Land use and transportation guidance for planning studies

Use this guidance to include transportation-efficient land use considerations in your corridor plan or study.

Review comprehensive plans

When visioning the corridor, make sure to review the jurisdiction’s comprehensive plan to understand the community’s needs and desires.
Encourage development that adds to the diversity of origins and destinations and adds affordable housing, employment and services within existing developed areas. Example strategies: remove requirements for motor vehicle infrastructure (parking, vehicle lanes, Highway Capacity Manual Level of Service mitigations, etc.) and strategically manage curb space (a lot of development may be exempt through categorical exemptions).

Ensure the appropriate context

Ensure appropriate classification for the context. For example, clearly delineate roads and streets. With this delineation, facilities could be transitioned to:

Highway: Limited access highways with interchanges for vehicle access.
Distributor Road: Managed access routes that are restrictive in property access and are intended for higher driving speeds for traveling between population centers.
Access Street: Managed access highways in population centers that are complete streets intentionally designed for lower driving speeds.

Prioritize reversing adverse health and environment effects

Prioritize reversing reduction of proportionately high and adverse human health and environmental effects against historically overburdened communities and vulnerable populations.

Harms can increase or decrease.
Include exposure to air pollution and other environmental pollutants, crash exposure, disproportionate policing, and restricted access to high-quality employment, education, healthy food, health care services, safe housing, arts and culture offerings, and social opportunities necessary to achieve optimal health outcomes.
Provide affordable housing, transportation options and anti-displacement actions.

Prioritize safe land use

On state highways in population centers, take proactive measures to make lower speeds the comfortable driving speed.
In other highways, provide a greater level of separation and/or barriers to protect vulnerable road users such as shared use paths.

Utilize infrastructure in historically underserved areas.

Implement strategies to support reductions in vehicle miles travelled.
Implement projects to support compact, transportation-efficient urban design.
Separate high-speed roads from mixed land uses.
Utilize a “roundabouts first” approach.
Examine opportunities to reduce vehicle speeds.
Separate biking and walking facilities from vehicles.

Complete active transportation networks

For all highway projects (including fish passage barrier removal projects and resurfacing projects), identify missing active transportation network links (absent or not maintained and operated to encourage safe use) as baseline needs and improve the active transportation facilities.

Explore more about the merits of complete active transportation networks.

Prioritize transit, HOV and freight

On all highway types, prioritize the reliability of transit, high occupancy vehicles, and freight over general purpose vehicle travel.
Avoid increasing risk to vulnerable users by over-designing for large vehicles.

Utilize performance analysis tools

Evaluate transportation system performance using multimodal level of service and safety performance assessments.

Review best practice examples

Data sources

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Winter driving tips

Slow down on ice and snow.

It's easier to skid or lose control traveling at higher speeds. Give yourself more time to stop.

Carry chains, practice installing them.

Winter conditions could mean chains are required on your route. Practice putting them on your vehicle ahead of time.

Pack your winter car kit.

Carry extra supplies like warm clothing, ice scraper and brush, jumper cables and other emergency items.