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14 Many of the challenges faced by exurban, destination, and production communities can be addressed through integrated transportation and land use planning and policy. Failure to consider the interaction of the transportation and land use systems has led to several of the problems faced by rural com- munities, such as sprawling development overrunning a once pristine landscape, wide highways carrying excessive volumes of traffic and rendering a communityâs Main Street unsafe for pedestrians, or limited travel choices due to the lack of multi- modal infrastructure and street connectivity. The practice of integrating transportation and land use offers efficient, sustainable approaches to improve safe, convenient access to jobs, services, and other daily needs, as well as enhancing the attractiveness and character of the community. More specifically, integrated land use and transportation planning allows rural communities to achieve three major goals: (1) set the regional framework for where and how development should occur, (2) improve local accessibility, and (3) enhance community design. Best practices that rural communities can implement to achieve these three goals are described below, with some examples highlighted from the case studies to illuminate some of the real-life nuances of the challenges and responses faced by these communities. Setting the Regional Framework The regional level, often consisting of several communities and counties, is a logical scale for communities to jointly identify suitable areas for development, desired types and forms of development, and appropriate transportation net- works for people and freight. Best practices for setting the regional framework focus on providing access to a commu- nityâs economic base and directing development into existing communities. Access management is a tool used to preserve capacity and manage land use on arterials and highways. This form may C H A P T E R 4 Best Practices for Improving Rural Accessibility and Livability differ depending on the type of community. For an exurban community economically dependent on an adjacent urban area, community vitality depends on quick access from local housing to neighboring job centers. Driveways and intersec- tions along road connections between local housing and job centers reduce the capacity and increase vehicle conflicts. Access management can be used to limit development be- tween exurban communities and job centers and maximize automobile and transit mobility.12 Destination communities depend on bringing visitors into the community and connecting them to natural, historic, or cultural amenities. In this case, access management can still be used to preserve capacity, but is also intended to protect the amenities that attract visitors to the community. Allow- ing strip commercial development or traffic congestion to reduce access to amenities or even damage the amenities themselves will diminish their attraction and that of the local community. With production communities, the economy depends on providing connections between local resources and the market for those resources. Production communities tend to gener- ate high volumes of freight trucking to bring in materials and distribute products. Access management for production communities can be used to ensure that truck routes are safe and convenient without putting an unnecessary burden on residential areas and main streets. The Western Piedmont, North Carolina, region exhibits characteristics of all three community types. This case study demonstrates the application of access management standards over a four-county region to preserve capacity on major roadways and direct development to the most appropriate locations. A set of land use tools is available to manage growth along transportation corridors, direct growth into existing communities, and limit development from encroaching on rural lands. Overlay districts are one of the most prescriptive methods of controlling land use along a road corridor. Overlay districts can be used to regulate characteristics of
development such as the type and intensity of development, number and location of driveways allowed, site design, and streetscape design. Growth boundaries or urban service boundaries can be used to direct development to particular locations in a community. Typically, services such as fresh water and sewer systems will not be expanded beyond these boundaries, limiting development potential outside of the directed areas. In the Western Piedmont, North Carolina, case study, âeconomic developmentâ overlay districts were used to indicate locations and types of growth along major travel corridors. Overlay districts can be combined with rural land conservation strategies that can be used to compensate landowners for leaving areas undeveloped while providing incentives for developing in more appropriate locations or credits for foregoing the opportunity to develop. Some of these tools include transfers or purchase of development rights, conservation easements, and land banking. Finally, a more efficient and less obtrusive way to develop rural lands is through clustering development, rather than subdividing all the land into private lots. By clustering residences and/or commercial activities into compact areas, com- munities can enhance convenient access to services and to open spaces, as well as making more efficient use of infrastructure. A major purpose of the Hayden, Colorado, and Northwest Vermont cases was to develop rural conservation strategies around the respective regions. Improving Local Accessibility Numerous strategies have been implemented in recent years to design or redesign communities to allow for greater accessibility and increase the number of travel choices through improvements to the transportation system and a more efficient arrangement and design of land uses. Gener- ally, these strategies focus on developing in a more compact manner with jobs, services, and other destinations located in close proximity to minimize travel needs. Some of the land use strategies for achieving compact growth include transit- oriented development, traditional neighborhood design, mixed-use development, and infill development. These com- pact development patterns provide opportunities for people to live closer to their daily needs or a more efficient way to address multiple daily needs once arriving by car or transit to a compact, mixed-use area. In addition to the increased transportation efficiency, these community focal points can increase the economic and cultural vitality of a town with the ability to attract new business or tourists or simply pro- vide a safe and vibrant gathering place for the community. The Edgartown, Massachusetts, case