Transportation/Infrastructure

Are TODs Over-parked? Exploring Housing, Neighborhood, and Environmental Impacts

Recent studies on car ownership levels and vehicle trip generation rates suggest that many large-scale housing projects near urban rail stations are “over-parked” – more parking is provided than is needed. This can drive up the cost of housing, consume valuable land near transit stops, and impose such environmental costs as increased impervious surface area. Part of the blame for the over-supply of parking in transit-oriented developments (TODs) could be the reliance on ITE parking generation figures. This research compares actual parking demand with parking supplies and ITE rates for 20 large-scale multi-family housing projects in four rail-served metropolitan areas: Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The impacts of over-supplying parking on housing affordability, project profitability, land consumption, environmental pollution, travel demand, and other areas will be explored. This will be supplemented by case studies on the evolution of zoning and building codes in TODs, including their rationales, institutional and political contexts, influences on TOD planning and designs, and views of local residents. Based on both quantities and qualitative results, possibilities for various reforms – such as transit eco-pass substitutions, unbundling parking and housing provisions/costing, flexible parking codes, and near-site carsharing – will be examined.

Principal Investigator:
Robert Cervero

Contact Information:
Tel: 510.642.1695
Fax: 510.642.1641
Email: robertc@berkeley.edu
Website: http://www.uctc.net/

Start Date: 8/1/07

Proposal for Establishing a University of California Infrastructure Institute (MRU)

California faces a daunting infrastructure challenge over the foreseeable future. In the near term, over the next ten years, the state needs to invest $82 billion to repair and maintain current structures and to build new ones. Over the longer term, California’s population growth (estimated to exceed 50 million by 2020), urbanization, community development, mobility, and the expansion and formation of new business will fuel huge infrastructure demands.

With the passage of the infrastructure bond package in the November 2006 election, there is an unprecedented opportunity for California to modernize and fortify the state’s various infrastructure systems (transportation, energy, buildings, water supply, wastewater treatment, information and communication technologies). Unfortunately, the State has little capacity to design and introduce fundamental technical, financial and managerial innovation into its think take dedicated to providing the state with infrastructure research advice. The State desperately needs a think tank to provide unbiased and nonpartisan research on infrastructure planning, design, construction, management, financing, and environmental sustainability. The University of California can and should provide such support. We propose the establishment of an MRU to fill this gap: The UC Infrastructure Institute.

The UC System contains a cadre of world class researchers that can be harnessed to work on a wide range of infrastructure research questions. In the aggregate, UC has the world’s best research expertise in infrastructure planning, design, construction, technology, management, financing, and environmental sustainability. We will invite faculty and researchers in a wide variety of fields to participate in the UC Infrastructure Institute: City and Regional Planning, Economics and Business, Education, Energy, Natural Resources, Engineering, Information Systems, Law, Public Policy, Transportation, and Water Resources. Accordingly, we have initially identified faculty at UCLA, Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside and San Diego for participation in the Institute, and should we be given the green light to proceed in developing the Institute concept, we will invite other colleagues to collaborate with us.

 

Principal Investigator:
David Dowall

Investigator:
Arpad Horvath
Samer Madanat

Contact Information:
Tel: 510.642.6579
Fax: 510.643.9573
Email: dowall@berkeley.edu

Funding Information:
University of California, Office of the President

Start Date: 6/1/07

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