Regional Transportaton Plan: Part 1 Introduction

PURPOSE AND GOALS
The regional transportation plan serves two basic functions. First, it is an authoritative statement by the Housatonic Valley Region's chief elected officials, serving since 1975 as the area’s federally recognized regional agency for transportation planning, as to what is needed to improve and balance mobility options within the Region.

Long range result of transportation
policy relying on only one transportation mode.

Secondly, it increases the public's awareness of transportation matters and provides them with a point of contact with transportation investment decisions.

The public is invited to react to, and help shape, the Plan. In cooperation with state and federal transportation planning agencies, this resultant Regional Transportation Plan serves as a focus for setting transportation priorities and securing federal funding.

Although many types of planning are best left at the local level, transportation is so obviously intermunicipal in scope that federal and state governments have found it to be in the public's best interest to promote regional solutions to transportation problems.

Since 1975, each urbanized area in the United States, including eleven of the fifteen regional planning areas in Connecticut, have followed federal guidelines to maintain a continuing, cooperative and comprehensive transportation planning process. This is required in order to be eligible for federally funded transportation improvements.

Federal law gives HVCEO and similar regional councils the designation of “Metropolitan Planning Organization” (MPO). The purpose of the MPO designation is to incorporate regional thinking and priorities into each state’s transportation investment strategy.

The MPO designation is tied to the presence of an underlying physical urbanized area, as documented by the Census Bureau map of federally defined urbanized areas in Connecticut.

To give the MPO designation some clout, HVCEO and the other qualifying regional groups are granted partial control over the fiscal decisions made by state transportation agencies for their regions.

This is achieved through control by the MPO of inclusion of projects on a federal financial programming list known as the "Statewide Transportation Improvement Program" (STIP).

In most cases, federal funds cannot be used for transportation purposes within the Region unless they first appear on the more localized regional TIP adopted by HVCEO when acting as the area's MPO.

To insure the democratic nature of this power, voting MPO members must be chief elected officials of local governments.

The goals that guide HVCEO in establishing transportation priorities on the TIP in the Regional Transportation Plan are:

GOAL 1. Use transportation planning and implementation to support the economic vitality of the region, especially by enabling business competitiveness, productivity and efficiency. Coordinate the transportation system with local and state goals for enhancing economic vitality.

GOAL 2. For the Region’s transportation system as a whole, enhance physical and modal integration and connectivity, increase safety and security, and promote efficient system management and operation. Work to maximize the productivity of existing transportation systems before such systems are expanded.

GOAL 3. Develop a transportation network for our growing region that is consistent with well planned patterns of land development and that effectively integrates energy conservation, air quality goals, environmental quality and environmental mitigation into transportation system management and growth.

Coordination of such elements with interagency consultation shall be a fundamental feature of HVCEO's transportation planning.

GOAL 4. Increase accessibility and mobility options for people and freight. Promote a shift away from the one person per car situation and toward increased vehicle occupancy via continuous advocacy of public transit, car and van pooling.

GOAL 5. Continue to develop both formal and informal working relationships with local officials, private citizens and organizations having transportation concerns either in common with or contrary to HVCEO's, for the purpose of dealing effectively with interrelated transportation problems and opportunities.

Special efforts will be made to identify the potential benefits and burdens of proposed transportation projects upon lower income and minority groups.

KEY PLANNING DATA
The recommendations of this Regional Transportation Plan are based on the best available data.

The key demographic data items that officials and the public need in order to best understand the Region's transportation needs are maintained and updated regularly in an HVCEO web site section known as Area Information.

Details as to the journey to work component of total trips, often characterized as about 25% of total daily travel, are also available from HVCEO.

Indicator of employed residents, by municipality,
who work in the Housatonic Valley Region,
with Danbury and New Milford in the lead.
See map above in full detail.

Fundamentally, the demand for transportation services of all kinds is correlated with the size and characteristics of the population. This relationship makes forecasts of population growth one of the transportation planner's basic tools.

The Region's population grew rapidly between 1990 and 2000, with an overall increase of 13%. This rate of increase was over three times greater than the Statewide average of 3.6%.

