Tool for rural and statewide multimodal transportation planning

The Georgia Department of Transportation's Multi-modal Transportation Plann ing Tool (MTPT) facilitates multimodal planning in rural areas. Using open databases that are available agencywide, the tool can aid in the analysis o f transportation requirements of rural areas, identify potential implementa tion constraints early in the planning process, and develop a prioritized p roject list by mode for an analysis region. The MTPT addresses highways, tr ansit, intercity bus, commuter and passenger rail, aviation, and bicycles. An integrated geographic information system plays an important role in the presentation of the results. This paper discusses the development of the MT PT and describes program functionality. The paper will be of particular int erest to state transportation agencies interested in using statewide databa ses for multimodal planning purposes. Described techniques identify how dat a that are typically collected and maintained for an entire state (e.g., tr affic volumes, posted speeds, designated bike routes, roadway functional cl asses, crash information, and county-based socioeconomic data) can be combi ned with field verified default factors, widely accepted planning and analy sis methods, and additional regionally calibrated planning algorithms to pe rform system-level planning at the city, county, multicounty, or state leve ls.