FHWA Report Review: The Role of Management & Operations in Supporting Livability and Sustainability: A Primer

I visited Arlington, VA last year as a part of an FHWA workshop on Transportation System Management & Operations (TSMO) for Livability and Sustainability. An interesting concept, one that very much is consistent with the work my Division is supposed to do and the last blog post I added to the site. On a 30-page document, I had over 65 comments. There were a lot of great ideas and a lot of traditional concepts that you have to green wash to make decision makers feel like they are doing something good for the environment.

The HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities got it right. The Interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities developed six livability principles to act as a foundation for interagency coordination. The inter­agency promotion of livability aims to help America’s neighborhoods become "safer, healthier, and more vibrant". The Partnership will encourage the incorporation of livability principles into Federal programs, while better protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change. Available at http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/partnership/index.html

I agree with the following statement from the draft report: "M&O strategies cost-effectively improve transportation system performance. M&O strategies are able to improve the performance of the transportation system at low- to moderate- cost and without requiring significant expansion of the system’s physical capacity."

Livability is a tough term because my definition is much different than someone from Copenhagen's.