Transportation Planning

Commuter Services

Traveling the open road in an automobile may be an iconic American image, but a single-occupant vehicle is not the only means of travel within the Delaware Valley. DVRPC's Office of Marketing and Commuter Services is responsible for managing and promoting programs that encourage alternate commutes, or alternatives to driving alone to and from work. The more commuters who share their ride to work, the less congestion the region experiences, and the better our air quality. Working with various state, county and local transportation and transit agencies and organizations, our staff studies commute and transit ridership patterns and determines how best to reach the right audiences for each particular program. The major programs under this office include:

TransitChek
A smart way for employers to help ease the commuting costs of their transit-using employees, this program offers a tax break for both commuters and businesses. DVRPC has administered the TransitChek program since
late 1991, and has helped provide over $75 million in transit vouchers since that time. Currently nearly 600 employers participate in this commuter benefit program in the (SE PA, S NJ, N DE) region. TransitCheks are accepted by SEPTA, NJ TRANSIT, PATCO, DART First State, CAT (in Harrisburg) and third-party van pool companies for a variety of fare material.

Mobility Alternatives Program (MAP)
Funded by PennDOT, this is a program directed toward employers in southeastern PA. It provides education about the benefits of encouraging voluntary alternative commutes at each worksite. Working with five Transportation Management Associations (TMAs), the City of Philadelphia, and SEPTA, DVRPC provides guidance and necessary materials to successfully reach the right employers-and their employees-with this message. Employers can choose from a menu of MAP options, including: transit, car and van pool programs, telework, parking management, flextime and compressed work weeks, and employee incentive programs.

Share-a-Ride
This computerized ridematch program allows most commuters who work in the five-county southeastern Pennsylvania region to submit an application to become part of a car or van pool (transit alternatives are also included, when convenient). The applicant is notified if there is a match and is provided with a list of possible
poolers; the commuters handle details of the shared ride arrangement (DVRPC does not set up pool groups or provide vehicles).

Travelsmart
TravelSmart is the comprehensive and continuously updated listing of major construction projects and special activities affecting transportation facilities throughout the Delaware Valley. Issued monthly, this publication is available by contacting our Transportation Planning Division.

Air Quality

DVRPC recognizes its responsibility to preserve the quality of the air we breathe. Ground-level ozone, more commonly referred to as smog, and particle pollution or soot, are the most prevalent forms of air pollution in the Delaware Valley. Our region does not meet current EPA air quality standards for these pollutants. To better manage this issue, DVRPC administers the Air Quality Partnership, which is a local year-round initiative created to combat the formation of ground-level ozone and particle pollution in the Delaware Valley. The program works to increase public awareness about the harmful health and environmental effects of air pollution. The Commission also produces Alert, which is a monthly update of transportation and air quality planning issues in the region.

Goods Movement

Moving freight and stimulating economic development are distinct goals within DVRPC's transportation planning function. A region's vitality and businesses, jobs, and consumers all rely on a transportation system that can handle goods efficiently and safely. For this reason, DVRPC has committed significant resources and technical capabilities to examining freight issues in the Philadelphia-Camden-Trenton region on an ongoing and comprehensive basis.

Our Goods Movement Program:

• Enhances the region's role and profile as an international distribution center
• Engages the region's freight practitioners and experts (including trucking, railroad, port, airport, shipper, freight forwarder, economic development, and member government representatives) in the transportation planning process through a freight advisory committee (the Delaware Valley Goods Movement Task Force)
• Conducts high-priority freight studies. Forms freight coalitions with adjacent regions and states.
• Supports special events that foster awareness about freight
• Publishes a monthly data sheet "Freight Lines"

Regional Aviation Planning

DVRPC's Regional Aviation Planning Program, which is funded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and which produces the Regional Airport System Plan (RASP), has served the region since 1979 with the objectives of defining needed aviation infrastructure into the future; ensuring economic development, mobility
and safety; recommending capital projects to preserve and improve the capacity, safety, and community friendliness of facilities; resolving local issues which may impair infrastructure development or usage, including zoning implementation, noise complaints, funding and policy details; and resolving development grant competition between facilities or political jurisdictions.

Specific major activities include:

• Annual capital program of Board-recommended projects
• Municipal zoning implementation to protect airport operations
• Traffic counting at 20 RASP airports
• Funding eligibility studies for airports and heliports
• Security study regarding terrorism prevention
• Serving as the regional aviation forum
• Specialized studies in support of airport preservation

Corridor Planning

DVRPC's Direction 2020 Long Range Plan identified 31 multi-modal travel corridors in the region, which serve as the primary network for the region's transportation system. Since the identification of these corridors, DVRPC's Corridor Planning Program has been working with our member governments and stakeholders to develop detailed improvement plans for each corridor. We consider all major highway, transit, multi-modal and inter-modal facilities in the corridors, with the goal of creating an integrated transportation system focused on enhancing the mobility of people and goods through the corridor.

Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)

DVRPC has been instrumental in advancing the application of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies to aid in the operation of various transportation networks. For instance, you are traveling on an unfamiliar highway and you hear on the radio that a major accident has closed the highway ahead. What do you do? Or, you are on a train and running slightly late; you worry whether the bus you have to transfer to will wait for you. As one of the more congested metropolitan areas in the country, the Delaware Valley sees these situations
happen constantly. In the past, availability of travel information was haphazard and not always updated, reflecting a lack of real-time information. With ITS, highway departments and transit agencies are able to continually monitor travel conditions and disseminate real-time travel information to the public.

Bicycle and Pedestrian Issues

The Commission, like the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has embraced the twin goals set by the Federal Highway Administration of doubling the percentage of trips by foot and bicycle, from 8.5% to 17% of all trips; and reducing injuries and fatalities by 10% by the year 2025.

One way to achieve our goal is through the Share the Road campaign, which is designed to educate both motorists and bicyclists about rights and responsibilities as we jointly use the region's highways. Within this region, the campaign has identified four key corridors in southeastern Pennsylvania in which to educate all road-users about the importance of traffic laws and good safe behavior. They include Ogontz Avenue in the City of Philadelphia, University City in Philadelphia, Doylestown in Bucks County, and the City of Chester in Delaware County.
For information about bringing this program to your community, contact our Transportation Planning Division.

Travel Forecasts

The travel forecasting process at DVRPC uses the traditional four-step modeling system: Trip Generation, Trip Distribution, Mode Split, and Trip Assignment. By creating a virtual representation of the future, these travel models provide an important tool for analysis in many transportation projects that are part of our work. Projects proposed to improve the transportation infrastructure are simulated to provide forecasts of highway traffic volumes or to prepare ridership numbers for new public transportation facilities. The results are then analyzed to estimate the project's benefit, as are different alternative project configurations with a goal of maximizing benefits for the region. The models allow for estimation of air quality impacts from changes to the transportation system. Estimates of transportation system productivity measures, such as Vehicle Miles of Travel, can also be prepared.

Travel Counting

DVRPC collects travel counts annually throughout the Delaware Valley to monitor traffic growth, to improve efficiency in the transportation system, and to prepare the region for the travel demands of tomorrow. Accurate counts are essential input for policy-makers who are charged with making sound decisions concerning the planning, design, and environmental impact of new transportation facilities. The information collected by DVRPC is available to everyone through our website at www.dvrpc.org.

For more information about any of these programs, contact the Assistant Executive Director for Transportation Planning at 215-238-2803.