Research Reports

Persistent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11299/241

The Center for Transportation Studies' research reports present the results of University of Minnesota projects in all areas of transportation research.

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Automated Enforcement of Red-Light Running & Speeding Laws in Minnesota: Bridging Technology and Public Policy
(Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2009-10) Adams, John S.; Vandrasek, Barbara J.
This report reviews the use of technology for automated enforcement of traffic laws around the world and across the United States, especially red-light running and speeding, with a focus on Minnesota. Automated enforcement to tag red-light runners and speeders is common internationally and domestically. The report reviews evidence and suggests how Minnesota can use automated enforcement to improve safety, cut deaths and injuries, and reduce the appalling annual cost of property damage due to motor vehicle crashes. Citizens of libertarian bent resent laws requiring that they protect themselves while allowing society to absorb extraordinary costs when they or others are injured or killed in traffic crashes. Others express fundamental resentment of “intrusive government” at all levels and the traffic rules governments impose. Thus, linking automated enforcement technology with effective and politically acceptable public policy presents genuine public safety and public-health challenges. Chapters summarize the high cost of crashes; problems and behaviors linked to red-light running and speeding; case studies of automated enforcement of traffic laws; the short-lived Minneapolis “Stop-on-Red” program; the yellow-light phase controversy; Minnesota litigation ending the Minneapolis program; diverse political cultures and debates across the U.S. concerning automated enforcement; and best practices for implementing automated enforcement legislation and programs. Five appendices summarize legal issues surrounding automated enforcement of traffic laws.
Automated Enforcement of Red-Light Running and Speeding Laws in Minnesota: Bridging Technology and Public Policy
(Center for Transportation Studies University of Minnesota, 2010-03) Adams, John S.; VanDrasek, Barbara
This two-page document examines how Minnesota can reduce deaths and injuries on its roadways—along with the significant financial cost of traffic crashes—using automated enforcement. Additionally, it looks at the challenges of implementing automated enforcement for speeding and red-light running and how to overcome them.
Case Studies of Development in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Region
(2004-09-01) Vandrasek, Barbara J.; Adams, John S.
This report brings together several aspects of land development dynamics that have been examined in previous reports of the Twin Cities Regional Dynamics section of the Transportation and Regional Growth Study, in a series of place-based case studies of Minor Civil Divisions (MCDs) and school districts within the Minneapolis- St. Paul metropolitan region. The report focuses on the local property tax as the locus of interaction between municipal revenue generation and service provision, and the K-12 education finance system in the State of Minnesota. The report finds that local units of government are vulnerable to larger spatial trends over which they have little control, and thus an absence of region-wide or statewide policies to equalize support for PreK-12 education funding and delivery of services will encourage competition for development dollars and uneven development across the region.
College and University Campuses in Greater Minnesota as Traffic Generators
(University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2009-06) Vandrasek, Barbara J.; Adams, John S.
This report evaluates the significance of selected Minnesota college and university campuses located in regional centers outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan commuter field with respect to the highway traffic that they generate. It examines campuses as places that generate motor vehicle traffic each day, and analyzes the absolute and relative significance of campuses in Greater Minnesota as traffic generators within the counties and wider commuting field in which they are situated. Expanding upon findings from two previous studies that investigated land development trends and increasing highway traffic for a sample of Minnesota’s 49 regional centers and their adjacent commuting fields, the report examines the volume of personnel moving to and from campuses each day, estimates traffic generation rates for different types of schools and their varying impact on traffic generation using trip generation factors supplied by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. It provides 27 campus-based cases, and discusses societal trends likely to affect schools as traffic generators, and concludes with speculations on the implications of these trends for transportation planning in Greater Minnesota. The geographical scale of analysis matters in assessing the relative impact of a school or campus as a traffic generator. If the impact if extremely local, it is likely to be a city responsibility. If the scale of analysis is the county, both city streets and county roads experience traffic impacts. At the scale of the entire commuting field, state highways may be affected. In this analysis, counties were used as the most appropriate spatial unit of analysis.
Commuter Linkages Among Counties in the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota
(1993-09) Adams, John S.; Wyly, Elvin K.