study demonstrates the use of compact growth strategies to promote a walk- able commercial district to match the character of existing development. As much as the land use pattern affects the use and per- formance of the transportation system, the design of the trans- portation system affects how land is used and developed in proximity to transportation facilities. Minimizing travel dis- tances and increasing travel mode options are essential to an efficient transportation system that will spur a sustainable pattern of land use. The central strategy for road design should be in increasing street connectivity. In a connected road network, construction of roads that serve only one development are discouraged. Rather, all future development should be planned around some form of a grid network that allows for more travel path options around the community, thereby minimizing travel distances and increasing opportunities for non-automobile travel. Increasing street connectivity is one of the goals of the Sedona, Arizona, and Hayden, Colorado, case studies. In areas of the community with a well-connected street network and compact development that includes a mix of housing, jobs, services, and other destinations, designing complete streets should be a priority. Complete streets are designed to be used by cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users. Design considerations should include narrow travel lanes to slow automobile travel speeds, sidewalks and bike lanes, on-street parking, and transit stop areas. These streets encourage public activity and allow for easy access to destinations and multiple travel options for users. Sidewalks, bike lanes, and greenway facilities can also be used to con- nect key focal points within a community or even to connect to adjacent communities. Streets are being redesigned for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users after being identified as a major need in the Cutler-Orosi, California, charrette. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), another tool for improving safety, mobility, and tourist information in rural areas, use data processing, communications, and technology to improve system management. Various applications of ITS include alerts to drivers about hazardous conditions, emer- gency notification, wayfinding information, tourist informa- tion, commercial fleet management, transit scheduling and dispatching, and vehicle routing. Transit planning requires creativity in rural areas because of the lack of density typically required for providing fixed-route transit services. While fixed-route services can be feasible with sufficient grant funding or other subsidies, other transit pro- grams should be pursued in rural areas, including ride-sharing, demand-responsive (dial-a-ride) transit, and car-sharing. Bike-on-bus programs can also extend the accessibility of transit services by allowing cyclists to board transit vehicles with their bicycles. Transit planning should be integrated with compact land use planning so as to concentrate appropriate land uses around transit stops or along transit corridors in order to create activity centers for meeting multiple daily needs. The Tra- verse City, Michigan, case study illustrates an innovative form of transit planning through the use of a car-sharing program. 15
Enhancing Community Design Even with efficient land use design and a multimodal transportation network in place, attention must be placed on such elements as the design of buildings and the creation of safe and functional streets and civic spaces to help create a unique sense of place and make the community a more desirable place to live. One way to ensure that the transportation system is properly balanced with other community needs is through context-sensitive solutions. Context-sensitive solutions (CSS) is defined as âa collaborative, interdisciplinary approach that involves all stakeholders to develop a transportation facility that fits its physical setting and preserves scenic, aesthetic, his- toric, and environmental resources, while maintaining safety and mobility.â13 Examples of CSS in rural areas include designing streets in town centers to limit the speed and volume of through traffic and provide adequate safe space for other road users, installing traffic-calming devices in residential neighborhoods to lower travel speeds, or using access manage- ment and overlay zoning to limit development within the view shed of rural road corridors. The Lincoln City, Oregon, case study demonstrates the use of context-sensitive design stan- dards to improve safety and livability along the major road corridor through the city. One specific example of context-sensitive design is through road transfers that facilitate Main Street redesign. The centers of many rural communities have been severed by the construction of multi-lane state highways that limit safety and walkability. Where alternate routes are available, communi- ties have been able to transfer control of the alternate route to the DOT in exchange for control over the Main Street. With control over the Main Street, or even in partnership with the DOT, the Main Street can be redesigned to be narrower with features such as on-street parking, medians, sidewalks, and other streetscaping elements. The typical result is slower traffic and a safer and more attractive place for various users. A road transfer to shift traffic out of the town center is the key feature of the Hutchinson, Minnesota, case study. Access management can also be used at the local level. Local access management can be used to preserve capacity on congested local roads by minimizing connections of new development to the local road, but access management is more effective locally for minimizing vehicle conflicts. One access management strategy is to construct a median to limit or direct turning movements from minor streets and driveways onto major streets. Applying this strategy to a communityâs main street reduces both the number of turning movements along the road and the roadway crossing distance, resulting in a safer and more attractive place for pedestrian activity. Access management was used to improve safety in Lincoln City, Oregon, and Cutler-Orosi, California. Land development regulations or design guidelines can be used to encourage private developers to develop in a more inte- grated and efficient pattern to support the transportation goals of a community. Guidelines can include regulations about the location and design of buildings, streetscaping requirements, or developer provision of sidewalks and bus shelters. Clear design standards tied to the development permitting process in Edgartown, Massachusetts, have been key to successful devel- opment within the Upper Main Street corridor. 16
