenge at a Time AICP CM 1.5 An urban circulator roundtable? How appropriate! Hear speakers from around the country -- Austin; Atlanta; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Portland-- experienced in different disciplines of urban circulator implementation. Start with short presentations from each unique perspective, then focus on the challenges and issues associated with implementation -- outreach, financing, traffic, etc. -- and how each organization overcame these challenges. Moderator: Neil McFarlane, General Manager, TriMet, Portland, Oregon Paul Zebell, Project Manager, Bureau of Transportation, City of Portland, Oregon April Manlapaz, Transit Project Manager, AECOM, Minneapolis, Minnesota Derek Benedict, PE, Transportation Engineer, URS Corporation, Austin, Texas D.J. Baxter, Executive Director, Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City, Utah Jim Erkel, Attorney & Program Director, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, St. Paul, Minnesota Lisa Gordon, Chief Operating Officer, Atlanta Beltline, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia

1. Portland’s Streetcar:
Challenges of a Maturing System

3. PARTNERSHIP
• Operating Agreement: day-to-day responsibilities and
costs
• Master Agreement:
• City responsible for capital funding
• Both share operating funding, but for successful
lines TriMet’s share increases based on policy-based
targets
• Both must agree for future projects to move
forward
• Template for potential other lines in the region

4. FOCUS SHIFTS OVER TIME
Development
Focus
Access/
Mobility Focus
Development
Ridership
Tax Receipts

6. Lessons Learned
1. Design standards must be tailored to fit the intended
functions of the project.
2. Strong, clear partnerships are crucial to success.
3. Branding the project gives the public ownership and creates
an identity.

9. Embedded
Track

10. Minimal
Setback

11. No Z-Gates and Non-Standard
Tactile Color

12. Multi-Modal

13. Create a “Green” way

14. Partnering = Strong Alliances

16. Branding

17. Brand Implementation

18. Brand Implementation

19. Brand Implementation

20. Brand Implementation

21. Brand Implementation

22. Urban Circulator Roundtable: Shaping
Cities One Challenge at a Time
Project Connect Central Corridor –
Clarifying the “Problem” in Austin, Texas
Derek Benedict, PE
URS Transit & Railroads
Austin, Texas

23. • Regional High-
Capacity System Plan
• Includes local and
regional rail and
other HOV services
• Established priorities
• Central Corridor
Study

24. • 4 “C”s, “G”, and “S”
– Congestion
– Core
– Constraints
– Centers
– Growth
– System (added for the
Central Corridor)

25. • Study area (Central Austin)
divided into 10 “sub-corridors”
• About 60 different data sets
were used to represent the
problem statements (4 Cs,
G, and S)
• An interval-scoring and
ranking tool was developed

26. “Poor – Fair – Good – Best” Harvey Balls
…Good for more discrete comparison of
better-defined corridors

28. Lamar Highland Mueller ERC
3 2 4 1
52 61 51 70
Weighting/
Importance
Congestion 1 3 5 3 6
Congestion Index 2 5 22 20 25
Travel Demand Index 5 38 55 29 60
Constraints & Growth 4 18 23 19 19
Growth Index 4 36 55 38 56
Constraint Index 2 32 33 33 16
Core 2 2 6 9 8
Affordability Index 3 10 17 27 25
Econ Development Index 2 7 25 40 33
Centers 3 8 8 7 10
Centers Index 4 20 24 25 40
Consistency with Plans 1 20 16 12 12
System 5 21 19 12 27
Future Ridership Potential 5 19 21 8 29
Current Ridership Potential 3 18 10 4 16
Connectivity Index 5 15 13 16 22
Transit Demand Index 4 11 12 9 15
Problem
Criteria
- Allowed the use of many different
sets of data
- Allowed sensitivity testing
- Allowed for simple prioritization of
corridors/future corridors
- Allowed clear defense of the methodology
- Allowed for the development of an
interactive tool for public involvement

29. – There were some surprises, but the results
elegantly reflected the Project Connect problem
statements and the priorities of advisory group
stakeholders
– Sensitivity & scenario testing
– Some critics felt the method was a “black box” or
too complicated in general
– On the other hand, the tool was flexible, efficient,
and a good platform for interactive public
involvement

30. - The recommended
“sub-corridors”
were advanced and
a locally preferred
alternative
developed.
- Bond referendum
this November

31. A Neighborhood Circulator
For North Minneapolis
CONTEXT

32. A Neighborhood Circulator
For North Minneapolis
CONTEXT
-LOCATION

33. A Neighborhood Circulator
For North Minneapolis
CONTEXT
-LOCATION
-HISTORY

34. A Neighborhood Circulator
For North Minneapolis
CONTEXT
-LOCATION
-HISTORY
-PRESENT

35. A Neighborhood Circulator
For North Minneapolis
TRANSPORTATION
-EXISTING ASSETS
BUS SERVICE

36. A Neighborhood Circulator
For North Minneapolis
TRANSPORTATION
-EXISTING ASSETS
-PROPOSED PROJECTS

37. A Neighborhood Circulator
For North Minneapolis
TRANSPORTATION
-EXISTING ASSETS
-PROPOSED PROJECTS
-CIRCULATOR

38. A Neighborhood Circulator
For North Minneapolis
TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
1. WORKFORCE AGREEMENT
WITH METRO TRANSIT
2. WORKFORCE AGREEMENT
WITH UTILITIES
3. BENEFITS TO RESIDENTS

