Current Regional Planning Practice in Reno, Sparks & Washoe County, Nevada

Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County

Presentation to the 2011 Transportation Research Board Planning Applications Conference

Reno, Nevada

About the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County

• Metropolitan Planning Organization• Transit service provider• Roadway construction & maintenance

RAPID BRT Kietzke Lane Roundabout

Regional Transportation Plan Update

• Develop community-based vision to address changing needs

• Promote livability & prosperity• Update travel demand model

Schedule

•March 2011 – Begin traffic model update•August 2011 – Develop goals & objectives• Spring 2012 – Develop alternatives•Fall 2012 – Complete draft RTP•Spring 2013 – Finalize RTP

California Ave Complete Street4th Street Station

Complete Streets Program

• Designing roads for all transportation users:• Improves safety & health

– Reduced crashes by 30% on Wells Ave

• Enhances multimodal connectivity• Promotes economic development• Includes landscaping/beautification

Implementation

•Bike lanes added during road maintenance / resurfacing•Multimodal features included in new construction design•Bike/ped & ADA plan identify needs throughout community

Victorian Avenue Cycle Track Neil Road Complete Street

Community Outreach

• Provide a wide variety of opportunities for residents & stakeholders to participate

• Incorporate community & agency input

• Ensure consistency with other area plans & policies

• Electronic & traditional outreach

Corridor Studies

• Identify Multimodal Transportation Needs & Improvements– Safety– Bicycle & Pedestrian– Transit – Roadway & Traffic Operations – Link with Land Use/Economic Development

Transit Oriented Development Corridors

Virginia Street

• Resort corridor connecting– University of Nevada, Reno– Downtown– Truckee River– Resort Casinos– Convention Center– Meadowood Mall

• Major transportation corridor– 30,000 ADT

• Strong transit ridership– 5,000/day

– (14% Mode Split)

RAPID

• BRT vehicles• Enhanced bus shelters• Increased ridership

Street Car Concept

• Result of BRT and land use policies

• Promote walkability • Transit supportive land

uses• Encourage redevelopment• Attract high quality, high

density growth– Promote economic vitality

• High quality transit to serve attractions:

• Gaming, tourism, government, retail and educationPhase I

Travel Demand Model Upgrade

• Key element of RTP update• Partnering with NDOT & TMRPA

to make traffic analysis more accessible & transparent– TMRPA allocating Consensus

Forecasts to the TAZ level– Public workshop/training to be

provided on model inputs & use

• Conversion to TransCAD– GIS interface– Enhances data sharing &

communication

Sparks

Salt Lake City→

Reno

←Sacramento SEC

RTC’s TDM

EMME based, traditional 4-stepVisitors Sub-model

806 TAZs w/380,000 populationDeveloped in 1992 by Barton-Ashman

Conversion from MinuTP to EMME/2 : 2003Major Calibration : 2005

Q1. What if the SEC is not built?

Q2. What if the SEC build-out is phased?

Q3. Is there a relationship between the SEC and the

Pyramid Corridor?

Q4. How reliable is the TDM?

QUESTION 1What if the SEC is not built?

QUESTION 1What if the SEC is not built?

ANSWER By 2030, System Delay increases 10%

QUESTION 2 What if the SEC build-out is phased?

QUESTION 2 What if the SEC build-out is phased?

ANSWER Cost Efficiency will be low until SEC is complete

QUESTION 3Is there a relationship between the SEC and the Pyramid

Corridor?

QUESTION 3Do we still need the SEC ?

Isn’t it redundancy of the spending ?Who benefits from the SEC ?

QUESTION 3Do we still need the SEC ?

Isn’t it redundancy of the spending ?Who benefits from the SEC ?

ANSWER Yes.No.

The benefits will stay in local area.

QUESTION 4How reliable is the TDM?

QUESTION 4How reliable is the TDM?

ANSWER Model Transparency, Openness

& Public Participation

Communication, Consensus and Common Goal

NDOT, TMRPA, Cities, RTC and Local Planning Agencies

Cooperation and Teamwork

NDOT : Funding, and HPMS support TMRPA ; Socio-ec. data support under CF agreement

RTC: New ABM, ITS & field data support

New Organizations of Stakeholders

Thank you and enjoy Northern Nevada!!

Amy Cummings, AICP/LEED APRTC

acummings@rtcwashoe.com

Peter Bang, Ph.D., AITRTC

pbang@rtcwashoe.com