The continued decentralization of metropolitan areas has replaced the well-defined daily urban systems of the 1960's with complex, overlapping commuting fields. This report analyzes county-tocounty commuting flows in Minnesota and counties in adjacent states to evaluate changes in the state's urban systems between 1960 and 1990. Findings confirm that inter-county commuting has increased dramatically, from 7% in 1960 to nearly 19% in 1990. The rate of growth is diminishing, but the total number of commuters is considerable. In 1990, over 70,000 workers commuted to the seven-county Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (TCMA) from Greater Minnesota. Results of a multivariate statistical procedure, factor analysis, confirm that exurban counties between the Twin Cities and nearby regional centers have been drawn into a complex web of interconnected, overlapping urban systems. These findings support the hypothesis that the daily work journey is creating an interdependent network of urban systems in the densely settled portions of the state. The increasing gap between the seven-county TCMA and the practical extent of the Twin Cities underscores the question whether the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Council should expand to include counties connected by the daily flow of workers to the Twin Cities.
Data Sources for Use in Conducting Travel Behavior Research: A Case Study of Reverse Commuting Among Low-Income Residents of Minneapolis
(1994-08) Loughlin, Melissa J.; Wyly, Elvin K.; Adams, John S.
This study demonstrates applicability of two distinct data sources for travel behavior research. Questions relating to reverse-commuting are raised with respect to all working residents, and working residents in low-income households located in Minneapolis. Census of Population and Housing, 1990 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) and the Twin Cities Metropolitan Council Travel Behavior Inventory (TBI) provide details on aspects of commute and travel patterns. Examining organization and methods of analysis appropriate to determining particular travelrelated information presents a unique perspective on the advantages and shortcomings of each data set. PUMS data provide detailed household and work-journey information. To answer reverse-commuting questions posed in this study, we consider household income, worker occupation, state and Public Use Microdata Area of employment, number of persons in each household, means of transportation used for the journey to work, and work journey duration. TBI data contain a wealth of information on both the work journey and other trips, but lack the depth of socioeconomic data available in the PUMS file. The value of TBI data in responding to this series of questions lies in the details about trip location and purpose.
Development Impact Fees for Minnesota? A Review of Principles and National Practices
(1999-10-01) Adams, John S.; Cidell, Julie; Hansen, Laura J.; Jung, Hyun-Joo; Ryu, Yeon-Taek; Vandrasek, Barbara J.
Over the last two decades, local governments throughout the country have been looking for additional sources of revenue. Cuts in federal and state intergovernmental revenues, historically high interest rates, changes in tax-exempt bond markets, and voter resistance to increased taxes have forced governments to increase their reliance on fees and user charges. Local governments face a dilemma of escalating demands for public facilities and services caused by new development without having sufficient revenues to finance these demands. Existing residents are resistant to higher taxes and fees to fund the services and improvements required by new residents. In addition to problems of growth, many communities are struggling to finance backlog needs to bring aging or nonexistent systems of infrastructure up to modern standards. As a consequence of these problems, there is considerable interest in impact fees, which are charges to developers for off-site infrastructure improvements made necessary by the new development. Impact fees are viewed as a way for growth to "pay its way." In light of the economic pressures on local governments, it is clear why they have turned to impact fees. For growing jurisdictions, impact fees represent a vast store of potential revenue that can be tapped at less political cost than other sources. This practice does not mean, however, that impact fees are always the best solution or the wisest solution for infrastructure finance when taking account of social equity considerations and the need to maintain long-term community support for capital spending programs. Impact fees pose several considerations simultaneously: legal, economic, technical, administrative, policy, and financing alternatives. When faced with a proposed future fee scheme, builders, business people, property owners, and future home buyers should study all sides of the issue at once, not just the legal or economic questions. Impact fees raise fundamental social questions such as: Who really pays? How is the fee calculated? Where does the money go? How and where is the money spent? Who really benefits from the new or expanded public facilities? What is the impact of the fees on housing costs for new and for existing residents?
The Groundside Effects of Air Transportation
(2001-08-01) Adams, John S.; Cidell, Julie
This report systematically examines land uses around airports across the country, as well as the consequences for a metropolitan region of expanding versus moving an airport. A combination of methodologies is found to be the best approach. The airports in Minneapolis- St. Paul and Denver are further examined as case studies for the question of expansion versus new construction. Conclusions include: the larger the city, the more specialized the airport land uses, and regional economic needs and wants override local economic, social, and environmental needs and wants. Future study should take a more historical approach and more carefully define the region influenced by an airport.
