Thursday, September 20 2012

SOMETIMES I go into reflection mode. This is such a time, and I suppose it is because of a high expectation of relevant transport interventions to be included in the Budget 2013 on October 1, 2012. I now attempt to identify some key topics for investigation, in no order of priority:

• Emerging housing communities adjacent to highways: consideration of pedestrian access. Examples include Oropune Gardens, Powder Magazine, and Edinburgh Gardens 500.

• Commuter facilities for emerging housing communities. There are many examples.

• Site selection for a Power Generation facility for Port-of-Spain. Transportation planning issues.

• Gas station site selection: maximising patron accessibility. There are several potential locations for analysis.

• Parking management for Piarco Airport

• Air passenger deplaning kerb frontage loading for vehicle access management from the terminal building.

• A children’s hospital for Couva: transport planning implications, including pedestrian access, road access, and transit access

• An airport for Couva: landside transportation planning issues

• Transit planning for industrial estates. Examples include Macoya, O’Meara, Point Lisas, and Cove in Tobago.

• University external transit service planning. Consideration for UWI and UTT.

• River recreation transportation planning, including flat-bottomed boating, air-boats, pedestrian activities, amenities, etc. Examples include the Cunupia / Madame Espagniole River to the sea at Felicity, Waterloo River at Barrancones Bay, and Godineau River. It would require consideration of issues such as environmental (river, river banks, dumping, abandoned landfill site, ecological, etc), drainage (rainy season, dry season), social (liming spots, food business such as fish fries, board walks), management (boating management, coordination with fishing boats, coordination with cremation activities, physical design of facilities, land use planning, transportation planning, coastal issues (water modelling), etc.

• An auto-restricted zone: transport planning implications. This study could begin with an investigation of Car-Free Sundays and Car-Free public holidays for a Central Business District (CDB). Examples include Arima, Chaguanas, and Point Fortin. It would require an interest in alternative transportation modes, such as walking, bicycling and public transport. Other issues include, impact on commercial and residential activities in the CDB, routes and travel mechanisms, operations plans, and coordination with the Borough Corporation, etc.

• Queen’s Park Savannah transportation planning: Preliminary investigation into environmental issues.

• Maxi-taxi and taxi hub planning. Examples include Arima, Chaguanas, and San Fernando.

• Traffic management issues in urban areas. There are many examples.

• Park-and-Ride garages: transport planning issues. Many sites can be identified, and the transit shuttle service needs to be included.

• School bus planning and zoning. Many areas can be identified, whether primary or secondary schools. The school hours need to be coordinated with work hours.

• National internal transportation planning: recommended policies, goals and objectives.

• Highway access control and management: recommended strategies. Examples included Uriah Butler Highway, Solomon Hochoy Highway, and Churchill-Roosevelt Highway.

• Highway route alignment and property relocation: issues and strategies.

• Site selection for Licensing Authority: transportation planning issues.

• Endeavour Industrial Estate: transport planning implications, including pedestrian access, road access, and transit access.

• Scrap metal industry: facility locations, route planning, and overloading monitoring.

• Urban revitalisation: creation of mixed-use communities – transport planning issues. Almost any residential community can be re-planned.

• National internal transportation scenarios for the next 20 years in stages, including assumptions and suggestions.

• Conversion of Richmond Place Plaza from a Government Office Campus to an off-shore university campus: transportation planning issues.

• Belmont, PoS – Urban housing revitalisation: transport planning implications.

• National transportation demand management recommendations

• National unsustainable transportation: examples and mitigation strategies.

• Integrated land use and transportation planning utopia in TT. Is it possible? How?

• Seamless urban transportation planning for pedestrians, including persons with disabilities. Several special urban areas are possible.

• Creating a campus precinct at UWI, St Augustine: transportation planning strategies.

• Emergency road closure: real-time public information strategies.

• National transportation planning administration: organisational structure and responsibilities.

• Road safety administration: what is missing?



The reader is encouraged to comment and suggest other issues for

consideration.