The result has been a roadway network that shows increasing traffic congestion, especially during peak hours. Demand for bus and rail commuter services has grown.

Projections of future traffic trends are not solely dependent upon population figures and economic indicators. Certain population characteristics that affect mobility must also be used to modify volume estimates.

One of the more important limitations on transportation mobility is the proportion of the population that is either under 18 or over 65 years of age. People in these two age groups can be assumed to be under-represented among drivers in relation to their share of the total population.

The 2000 census indicates that most suburban towns have two or three percent of households with no vehicle available as of that time, with eight percent in Danbury. Another twenty to thirty percent in each municipality had only one vehicle available.

Clearly then, there are significant numbers of people in the Region who are actual or potential users of public transit services and whose needs must be addressed by transportation planning and funding.

And in order to fight any possible illegal discrimination, the HVCEO planning program maintains census summaries of minority and lower income populations. For the Housatonic Valley Planning Region, demographic data shows that the only concentrated area of lower income and black minority and hispanic minority populations is in Danbury.

As Danbury transportation projects are developed, in cooperation with the Conn DOT planning process special attention will be paid to determine if there are any adverse impacts to these populations. Towards this end a map of relative incomes by neighborhood identifies lower income areas of special concern to transportation planning.

Historically, increased dependence upon automobiles and trucks led to a "motor vehicle oriented" transportation system. The increased personal mobility made possible by the mass production of the automobile permitted the rapid spread of residential population into suburban areas such as the Housatonic Valley, and at relatively low densities.

As a result of this spread pattern of development, trip origins and destinations have become widely dispersed.

However, it is the concentration of motorized travel during certain hours of the day and within certain transportation corridors of the Region that creates the most obvious congestion problems.

The challenge of regional transportation planning is to provide sufficient transportation system capacity, balanced among all modes of transportation and reflecting current and future development pattern, to meet future travel needs.

CONSULTATION TO IMPROVE
PLANNING AND MINIMIZE CONFLICTS
The goals of the Regional Transportation Plan seek to minimize conflicts with other agencies plans that impact transportation.

The objective is to compare plans, maps and inventories developed by these agencies with the Regional Transportation Plan and TIP to ensure compatibility.

Therefore HVCEO will maintain on an ongoing basis the following information and coordination:

--- TOWN AND CITY PLANS
Coordination with municipal planning commissions through their state required plans of conservation and development. These plans show via both mapped format and data inventories detailed environmental and cultural features of each community.

This key data source provides HVCEO’s planning with valuable historic preservation, natural resource, land use management and environmental protection information that can directly affect the planning process.

To complete the exchange, HVCEO will provide review comments on each draft municipal plan as it is updated. The latest update of each comprehensive municipal plan will be placed on file at the HVCEO office.

--- CT DEP AND OTHER STATE
AGENCY MAPPED DATA BASES
HVCEO has ready access through its geographic information system electronic mapping program to state agency data bases such as detailed wetlands maps, rare and endangered species map, archaeological resources map, etc. The CT DEP prepares this material for its own use, but also readily distributes it to regional planning organizations and others.

CT DEP is not seeking feedback on these maps. Rather, if the HVCEO transportation planning program makes full and effective use of these materials during transportation project planning, then greater coordination will have been achieved when CT DEP eventually reviews the draft improvement project.

--- RELATIONSHIP TO CT DOT MASTER PLAN
The Connecticut Department of Transportation maintains a Long Range Transportation Plan for the improvement of transportation systems.

This plan utilizes a systems management approach to guide the State in its investment in transportation activities. It is an important influence upon future transportation investments within the Housatonic Valley Region.

HVCEO's Regional Transportation Plan reflects proposed State investments and is also designed to influence the Conn DOT Master Transportation Plan. The latest edition of the Conn DOT Plan is available for review at HVCEO.

--- RELATIONSHIP TO CT DOT
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT UNIT
The initial ideas for local traffic and safety improvements by municipalities are submitted thru HVCEO to CT DOT’s Project Development Unit for review. It is within this DOT Unit that viability is largely determined.