Highway Improvements and Land Development Patterns in the Greater Twin Cities Area, 1970-1997: Measuring the Connections
(2003-02-02) Smith, Laura J.; Adams, John S.; Cidell, Julie; Vandrasek, Barbara J.
This report uses statistical methods to measure the relationships between improvements in highway transportation and patterns of land development in suburban and exurban areas of the greater Twin Cities. The methods used measure the timing and levels of residential, commercial, industrial, and esidential land development as indicators of the strength and causality of those relationships. The report investigates the key question of leads and lags between highway improvement and land development. Findings of the report suggest that the impact of major highway improvements on land development patterns took one form in the 1970s, another in the 1980s, and still other forms in the 1990s. Findings also illustrate how the lead-lag relationships differ by development type. Although statistical relationships describing correlations of leads, lags, and contemporaneous change were found to be highly significant, the measures of those relationships seldom were constant. They changed from one time period to the next, from one type of development to another, and from one location to another within specific time periods.
House Price Changes and Capital Shifts in Real Estate Values in Twin Cities-Area Housing Submarkets
(2002-02-01) Adams, John S.; Cidell, Julie; Hansen, Laura J.; Vandrasek, Barbara J.
This report explores the movement of average prices and price changes for single-unit houses between 1970 and 1995 in three housing submarkets that radiate outward from downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. The report investigates one way of measuring gains and losses in housing values that might be traced in part to processes of economic growth, tax policy, and the outward movement of jobs, incomes, and the capital represented by housing assets. The report theorizes that these capital shifts are the result of the capitalized value of tax expenditures and property tax differentials between city and suburb, the impacts of utility pricing schemes, and the nature of consumer demand for housing. Additional factors that drive flux in this general pattern of outward movement of capital include energy and consumer price fluctuations, general economic conditions, significant inmigration, and perceptions about both public safety and school quality in different parts of the metropolitan region. The result of this dynamic is that some households realize unearned capital gains simply by virtue of their location, while others find themselves holding a depreciating asset due to factors beyond their control.
Long Distance Commuting in Minnesota
(1994-07) Adams, John S.; Loughlin, Melissa J.; Wyly, Elvin K.
Workers making long daily commutes in the 1950s were understood as those best able to afford amenities normally available outside the "urban core"-that is, the downtown central business district (CBD) plus adjacent transportation-industrial zones and high density residential neighborhoods within "central cities" such as Minneapolis and St. Paul. This report examines characteristics of Minnesota workers residing in Minnesota's metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas who made long duration (more than 30 minutes one way) commutes in 1990, concluding that early metropolitan-based models today lack much if not all of their former applicability. Minnesota's average commute of 19.1 minutes fell below the national average of 19.7, but more than 450,000 Minnesota workers spent more than 30 minutes commuting each way. Long duration work journeys were not restricted to the stereotypical upper income suburban family. In all geographic categories, the largest group of long duration commuters came from two person households, whose commuting may reflect compromises between two job locations. In a five county "exurban" (i.e., beyond continuously built-up suburban areas) study area between Minneapolis and St. Cloud, average auto commuting time was the state's highest, at nearly 26 minutes. Blue collar workers reported commuting times longer than professionals. Findings have implications for policy proposals such as highway improvements, toll roads, or new energy taxes.
Modeling Commuter Flows Among Local Labor Markets in Minnesota, 1970-1990
(1994-07) Wyly, Elvin K.; Adams, John S.; Loughlin, Melissa J.
Between 1970 and 1990 the share of Minnesota commuters working outside their county of residence increased from 18 to 29 percent. This study analyzes this trend by examining commuter flows among labor markets in a 120-county study area encompassing Minnesota and counties in adjacent states. A series of maps and statistical models relate commuter flows to changes in demographic and employment conditions over the past two decades. Commuter flows have strengthened since 1970, becoming more important in declining rural counties as well as growing suburban and exurban labor markets. Longer work journeys in declining rural areas appear to reflect individual coping strategies, as workers search farther afield for opportunities in a regional labor market undergoing a geographic transformation. For most types of jobs, employment growth is dispersing outward from metropolitan cores, while in non-metro areas jobs are consolidated into widely-spaced regional centers. These trends have created a network of diffuse labor markets in which commuter flows link widely-scattered communities of labor deficits to areas with labor surplus, in patterns too complex to be modeled solely in terms of aggregate population and housing variables.
