Project Appraisal in Transportation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Project Appraisal in Transportation - Essay Example This type of modeling involves 04-steps- trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice and trip assignment. The ‘mode choice’ step of such models do not include slow & non-motorized modes like walking. End walks for taking a motorized mode (like bus) and again for physically reaching the destination (office, home, etc.) are not considered as part of traveling in this type of model. Thus, walking, perhaps the most eco-friendly, least expansive and also the oldest and the most conventional form of human movement or traveling finds no place in the conventional transport model. Another view is that this modeling system was developed for evaluating large scale infrastructure projects and not for more subtle and complex policies involving management and control of existing infrastructure or introduction of policies which directly influence travel behavior (TDM Encyclopedia, 2005). Conventional modeling tends to assume that transport progress is linear, with newer, faster mod es replacing older, slower modes (UCI-ITS-AS-WP-005). This series model assumes that the older modes are unimportant, and so, for example, there is no harm if walking conditions and transit service decline, provided that automobile ownership and vehicle traffic speeds increase. From this perspective, such models always find it undesirable to give walking priority over automobile travel. However, it is time that such drawbacks of conventional models are addressed and recently there have been a lot of developments in this direction. The conventional models are being functionally upgraded and their ability for considering slow modes like walking, bicycling, etc. can now be ensured by integrating such models with various sub-models. The conventional modeling approach is getting transformed to the more sophisticated and reliable integrated transport models where in walk-trips and walk-ability are very important considerations. The