During this process, CT DOT staff make extensive use of data bases from other state departments, including hazardous waste site data from CT DEP, historic homes and other locations from the State Historic Preservation Officer, etc.

In project by project review meetings with Development Unit staff, HVCEO staff and municipal officials discuss not just traffic but also the impact of cultural and environmental features upon the conceptual project. Then in the next project development phase, these factors are brought up with the public at a community meeting.

This cooperative HVCEO-DOT process is clearly in the spirit of federal regulations requiring consultation and use of non-transportation information in assessing project feasibility. Projects that fail here do not proceed to the TIP.

--- RELATIONSHIP TO THE CT OPM
CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Another federal planning requirement is that HVCEO's Regional Transportation Plan seek to promote consistency of its policies and suggested transportation improvements with state growth plans.

These plans should be contrasted and dialogue encouraged so as to identify and narrow differences, especially regarding each plans growth policy map, which have close relationships to highway capacity investments.

Specific to Connecticut, this federally required process is already encouraged by and paralleled by 2005 state legislation. The 2005 legislation requires regional planning organizations to contrast their regional growth plans with the state plan maintained by the CT Office of Policy and Management. HVCEO has already completed this process.

--- RELATIONSHIP TO HVCEO'S REGIONAL
CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Land use and transportation work together, and indeed are "two sides of the same coin." HVCEO’s 7/2009 Regional Plan is a guide for municipal and regional infrastructure growth and resultant land use change. Note that the plan category descriptions specifically include direct relationships to traffic and transit investment priority:


Development Categories	Water and Sewer Service	Traffic Capacity Investment	Fixed Route Transit Service	Growth Potential
1. Regional Center	Serve fully by public water and sewer	First Priority	First priority for intense service and intermodal transfer	Mixed uses, highest densities
2. Near Central Area	Priority for service	Second priority	Second priority for intense service	Mixed uses, some housing at 3 or more units per acre
3. Primary Growth Area	First priority for service extensions from previous categories	Third priority	Expansion area for service	Mixed uses, some housing at 3 or more units/acre
4. Small Community Center	On site or community septic, no public sewers or water for growth	Shares fourth priority	Lower priority	Low intensity mixed use, residential may be multi-family.
5. Suburban Area	On site or community leaching field. No sewers for growth	Shares fourth priority	No fixed route service	Almost entirely residential
6. Semi-Rural Remote Area	On site or community leaching field. No sewers for growth	Lowest priority	No fixed route service	Almost entirely residential, density may be lower than carrying capacity

The regional growth plan supports this Regional Transportation Plan, and is coordinated with state plans as required by both state and federal regulations.

According to the HVCEO Regional Plan a key to passenger rail planning in the modern era, and an important scoring criteria in federal rail improvement grants, is to encourage land use changes in the vicinity of rail stations that will be supportive of transit use. This concept is known as 'transit oriented development" (TOD).

At the request of Bethel, in 2010 HVCEO
prepared a feasibility study for transit oriented development
at Bethel Station. TOD potential was found to be favorable here.

--- RELATIONSHIP OF TRANSPORTATION
TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
Many studies have shown that economic growth and development depend heavily and positively on the growth and quality of regional transportation infrastructure. As most of this infrastructure is provided by the public sector, the effects of public investment on transportation systems and improvement lead to enhancement of private capital productivity.

An efficient transportation infrastructure not only facilitates economic growth, it influences business location decisions. Firms can reach their output market at lower cost and their workers enjoy lower transportation costs.

Workers in efficient transportation environments may not require premiums that compensate them for lost time and increased fuel consumption to induce them to commute to work.

Intermodal transportation is important in both business firm and worker location as well. Efficient transportation reduces costs for employers and workers and is complementary to the production process of firms and adds to the amenity value of households in the region.

The Housatonic Valley Region is one of the strongest economic growth centers in Connecticut. The area’s diversified economy is populated with corporate names such as Duracell, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pitney Bowes, Grolier, Kimberly Clark, GE Capital, Cedant Mobility, MCI, Raytheon and other high tech, research and development and manufacturing facilities well positioned to participate in the evolving world economic order.

