Tools

Metro Accessibility Matrix

People who make transportation and land-use decisions in the Twin Cities region have a new tool: an online “accessibility matrix” that illustrates variations in accessibility to different types of destinations for travelers who drive, bike, walk, or use transit.

The matrix displays four types of maps: accessibility (the ability to reach destinations), mobility (the ability of people to move on the network), travel time (how long it will take to get between census blocks with each of the travel modes), and land use (the distribution of activities by census block).

Users can select up to four filters, including year, mode, time of day, and destination type (such as retail, restaurants, or recreation). The result, for example, could be maps showing the accessibility of jobs between two distant suburbs by transit or by car.

The tool is hosted by the University’s Minnesota Traffic Observatory (MTO), a transportation laboratory staffed by experts in managing large data sets and creating visual models of complex data. The matrix is just one of the MTO’s systems that support effective transportation and land-use planning. Future researchers will be able to further develop the tool and add new data as they become available.

• Use the Metro Accessibility Matrix
• Watch video tutorials on how to use the Metro Accessibility Matrix

Events

CTS Transportation Research Conference

The Access to Destinations Study was the subject of the opening plenary session at the twentieth annual CTS Transportation Research Conference May 19–20, 2009.

• Read coverage of Destinations Count Presentations and Panel Discussion
• Watch Video of Destinations Count Presentations (Mediasite Presenter, Length: 50 min.; requires Microsoft Silverlight plugin)
  • David Levinson, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota; [ Download PowerPoint presentation (60 MB PDF)]
  • Kevin Krizek, Associate Professor of Planning, Design, and Civil Engineering, University of Colorado [Download PowerPoint presentation (1.13 MB PDF)]
• Watch Video of Panel Discussion (Mediasite Presenter, Length: 60 min.; requires Microsoft Silverlight plugin)

More about the 2009 CTS Transportation Research Conference

• View other presentations from 2009 Conference.

Access to Destination News

• Accessibility matrix used to compare U.S. cities
• Online matrix helps users determine accessibility
• Access for Value: Financing Transportation Through Land Value Capture
• Kane, Quimby: Shift gears to ease traffic congestion in the Twin Cities
• Measuring What Matters: second research summary published (724 KB PDF)
• Report tracks changes in accessibility by automobile
• Report demonstrates non-auto accessibility measures in action
  
• Journal of Transport and Land Use debuts
• Proceedings of the 2007 Access to Destinations Conference published
• Second Access to Destinations conference mixes research with practice
• Asking the Right Questions About Transportation and Land Use (1.2 MB PDF),
  a research summary from the Access to Destinations Study.
• More Access to Destination News >>