Tomorrow's Transportation: Changing Cities, Economies, and Lives (Artech House Its Library)

338 Pages·2000·0.92 MB·English

by  William L. Garrison, Jerry D. Ward

COVER
Tomorrow�s Transportation:
Changing Cities, Economies,
and Lives
Tomorrow�s Transportation:
Changing Cities, Economies,
and Lives
William L. Garrison
Jerry D. Ward
Artech House
Boston � London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Garrison, William L.
Tomorrow�s transportation : changing cities, economies, and lives / William L.
Garrison, Jerry D. Ward.
p. cm. � (Artech House ITS library)
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
ISBN 1-58053-096-6 (alk. paper)
1. Transportation�Forecasting. 2. Technological innovations.
I. Ward, Jerry D. II. Title. III. Series.
HE147.5.G37 2000
388.4�dc21 99-058763
CIP
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Garrison, William L.
Tomorrow�s transportation : changing cities, economies, and
lives. � (Artech House ITS library)
1. Transportation�Forecasting 2. Transportation�
Technological innovations 3. Urban transportation 4. Traffic
engineering�Technological innovations 5. Intelligent
control systems
I. Title II. Ward, Jerry D.
388�.0112
ISBN 1-58053-096-6
Cover design by Igor Valdman
' 2000 Artech House, Inc.
685 Canton Street
Norwood, MA 02062
All rights reserved. Printed and bound in the United States of America. No part of this book
may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, in-
cluding photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, with-
out permission in writing from the publisher.
All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or service marks have
been appropriately capitalized. Artech House cannot attest to the accuracy of this informa-
tion. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trade-
mark or service mark.
International Standard Book Number: 1-58053-096-6
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-058763
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface xv
1 A Bit of Perspective 1
The window on the world for most people is their
car window 5
And so… 5
References 6
Part I: The Car and Traffic 7
2 The Car that Can Drive Itself 9
But other things have changed very little… 11
v
vi Tomorrow�s Transportation: Changing Cities, Economies, and Lives
Tip of the iceberg 13
Hands-off freeway driving 13
The driver becomes a passenger 14
New, exclusive highways? 16
Continuing evolution 17
Designing the system: we emulate the human 17
The end of driving? 20
The nondriver isn�t anymore 20
The automated car offers more than just automation 21
Platooning 21
It�s not just for moving people 22
Brave new world! 24
References 25
3 Congestion: The Devil We Know 27
Ultimate gridlock 28
Is congestion increasing? 29
A paradox? 31
A short story about the suburbs 32
What congestion is costing us 34
Just part of the story 35
We can do better 37
References 37
4 Congestion: What Are We Doing about It? 39
The broad prescription for congestion relief 40
Traffic control and the intelligent transportation system
program 41
Traffic management systems 41
On-the-roll toll collection 43
Driver and traveler information systems 43
Accident reduction 44
Route guidance 44
Contents vii
In summary… 44
Better public transportation 45
Car pooling 48
Reversible lanes 50
High-occupancy vehicle lanes 50
Vehicle automation 51
Other favorites 51
Where does all this leave us? 52
References 53
5 Congestion: A Better Strategy? 55
Freeway Traffic Flow 101: The nature of the phenomenon 56
A freeway game 60
So once again�the prescription 60
What, then, to do? 61
Off the freeway�surface streets 63
The waiting line bugaboo 64
Road pricing, the economists� favorite 65
The synergy of metering plus pricing 67
Looking ahead: a summary 67
Selected bibliography 68
Appendix 5A:
Variable driver behavior and the highway capacity curve 70
6 Some New Kinds of Cars 73
The commuter car 73
On a different track: the neighborhood car 76
Imagine more 78
Getting started 79
Operations and impact�the commuter car 80
Operations and impact�the neighborhood car 82
Headwinds 83
References 84
viii Tomorrow�s Transportation: Changing Cities, Economies, and Lives
Part II: The City and Transportation 87
7 Transportation and the Evolution of the City 89
The birth of the modern city 92
The quality of life 94
Whither now? 96
Selected bibliography 97
8 The Modern Dilemma: What to Do? 99
Relative roles 103
Service in the suburbs�thin, diffuse travel patterns 105
But once in the car 106
Where does this leave us? 107
What, then, to do? 107
About our downtowns? 107
Emulate Europe? 108
Transit in perspective 108
The road system 109
Innovation 110
Next 111
References 111
9 A New Kind of Minicity 113
References 119
10 The Second-Story City 121
Let�s push the envelope 123
Revitalize our downtowns? 123
Reference 124
11 The Variegated City 125
Cities thrive by variegating 126
Looking ahead at trends�folk living everywhere 127