The transportation systems serving the region have facilitated this economic development. Route 7 bisects the region from north to south, I-84 bisects from east to west, Metro North provides commuter rail service on the Danbury Branch Line and the Housatonic Railroad Company and Providence and Worcester Railroad provide rail freight services.

I-84 connects the regional economy to the New York and New Jersey markets. It also functions as the gateway to the I-84 corridor economies centered on Waterbury and the Greater Hartford and New Britain areas.

However, I-84 needs to be expanded to meet the demands of current growth and to facilitate future economic growth. Conn DOT has plans to significantly expand the carrying capacity of I-84. These plans enjoy strong local and multi-regional support.

HVCEO has adopted a comprehensive program of coordinated improvements for Route 7 north of Danbury and Route 7 south of Danbury.

These recommendations also call for expanding inter-regional mass transit connections and better connections between mass transit stations and employment sites, utilizing the combined resources of our area HART bus system, other bus systems and Metropool.

CONGESTION MANAGEMENT PROCESS
A congestion management process (CMP) is a federally required monitoring and decision making tool at the heart of regional transportation planning.

While not yet formally required of HVCEO due to its relatively small population size, a CMP approach is maintained for Greater Danbury as a matter of good professional practice.

The Regional Transportation Plan lists needs and strategies to reduce congestion on all modes of transportation. But how to best formulate these proposed investments, then document resulting congestion reduction as improvement funds are expended? The Congestion Management Process defined herein is the guide.

A CMP measures multi-modal transportation system performance, identifies the causes of congestion, and assesses alternative actions and priorities before making improvement recommendations. The CMP also includes monitoring tools to then evaluate the effectiveness of implemented actions.

A regional CMP requires transportation decision making data collection and monitoring systems, a broad range of strategies for addressing congestion, performance measures identifying when action is needed, and the setting of priorities as to which congestion strategies will be most effective.

The five distinct steps in the CMP process start with a statement of objectives:

1. CONGESTION MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES
The overall CMP goal is to correct the most severe congestion problems, reduce the growth of congestion in the future, and mitigating the impacts of congestion that cannot be eliminated.

The congestion management strategies in this HVCEO Regional Transportation Plan include operational improvements to target the most severe congestion hotspots, incident management to reduce traffic jams on expressways, and demand management to reduce demand at key travel times.

- Implementation of systems management techniques and demand management programs that optimize use of existing infrastructure and investment prior to making new investments.

- Increase rail service opportunities for the movement of rail freight through the Housatonic Region and Connecticut and optimize use of the region's rail system for passenger service.

- Encourage balanced, multi-modal solutions for congestion relief, including ridesharing and vanpooling services through Metropool.

- Construct new roadway capacity but only after the benefits available from the other options have been exhausted.

2. TRANSPORTATION NETWORK TO APPLY CMP
The CMP roadway network is defined as the larger roadways, including all of I-84, Routes 7 and 25. In addition the principal arterials, minor arterials and major collector roadways as shown on the Roadway Functional Classification Map.

Continuing to other modes, the regional public bus transit services operated by the Housatonic Area Regional Transit District are included in the CMP, also rail passenger services and their related parking and transit oriented development. HART fixed routes are shown on the HART Bus Route Map.

3. PERFORMANCE MEASURES FOR PROJECT
FORMULATION AND FOLLOW-UP MONITORING

Roadway Volume to Capacity Ratios. As for relative congestion on the area’s state roadways, the traditional measure used to define congestion is the roadway volume to roadway capacity (V/C) ratio.

A V/C standard recommended by the adjacent South Western Regional Planning Agency’s Congestion Mitigation Systems Plan is that congestion occurs when the V/C ratio during peak periods is at 0.9 or greater. In addition, the adjacent New York Metropolitan Transportation Council identifies roadways with a V/C ratio of between 0.8 and 1.0 as “congested” and roadways with a V/C of greater than 1.0 as “severely congested.”