Overseas Air Cargo Service, Airborne Export-Producing Industries, and U.S. Cities, 1980-1995
(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 1998-03) Loughlin, Melissa J.; Adams, John S.
This report presents results of an analysis of changes in the geographic patterns of U.S. markets for overseas cargo service between 1980 and the mid-1990s. The study determines which U.S. cities have and have not participated in the period's dramatic service expansion, and the ways in which their competitive positions have changed as a result. The study identifies industries that rely heavily on air cargo service to facilitate export activities and examines their employment distributions among U.S. cities to demonstrate demand for overseas air cargo service. A classification of U.S. metropolitan regions based on the mismatches revealed improvement or decline in service supply and demand, as well as identifying cities with winning and losing records during the period. Case studies of Portland, Oregon; St. Louis; Washington-Baltimore; and Minneapolis--St. Paul indicate the influences of location, local economic conditions, airline networks, carrier health, and industry changes; and leadership on and off the airport. Study results make clear the need for coordinated local and regional efforts to actively promote better air service for communities in the face of competition for limited service. Civic leaders must address those issues within their influence and develop long-range plans carefully attuned to concurrent airline industry and regulatory changes.
The Role of Housing Markets, Regulatory Frameworks, and Local Government Finance
(1998-05-01) Adams, John S.; Bjelland, Mark D.; Hansen, Laura J.; Laaken, Lena L.; Vandrasek, Barbara J.
This report examines the land use/transportation dynamic and its influence on metropolitan development in postwar U.S.; changes in housing supply, housing demand, and residential price movements between 1970 and 1990 in minor civil divisions (MCDs) within the seven-county metropolitan area and adjacent counties; a classification of state and local regulations that promote low-density development on the built-up metropolitan edge and beyond and that raise obstacles for cost-effective redevelopment in older settled areas near the cores of Minnesota's major urban centers; and, the changing profiles of taxation, intergovernmental revenue transfers, and expenditures by function for counties and MCDs within the Twin Cities region.
Shifting Global Airline Service and the Local Community
(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 1996-01) Loughlin, Melissa J.; Adams, John S.
This report presents results from a one-year study investigating the allocation, organization, and importance of international passenger and freight service among US cities. Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) serves as a case study throughout. The study addressed specific causes and effects of the international air service MSP currently enjoys. The goal of this report is to inform public policy decision-makers, business leaders, and private citizens about international air service at MSP: the regulatory framework that shapes the international service map, connections between such service and urban development, and Minneapolis/St. Paul's standing among other Midwestern cities in terms of access to major foreign destinations. The final section of this report comments on the tenuous nature of nonstop international service in today's liberal international environment, current efforts to enhance international service to the Twin Cities, and questions that remain unanswered about the Twin Cities place on the international service map.
Synthesizing Highway Transportation, Land Development, Municipal and School Finance in the Greater Twin Cities Area, 1970-1997
(2000-05) Adams, John S.; Cidell, Julie L.; Hansen, Laura J.; Van Drasek, Barbara J.
As the Twin Cities emerged as capital of the Upper Midwest region, the pre-World War II highway system serving the Twin Cities linked the area with its region, and provided direction to suburban expansion. Residential development in greenfield areas initially enjoys low local property taxes, but soon the newly arriving households expect and demand a full range of municipal services that must be supplied and paid for, either by the newcomers themselves, or by shifting some portion of incremental capital and operating costs to current residents, which can lead to political tension. The resources available to school districts from local tax sources depend upon the tax capacity supplied by local development, a process that is regulated by local units of government. Major highway infrastructure and improvements have both led and lagged the development process. The location of major routes influences developer decisions on where to place new housing. Major office developments cluster at major transportation nodes, but many important nodes support little or no office development. Industrial development appears to be tied closely to transportation routes in the earlier periods, but in later years the close connection appears to fade. The benefits of land development and transportation improvements accumulate disproportionately within one set of geographical areas, while many of the costs are imposed through time and space on others.
Transportation as Catalyst for Community Economic Development
(University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies, 2007-12) Adams, John S.; Vandrasek, Barbara J.
