Supporting Sustainable Megaregion Development through Optimizing the Impacts of Transportation Investments
Publication: Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 141, Issue 4
Abstract
Transportation investments have profound indirect effects on urban development. Improving transportation infrastructure reduces travel times, and thus, enhances accessibility of the population to employment and vice versa. In this procedure, the cities whose accessibilities mostly benefit from the transportation improvements would attract more population and capital. This paper attempts to quantify these impacts in the megaregions, and to prioritize the transportation investments according to their potential effects on the sustainability of the future development in these regions. For this purpose, the problem is formulated as a bilevel programming model. At the upper level, subject to a budget and environmental constraints, the optimal subset of projects is chosen from the candidate set. The objective is to maximize the total production of the megaregion at the end of the planning horizon. The final product of each city is determined according to its resultant population and physical capital. Under the network investment decisions of the upper level problem, the lower level represents the route choice behavior of users. Because the focus of the study is interurban road networks, which have sparse connectivity, a simple all-or-nothing trip assignment technique is employed at this level. To illustrate the application of the proposed model, the Northeast Megaregion of the United States is used as the case study. The exact solution is obtained for this example and compared to the regional development without improving the transportation network.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Adams, J. (1999). Measuring the connections: Highway improvements and land development patterns in the greater Twin Cities area, 1970–1995, Center for Transportation Studies, Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Amekudzi, A. A., Thomas-Mobley, L., and Ross, C. L. (2007). “Transportation planning and infrastructure delivery in major cities and megacities.” Transportation Research Record 1997, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 17–23.
Andriantiatsaholiniaina, L. A., Kouikoglou, V. S., and Phillis, Y. A. (2004). “Evaluating strategies for sustainable development: Fuzzy logic reasoning and sensitivity analysis.” Ecol. Econ., 48(2), 149–172.
Bithas, K. P., and Nijkamp, P. (2006). “Operationalising ecologically sustainable development at the microlevel: Pareto optimality and the preservation of biologically crucial levels.” Int. J. Environ. Sustain. Dev., 5(2), 126–146.
Burns, L. (1979). Transportation, temporal, and spatial components of accessibility, Lexington Books, Lexington, KY.
Carbonell, A., and Yaro, R. D. (2005). “American spatial development and the new megalopolis.” Land Lines, 17, 1–4.
Chen, M., and Alfa, A. (1991). “A network design algorithm using a stochastic incremental traffic assignment approach.” Transp. Sci., 25(3), 215–224.
De La Barra, T. (1989). Integrated land use and transport modeling, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., 59–64.
Dewar, M., and Epstein, D. (2007). “Planning for ‘Megaregions’ in the United States.” J. Plann. Lit., 22(2), 108–124.
Ehrlich, P., and Holden, J. (1971). “Impact of population growth.” Science, 171, 1212–1217.
Feng, C. M., and Wu, J. Y. J. (2003). “Highway investment planning model for equity issues.” J. Urban Plann. Dev., 161–176.
Florida, R., Gulden, T., and Mellander, C. (2008). “The rise of the mega-region.” Cambridge J. Regions Econ. Soc., 1(3), 459–476.
Fotheringham, A. S., and Pitts, T. C. (1995). “Directional variation in distance decay.” Environ. Plann. A, 27(5), 715–729.
Friesz, T. L., and Shah, S. (2001). “An overview of nontraditional formulations of static and dynamic equilibrium network design.” Transp. Sci. Part B: Methodol., 35(1), 5–21.
Gao, Z., Wu, J., and Sun, H. (2005). “Solution algorithm for the bi-level discrete network design problem.” Transp. Res. B, 39(6), 479–495.
Garofalo, G. A., and Yamarik, S. (2002). “Regional convergence: Evidence from a new state-by-state capital stock series.” Rev. Econ. Stat., 84(2), 316–323.
Greene, D. L. (1997). “Sustainable transport.” J. Transp. Geo., 5(3), 177–190.
Hagler, Y. (2009). Defining U.S. megaregions, Regional Plan Association, New York.
Handy, S. (1993). “Regional versus local accessibility: Implications for nonwork travel.” Transportation Research Record 1400, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 58–66.
Hanson, S., and Giuliano, G., eds. (2004). The geography of urban transportation, Guilford Press, New York.
Hanson, S., and Schwab, M. (1987). “Accessibility and intra-urban travel.” Environ. Plann. A, 19(6), 735–748.
Huang, H. J., and Bell, M. G. H. (1998). “Continuous equilibrium network design with elastic demand: Derivative free solution methods.” Transportation networks: Recent methodological advances, M. G. H. Bell, ed., Elsevier, New York, 175–193.
Kupiszewski, M., Durham, H., and Rees, P. (1998). “Internal migration and urban change in Poland.” Eur. J. Popul., 14(3), 265–290.
Kydes, N. A. (2002). Constrained multigrid optimization techniques for solving continuous dynamic disequilibrium network design problems, George Mason Univ., Fairfax, VA.
Lang, R. E., and Dhavale, D. (2005). “Beyond megalopolis: Exploring America’s new “Megapolitan” geography.”, Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech, Alexandria, VA.