For volume to capacity ratio monitoring, HVCEO will periodically map Roadway High Volume to Capacity Ratios on state roadways in the Region. The mapped data of existing conditions will be extracted from Conn DOT’s 2008“Congestion Screening and Monitoring Report.”

Categories mapped will be identical to those shown by the nearby Central Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, "At Capacity V/C 1.00 to 1.29" and then "Over Capacity 1.30 and above."

High Accident Rate Roadway Segments. The location of each accident on a Connecticut state road is recorded, such that unusually high accident rate roadway segments can be identified. Thus relative safety, not just volume to capacity measurements, is part of the on-going HVCEO CMP evaluation.

The reasoning is that high accident frequencies relate closely to inadequate roadway geometry and lack of signalization, indicating locations where congestion is often present or building.

As in the past, traffic safety concerns will remain an integral element in HVCEO’s corridor by corridor and issue by issue Transportation Management Plans. Improvement project formulation and later phase performance monitoring will be based in part upon this data.

For performance monitoring, the Ratio of Accident Rate to Expected Accident Rate is mapped, using Conn DOT’s Traffic Accident Surveillance Report base data. However specific details as to roadway safety data by location must remain exempt from public disclosure in accordance with Conn DOT rules.

Congestion on Public Bus Service. As for regional public bus transit services operated by the Housatonic Area Regional Transit District, congestion will be as reported by periodic systems efficiency evaluations, the latest in 2010.

Congestion on Rail Passenger Service. As for access to and operation of rail passenger services, rail passenger car loadings have not yet reached the point where capacity is exceeded.

The reason is that this Region includes only the northern end, lesser volume use, portion of the Danbury Branch Line. The AM commuter boarding load is fully seated before congestion arises south of the regional boundary, and the reverse pattern favors our area during the afternoon peak.

However, volume to capacity of railroad station parking lots will be used as a valid measure of congestion for rail system access. This performance measure is available thru Conn DOT.

4. CMP TOOLS TO FORMULATE
IMPROVEMENT ALTERNATIVES

Corridor Transportation Management Plans. To best organize its performance monitoring HVCEO will provide a map of existing and proposed Corridor Traffic Management Plans. The legend will include two categories, one for those corridor plans completed 1990 to 1999 and another for those completed or in progress after 2000.

HVCEO’s corridor management plans may include such measures as:

a. Identification of causes of recurring and non-recurring congestion, including data such as travel time and speed using probe vehicle equipped with a GPS devices, documentation of average speeds below posted limits, time of day parameters, such as variations in V/C, vehicle miles traveled (VMT), average speed during peak and off-peak hours, etc.

b. Multi-modal operational and management strategies to improve performance.

c. Appropriate options as found in “CMP Toolbox” resource reports.

HVCEO will use such data to identify choke points resulting in time-of-day or spot congestion and examine incident patterns to identify locations that may be in need of operational improvements.

Roadway Corridor Access Management Plans. To best organize its performance monitoring HVCEO will provide a map of Roadway Corridor Driveway Management Plans. The map legend will contain two categories, one for those completed 1990 to 1999 and the other for those completed or in progress after 2000.

This mapped data will be used to help assess these access management plans in terms of covering additional roadway mileage and frequency of updating.

HART Bus Service Plans. The HART Bus Service Plan Chapter of the Regional Transportation Plan will be periodically updated and then evaluated from the perspective of the CMP. Causes of congestion will be identified and addressed.

Rail Passenger Service Plan. The Rail Passenger Service Plan Chapter of the Regional Transportation Plan will be periodically updated and then evaluated from the perspective of the CMP. Causes of congestion will be identified and addressed.

5. MONITORING OVERALL
EFFECTIVENESS OF STRATEGIES
The CMP data monitoring and performance measures above will be utilized to document reductions in congestion and mobility enhancement over time.

Relevant “before and after” studies may be undertaken. The policy map for Roadway Expansion from 2 to 4 Lanes will be reassessed.

Green (lighter gray in hard copy) ) designates existing
four lane roadways, while red (darker gray in hard copy) indicates
two lane roadways proposed for expansion to four lanes.
See full region on larger image.