Wetlands protection: The regulatory role of the U.S. army corps of engineers

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers administers the only nationwide regulatory program that controls development activities in U.S. waters and wetlands. This article examines the statutory authorities, jurisdictional limitations, and evolution of the current Corps regulations, which express a strong policy to protect wetlands, estuaries, and tidal waters from unnecessary dredging, filling, or other alteration. The article explains the organization and procedures of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and examines in detail several precedential permit cases which have developed and implemented the Corps “wetlands policy.”; The article also evaluates current and potential policies underlying the regulatory efforts of the Corps of Engineers.     

My way or the highway? Framing transportation planners’ attitudes in negotiating professional expertise and public insight

Transportation planning continues to expand beyond traditional engineering and economic performance measures toward a broader scope of impacts across space and society. However, the attitudes of transportation planners as they balance their expert knowledge against public insights are not well-understood. We test a two-dimensional attitudinal framework using survey data from 311 U.S. and Canadian transportation planners. We reveal four attitudinal categories using principal component analysis, and hypothesis testing shows significant differences in personal and institutional attributes across these categories. We discuss what our results mean for training and regulatory measures striving to influence planner attitudes before proposing future directions for research.

     

Short-line railroad managers discuss their industry

In the United States, the 1980 Staggers Rail Act created a positive regulatory environment for the creation of new short-line railroads. At present there are about 450 of these railroads that have less than 250 miles of trackage. This study asked managers/owners of these railroads two basic questions. First, what do you believe is the single most important trend that is currently taking place in your industry. The most frequently noted trend was the frustration of working with the larger Class 1 railroads. Five additional trends were also identified by the respondents. The second question asked the respondents if they thought the short-line sector of the rail industry will become more or less important in the next ten years and why. About 70% of the owner/managers believed their industry would become more important in the next decade. The most commonly expressed reason for this position is that the Class 1 railroads will increasingly specialize in mainline service only. Three other rationales were also enumerated. For the managers that thought their industry would become less important, the most noted reason was their trackage would not safely transport the newer very heavy bulk commodity freight cars.     

OPA 90

The Donaldson Report has been published and we are entitled to ask 'where do we go from here?' The majority of the shipping world, recognizing the international nature of the business moves by consensus such that rules applicable in Europe are also applicable in, say, Asia or South America. By its very nature this method takes time to bring rules into effect. By contrast the United Stated of America takes the unilateral approach to transport regulations and because it is such an important trading nation, particularly with regard to shipping, those wishing to participate in the trade must comply with the U.S. rules. One such example is the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) passed just four year ago. The shipping industry in general and the tanker industry in particular has had to adapt if it wishes to trade within the United States' navigable waters, adjoining shorelines, or the exclusive economic zone (200 miles). This paper looks at those sections of the Act that, from the standpoint of the tanker industry, have had the biggest impact when trading to the United States. We therefore look at how OPA 90 addresses the issues of prevention, clean up and who will pay?     

Exploring gendered cycling behaviours within a large-scale behavioural data-set

Analysing over 10 million journeys made by members of London's Cycle Hire Scheme, we find that female customers' usage characteristics are demonstrably different from those of male customers. Usage at weekends and within London's parks characterises women's journeys, whereas for men, a commuting function is more clearly identified. Some of these variations are explained by geo-demographic differences and by an atypical period of usage during the first three months after the scheme's launch. Controlling for each of these variables brings some convergence between men and women. However, many differences are preserved. Studying the spatio-temporal context under which journeys are made, we find that women's journeys are highly spatially structured. Even when making utilitarian cycle trips, routes that involve large, multi-lane roads are comparatively rare, and instead female cyclists preferentially select areas of the city associated with slower traffic streets and with cycle routes slightly offset from major roads.     

Travel plans for new developments: a global review

A travel plan is a mechanism for delivering a package of transport measures at a site to manage car use and encourage the use of more sustainable forms of transport. In recent years, travel plans have been required for new infill and greenfield developments through the land-use planning and approvals process, predominantly in the United Kingdom, the United States, continental Europe and Australia. This paper contributes to the literature by providing a global review of travel plans for new developments. The results show that while travel plans for new developments share a common set of elements with those for pre-existing sites, differences within each element are notable, particularly in the types of travel plan measures adopted, processes for managing the travel plan, and approaches to monitoring and review. Results of previous evaluations have varied considerably, although most have reported a reduction in car driver trips of 10–20 percentage points. Despite this, most evaluations lack rigour, with a paucity of robust evidence. Key success factors identified by the literature, such as the provision of an explicit policy supporting the role of travel plans, should be embedded within the travel planning process where possible to ensure best outcomes for new developments.     

Updating predictive accident models of modern rural single carriageway A-roads

Abstract

Reliable predictive accident models (PAMs) are essential to design and maintain safe road networks, and yet the models most commonly used in the UK were derived using data collected 20 to 30 years ago. Given that the national personal injury accident total fell by some 30% in the last 25 years, while road traffic increased by over 60%, significant errors in scheme appraisal and evaluation based on the models currently in use seem inevitable. In this paper, the temporal transferability of PAMs for modern rural single carriageway A-roads is investigated, and their predictive performance is evaluated against a recent data set. Despite the age of these models, the PAMs for predicting the total accidents provide a remarkably good fit to recent data and these are more accurate than models where accidents are disaggregated by type. The performance of the models can be improved by calibrating them against recent data.     

Towards a theoretical model for behavioural adaptations to changes in the road transport system

A preliminary theoretical model is developed for the mechanism of behavioural adaptations to changes in the road transport system, which describes the process of behavioural change, explains the nature of adaptation phenomenon, and predicts its effects on road safety programmes. It can be used as a basis to organize the body of adaptation research and to explain empirical results.