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Moving Los Angeles
Short-Term Policy Options for Improving Transportation
The Los Angeles area has the most severe traffic congestion in the United States. Trends in many of the underlying causal factors suggest that congestion will continue to worsen in the coming years, absent significant policy intervention. Excessive traffic congestion detracts from quality of life, is economically wasteful and environmentally damaging, and exacerbates social-justice concerns. Finding efficient and equitable strategies for mitigating congestion will therefore serve many social goals. The authors recommend strategies for reducing congestion in Los Angeles County that could be implemented and produce significant improvements within about five years. To manage peak-hour auto travel, raise transportation revenue, improve alternative transportation options, and use existing capacity more efficiently, they recommend 10 primary strategies: improve signal control and timing; restrict curb parking on busy thoroughfares; implement paired one-way streets; promote ride-sharing, telecommuting, and flexible work schedules; develop a high-occupancy toll-lane network; vary curb-parking rates with demand, enforce the current parking cash-out law; promote deep-discount transit passes; expand bus rapid transit and bus-only lanes; and implement a regionally connected bicycle network. In addition, three recommendations may help, depending on the outcome of current events: evaluate arterial incident management, consider cordon congestion tolls, and levy local fuel taxes to raise transit revenue. Given that some of the recommendations may prove controversial, the authors also outline complementary strategies for building political consensus.
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Pages: 62
ISBN/EAN: 9780833045553
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Contents
Chapter One:
Introduction
Chapter Two:
A Primer on Congestion
Chapter Three:
Characterizing Congestion in Los Angeles
Chapter Four:
Diagnosing Congestion in Los Angeles
Chapter Five:
Short-Term Congestion-Reduction Options
Chapter Six:
Short-Term Congestion-Reduction Recommendations
Chapter Seven:
Consensus-Building Recommendations
Chapter Eight:
Final Thoughts
Appendix A:
Strategy-Rating Overview
Appendix B1:
Freeway-Ramp Metering
Appendix B2:
Signal Timing and Control
Appendix B3:
High-Occupancy Vehicle-Lane Strategies
Appendix B4:
Park-and-Ride Facilities
Appendix B5:
Officers at Intersections
Appendix B6:
Left-Turn Signals
Appendix B7:
Curb-Parking Restrictions
Appendix B8:
One-Way Streets
Appendix B9:
Rush-Hour Construction Bans
Appendix B10:
Incident-Management Systems
Appendix B11:
Ride-Sharing
Appendix B12:
Telecommuting
Appendix B13:
Flexible Work Hours
Appendix B14:
Car Sharing
Appendix B15:
Traveler-Information Systems
Appendix B16:
Mandatory Transportation Demand Management Programs
Appendix B17:
Driving Restrictions
Appendix B18:
High-Occupancy Toll Lanes
Appendix B19:
Cordon Congestion Tolls
Appendix B20:
Variable Curb-Parking Rates
Appendix B21:
Parking Cash-Out
Appendix B22:
Local Fuel Taxes
Appendix B23:
Variable Transit Fares
Appendix B24:
Deep-Discount Transit Passes
Appendix B25:
Bus Rapid Transit
Appendix B26:
Bus-Route Reconfiguration
Appendix B27:
Pedestrian Strategies
Appendix B28:
Bicycling Strategies
Appendix C:
Institutional Roles in Transportation Planning and Policy
Appendix D:
Theoretical Insights on Political Consensus Building
This study was sponsored by James A. Thomas, the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Music Center of Los Angeles County, and the RAND Corporation and was conducted under the auspices of the Transportation, Space, and Technology (TST) Program within RAND Infrastructure, Safety, and Environment (ISE).
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