This study presents frameworks and methods for assessing economic development impacts of well-designed transportation projects. A literature review and on-site inspections of U.S. case studies provided lessons learned, best practices, and metrics for assessing outcomes. Project site matters, whether greenfield locations or redevelopments, and whether projects are in fast-growing metro areas, stable ones, or areas losing population and resources. Prevailing land prices and regulatory environments set limits on what can be accomplished. Economic development differs from real estate development. Economic development brings resources into fuller production of valued goods and services such that overall benefits exceed overall project costs over time. It is often accompanied by real estate development; sometimes real estate development provides a catalyst for economic development. Projects can be implemented at locations from downtown to the outer suburbs; distance from the core can affect conditions for project success. A project can be implemented in elite, upper-middle class, middle class, working class, or poor areas, with choice of sector influencing prospects for success. A well-designed project improves the community's balance sheet--enhancing assets, diminishing liabilities, and increasing net benefits to the community over time. It is important to distinguish absolute change from change relative to metropolitan-wide measures.
Transportation Use in Minnesota: An Analysis of the 1990 Census of Population and Housing
(Minnesota Department of Transportation, 1994-09) Adams, John S.; Loughlin, Melissa J.; Wyly, Elvin K.
This report summarizes research contained in MnDOT report numbers 94-24, 94-25, 94-26, and 94-27 covering one project. The project examines the variation in people's need for and use of transport services by posing four research questions and answering them with transportation related data from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing. Questions posed are: 1) What is the socioeconomic profile of Minnesota's long-distance commuters? 2) How do Minnesota's counties and urban neighborhoods vary according to transport needs and use? 3) How can census data be used together with travel surveys to study the socioeconomic characteristics of travelers? and 4) How has interaction among the state's local labor markets changed in the last twenty years? The main findings are summarized in this report both verbally and graphically. References to the other four reports are given.
Transportation-Based Classifications of Minnesota's Counties and Metropolitan Statistical Area Tracts Using Measures from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing
(1994-07) Adams, John S.; Loughlin, Melissa J.; Wyly, Elvin K.
Census measures are used to classify Minnesota counties and metropolitan area census tracts according to demographic, journey-to-work, and mobility characteristics in 1990. Counties differ regarding scores calculated with respect to Population Mass-reflecting measures such as numbers of persons, of commuters, and of vehicles available for personal use; and a general Commuting tendency-reflecting proportions of commuters traveling more than 30 minutes, average commute time, and average number of vehicles per household. Three other basic characteristics of counties-average Socioeconomic Status of residents, degree of Mobility Impairment of residents; and Solo Commuting tendency-provide scores further differentiating counties. County scores are used to group Minnesota's 87 counties into six diverse clusters: 1) Hennepin (Minneapolis); 2) Ramsey (St. Paul); 3) Anoka and Dakota (Twin Cities suburbs); 4) St. Louis (Duluth); Olmsted (Rochester), Stears (St. Cloud), Washington (Twin Cities); and 6) all others. The second analysis examines 833 census tracts in the Minnesota's five MSAs, classifying them with the procedures used for counties. Resulting classifications illustrate that relationships between travel activity and socioeconomic characteristics vary considerably for different metropolitan contexts. As a demonstration of potentially useful methods applied to census data for Minnesota, the study provided results. On other grounds, its value is more limited.
Urbanization of Minnesota's Countryside, 2000-2025: Evolving Geographies and Transportation Impacts
(2006-06-01) Adams, John S.; Vandrasek, Barbara J.
In this study, we examine population and housing change, changes in industrial activity and occupational changes, and characteristics of commuters and the journey to work for those working away from home in 26 regional centers and their commute sheds in Greater Minnesota. We also explore ways in which Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) and Public Use Microdata Areas (PUMAs) might be exploited to shed additional insight into the changing nature of the demographic, economic and commuting patterns that are now pervasive throughout Greater Minnesota. These data are evaluated to explore links between demographic and economic features of working-age populations, and relationships between worker and household characteristics and aspects of commuting activity on the other. The final chapter examines regional economic vitality and travel behavior across the Minnesota Countryside.

When population change in sample regional centers in the 1990s is compared with change in the nearby counties that comprise the centers' commuting fields, four situations appear: those where centers and their commuting fields both had population increases; centers with declining populations, but increases in the commuting fields; centers with growing populations, but with declines in their commuting fields; and situations where both the center and the commute field lost population.

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Browsing Research Reports by Author "Adams, John S."