39. // Where is the Atlanta BeltLine?
Atlanta BeltLine // © 2014
• In the heart of the
Atlanta region
• Connects many of
Atlanta’s cultural
destinations
• Utilizes historic
freight rail rights of
way around the
center of town

40. 1,300 ACRES
of Greenspace
Atlanta BeltLine // © 2014
33 MILES
of Trails
22 MILES
of Transit &
Transportation
Infrastructure
Historic
Preservation
Streetscapes &
Public Art
Jobs & Economic
Development
1,100 ACRES
of Environmental
Clean-up
// The Atlanta BeltLine: Key Elements
5,600 UNITS
of Affordable
Workforce
Housing

41. Atlanta BeltLine // © 2013
// Housing
Goal:
• Create a mix of housing for a variety and
mix of incomes and household types
• 30,000 total additional housing units
• 5,600 affordable workforce housing units
1st Generation (2009-2014)
• $8.8M Trust Fund capitalized
• Downpayment Assistance (86 units created)
• Incentives for Developers (committed to 173
units)
• Property Acquisition (see Lofts at Reynoldstown
Crossing)
• Over 500 affordable workforce units within
½ mile.

42. Atlanta BeltLine // © 2013
// Housing
What Worked Well?

43. Atlanta BeltLine // © 2013
// Housing
Challenges and Lessons Learned
• Scale: Need to double production to meet goals (~200-300 annually).
• Funding: Existing Trust Fund is 100% committed. Need to
recapitalize, align with other funding sources, and establish funding
and financing for land acquisition and incentives.
• Land: ABI owns land for infrastructure, but limited land for adjacent
development. Increased control of land is key to ensure affordable
housing and other outcomes adjacent to Atlanta BeltLine.
• Low Income Housing Tax Credit: Limited projects funded annually in
the City of Atlanta
• Incentives are insufficient in high land price areas: Land and
partnership with mission driven developers is key to production in
these areas.

44. Nicollet-Central Modern Streetcar Project
Modern Streetcar for a
World-Class Downtown
Urban Circulators: Shaping Cities One Challenge at a Time
Presenter: April Manlapaz, AECOM,
and for the City of Minneapolis
Nicollet–Central Modern Transit Streetcar Project | Rail-Volution 2014

45. Project Facts
• 3.4 miles
• 9,000 rides
• 55k residents and 118k jobs
Nicollet–Central Modern Transit Streetcar Project | Rail-Volution 2014
within ½ mi
• Special trip generators
– Eat – Minneapolis Institute of
Arts
– Downtown Minneapolis:
6,000 hotel rooms;
Convention Center
– Mississippi River and
Nicollet Island
– East Hennepin Business
District
• First modern streetcar line
in the Twin Cities
1
p g
at Street

46. Is Streetcar a Local
or Regional Benefit?
Consider…
• Corridor’s trip generators
serve regional economy
• Major connections to
regional transit
– All transit in downtown
Minneapolis
– Major east-west bus
connections outside
downtown
• High ridership demand for
short trips where light rail
doesn’t fit
Green and Blue LRT
Orange Line (BRT)
Concentrate development where
desired by City and …and where transit would
efficiently serve development
Nicollet–Central Modern Transit Streetcar | Rail-Volution 2014
2
Region
eetcar Project Rail

47. Integration with Dense Bus Corridor
• Long and short trips
– Bus routes cover 25 mi
– Nearly half of rides
within 3.4-mi streetcar
line
Solutions
• Workshops to develop service
Nicollet–Central Modern Transit Streetcar Project | Rail-Volution 2014
3
plans and costs
• Ridership modeling used
regional base, rail mode
share, and special generators
• Very helpful to have a lot of
data from transit agency
Diverse Stakeholders
• 20% of population have no
vehicles
• 24% live in poverty
• 4,200 legally-binding affordable
housing

48. Choosing a Streetcar Vehicle
Nicollet–Central Modern Transit Streetcar Project | Rail-Volution 2014
4
Considerations
• Urban scale
• Fleet consistency
• Operating and maintenance cost
• Street impacts and platform design
• Passenger capacity and service
frequency
Discussions are ongoing

49. Acknowledgments
Anna Flintoft – City of Minneapolis
Charleen Zimmer – Zan Associates
Dan Meyers – URS Corporation
www.minneapolismn.gov/nicollet-central
Nicollet–Central Modern Transit Streetcar Project | Rail-Volution 2014
5

50. Signalization Challenges
of Urban circulators.
PAUL ZEBELL
CITY OF PORTLAND

56. Goals
Safety for all modes of travel
Preemption for emergency vehicles
Priority for transit vehicles
Accessibility for disabled users
Reasonable maximum delays for all modes
Maintaining some capacity for private vehicles

57. Tools
IMPROVED CONTROL SOFTWARE
MOVING TRANSIT BOARDING LOCATIONS
CHANGING OPERATING RULES
NON-STANDARD DETECTION SCHEMES

58. Train’s here

59. Serve the Bus

62. Progression Speed: Faster for cars
Distance
• Cars travel through without stopping
Time
Offset

63. Progression Speed: Slower for
• Sig• nbailc tyicmlei tnragf fsiec tt rfaovre l1s 9th mropuhgh without stopping
Distance
Time
Offset
Bikes