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November 2008
Transitway research assists regional planning
Ed Goetz
Even before the Hiawatha light-rail line—the state’s first—began service in 2004, local policymakers and staff were interested in the potential economic and social impacts of major transitways on the surrounding community. As the region continues to build a system of transitways, interest in these impacts is growing as well as in the associated changes in travel behavior that come with system development.
University researchers in the Transitway Research Impacts Program (TIRP) are providing data needed by policymakers as they plan and develop these projects. TIRP was initiated by the Hennepin- University Partnership in 2006 (see related article) and has grown to include a mix of local, regional, and state funding partners including Hennepin, Anoka, Dakota, Ramsey, and Washington counties; the Metropolitan Council; the Minnesota Department of Transportation; the University Metropolitan Consortium; the Itasca Project; and CTS. It is supported by staff from CTS and the State and Local Policy Program at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
In current research, Professor Ed Goetz of the Humphrey Institute and project coordinator Jeff Matson of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs are designing a methodology to measure changes in residential property values, housing mix, and surrounding land uses and testing it on the Hiawatha Light-Rail Corridor.
In addition, a team led by assistant professor Jason Cao of the Humphrey Institute (a CTS Scholar) is designing a methodology to measure transportation impacts from transitway investments (such as the type and mix of riders attracted by the investment) and testing it on a study of region-wide travel behavior. A draft final report of each project will be available by December 2008.
Two additional studies are planned for 2009:
- Measuring job accessibility and workforce relocation with a transportation equity perspective, led by Assistant Professor Yingling Fan, Humphrey Institute
- Measuring changes in commercial property value (including retail, office, and light industry) resulting from transitway investments, led by Cao
Plans are under way to seek federal and private sector funding to further expand and extend the program.
The first TIRP research report— Inventory of Data and Research on the Economic and Community Impacts of the Hiawatha LRT (PDF)—is on the TIRP Web site: www.cts.umn.edu/Research/Featured/Transitways.
CTS supports the TIRP program management team and also coordinates outreach activities to increase involvement and information sharing about this program. For more information, contact Jan Lucke of CTS at 612-625-8401, jlucke@umn.edu.