Lee, Y. J., and Huang, C. M. (2007). “Sustainability index for Taipei.” Environ. Impact Assess. Rev., 27(6), 505–521.
Levinson, D. (1998). “Accessibility and the journey to work.” J. Transp. Geogr., 6(1), 11–21.
Levinson, D., Xie, F., and Zhu, S. (2007). “The co-evolution of land use and road networks.” Transportation and traffic theory, R. E. Allsop, M. G. H. Bell, and B. Heydecker, eds., Emerald Group Publishing, 839–859.
Levinson, D. M., and Kumar, A. (1994). “Multimodal trip distribution: Structure and application.” Transportation Research Record 1466, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 1466, 124–131.
Mankiw, N. G., Romer, D., and Weil, D. N. (1992). “A contribution to the empirics of economic growth.” Q. J. Econ., 107(2), 407–437.
McCray, T. M., Loftus-Otway, L., Fleming, B., and Johnson, D. (2013). “Changing our scale of thinking: Value of a megaregional planning course.” J. Urban Plann. Dev., 139, 235–240.
Meng, Q., Yang, H., and Bell, M. (2001). “An equivalent continuously differentiable model and a locally convergent algorithm for the continuous network design problem.” Transp. Res. B, 35(1), 83–105.
Mollanejad, M., and Zhang, L. (2014). “Incorporating spatial equity into interurban road network design.” J. Transp. Geogr., 39, 156–164.
Njoh, A. J. (2012). “Impact of transportation infrastructure on development in East Africa and the Indian ocean region.” J. Urban Plann. Dev., 1–9.
Ozbay, K., Ozmen-Ertekin, D., and Berechman, J. (2003). “Empirical analysis of relationship between accessibility and economic development.” J. Urban Plann. Dev., 97–119.
Payne–Maxie Consultants. (1980). “The land use and urban development impacts of beltways.”, FHWA, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington, DC.
Regional Plan Association. (2006). America 2050: A prospectus, New York.
Roberts, M., and Simmonds, D. (1997). “A strategic modeling approach for urban transport policy development.” Traffic Eng. Control, 38(7–8), 377–384.
Ross, C. L. (2008). “Megaregions: Literature review of the implications for U.S. infrastructure investment and transportation planning.”, FHWA, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington, DC.
Ross, C. L. (2011). “Transport and megaregions: High-speed rail in the United States.” Town Plann. Rev., 82(3), 341–356.
Ross, C. L., ed. (2009). Megaregions: Planning for global competitiveness, Island Press, Washington, DC.
Sachs, I. (1999). “Social sustainability and whole development: Exploring the dimensions of sustainable development.” Sustainability and the social sciences, E. Becker, and T. Jahn, eds., Zed Books, London, 25–36.
Solow, R. M. (1956). “A contribution to the theory of economic growth.” Q. J. Econ., 70(1), 65–94.
Spangenberg, J. H. (2004). “Reconciling sustainability and growth: Criteria, indicators, policies.” Sustain. Dev., 12(2), 74–86.
Ukkusuri, S. V., and Patil, G. (2009). “Multi-period transportation network design under demand uncertainty.” Transp. Res. Part B, 43(6), 625–642.
United Nations Publication. (2007). Indicators of sustainable development: Guidelines and methodologies, Commission on Sustainable Development, New York.
University of Pennsylvania School of Design. (2004). Toward an American spatial development perspective, Dept. of City and Regional Planning, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Waddell, P. (2002). “UrbanSim: Modeling urban development for land use, transportation, and environmental planning.” J. Am. Plann. Assoc., 68(3), 297–314.
Waller, S. T., and Ziliaskopoulos, A. (2001). “The stochastic dynamic network design problem.” Transportation Research Record 1771, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 106–113.
Wheeler, S. M. (2009). “Regions, megaregions and sustainability.” Reg. Stud., 43(6), 863–876.
Williams, P. A. (1989). “The influence of residential accessibility on household trip making.” Socioecon. Plann. Sci., 23(6), 373–385.
Woo, M., Ross, C. L., and Boston, T. D. (2014). “Do megaregions produce greater regional convergence or divergence? Implications for spatial planning and infrastructure investment.” J. Urban Plann. Dev., 04014013.
Yusufzyanova, D., and Zhang, L. (2011). “Multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional transportation investment decision-making: The case of Washington, DC-Baltimore region.” 90th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Zhang, L. (2010). “Do freeway traffic management strategies exacerbate urban sprawl? The case of ramp metering.” Transportation Research Record 2174, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 99–109.
Zheng, Z., and Bohong, Z. (2012). “Study on spatial structure of Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration and its effects on urban and rural regions.” J. Urban Plann. Dev., 78–89.
Ziegler, E. H. (2008). “The case for megapolitan growth management in the 21st century: Regional urban planning and sustainable development in the United States.” Urban Lawyer, 41(1), 147–182.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Urban Planning and Development
Volume 141 • Issue 4 • December 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 7, 2012
Accepted: Jun 27, 2014
Published online: Sep 19, 2014
Discussion open until: Feb 19, 2015
Published in print: Dec 1, 2015
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.