UWSP Transportation Footprint Evaluation

Wisconsin Institute of Sustainable Technologies & UWSP GIS Center

Introduction

Most definitions of sustainability value energy conservation, efficiency and independence and respect the environmental, economic and social consequences of energy consumption choices (Edwards 2005). This concern is justified, in 2008 thirty percent of the carbon emissions in the United States was from transportation related to fossil fuel consumption (USEPA 2010). Statistics like these can inspire change at autonomous individual level but can seem daunting to hope change in ones behavior could have a meaningful effect. This is the reason sustainability initiatives are about the quantity and quality of empowerment and participation of people (Roseland 2005).

Imperative action

The largest environmental impact at most educational institutions in the United States, Canada, and Australia is burning fossil fuels to meet the daily mobility needs of students and employees (Toor and Havlick 2004). The UWSP conducted an institutional green house gas emissions investigation in 2006 (ACUPCC 2008) but did not account for the contribution of daily student/employee transportation needs. University students, scholars, and employees have a strong sense of identity and community that positions institutions to organize, develop and implement sustainability transportation strategies. Bowers (Bowers 2009) argues that educational institutions are obligated to educate for ecological intelligence that promotes critical thought towards cultural patterns and the impact these patterns have on natural systems (p 34).

UWSP opportunity

Changes in understanding, technology, and pricing are three visions to approach transportation sustainability (Gordon 1995) and UWSP needs to consider the merits and practicality of each to meet its goals. Understanding equates with education on the condition, cost, and possible futures of collective transportation practices by the campus community. This encourages individual responsibility, awareness and voluntary change in transportation choices that will contribute to sustainability. Technology changes can take the form of information and communication infrastructures that support telecommuting and distance learning, alternative fuels, and alternative vehicles. Pricing and policy go together to alter the expense presented by transportation choices that bias toward sustainable choices. There is a wide range of opportunities here that range across parking fees, rideshare/ridematch system, change in bus routes/stops, bus pass program, and non-motorized infrastructure (Toor and Havlick 2004).

The role of GIS

Geographic information systems (GIS) are used to support assessment and planning of transportation demand, management, and sustainability initiatives (Black 2003; Black 2010; Nyerges and Jankowski 2010) and will be an invaluable contribution to UWSP’s transportation sustainability program. GIS capabilities are used to coordinate and manage data collection and processing, analyze spatial distribution and interactions, model effects of system change, support reporting and communications, and deliver internet-ready content for interactive web sites for education. The GIS Center

Research conducted at the GIS Center is designed to serve the educational interests of students, the institution, and community at large. Applied research projects complement GIS coursework and ensure the timeliness and practicality of the GIS curriculum. The Center’s staff consists of academics and professionals experienced in database development, spatial analysis, communication, and implementation of community based public participation research and service. The Center houses a suite of classrooms and laboratory space outfitted with state of the art computing and analysis resources dedicated to GIS education and research.

Activity

GIS support for transportation sustainability at UWSP can be broken into a sequence of stages: database development, preliminary quantitative analysis, education, qualitative surveys, public participation, plan development, modeling possible outcomes, implementation, and monitoring indicators over time. These stages require direct engagement with the UWSP community and larger environment through which transportation activity takes place.

Implementation of UWSP’s transportation sustainability plan begins with assessment of current transportation practices and measurement of indicators to guide decision-making and set milestones to evaluate effectiveness. This step obviously has great potential to raise awareness of transportation costs, as it will require community engagement and participation to yield meaningful insight. Publication of assessment results will reiterate and extend understanding as it contributes to self-reflection and consideration of opportunities for change.

Education benefits

Engagement with the UWSP community and local government is an important element of successful transportation demand and planning initiatives. The UWSP has already established a Sustainability Task Force and has a campus master plan that has cultivated relationships with other institutions. There are numerous departmental programs and course offerings with shared interests in sustainability, community, infrastructure and public participation.

Small City Analysis
Sociology – Community and environment
Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management
Communications
Center for Urban Land Use Education
Geography – urban planning

GIS center resources relative to the project, geography department pedagogy and student involvement – courses 471, 481, capstone, independent research/service

Workshops or presentations to municipal representatives

Student community engagement

Student associations invested in sustainability topics include

Environmental action
Environmental Educators and Naturalists Association (
Students for Sustainable Communities (
Environmental Council
Health and wellness
(UWSP Sports Medicine Club 2010)
Athletic events
Student Government Association
SGA Bike Rental Program - The greater area of Stevens Point is highly accessible by foot or bicycle. The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is well-known for its sustainability initiatives, and now students can rent bikes for FREE from UWSP’s Student Government Association (SGA). The bikes may be rented for as long as needed. Bicyclists are able to tour the many parks in the Stevens Point area, the historic downtown region, and the scenic Wisconsin and Plover rivers.

(Overesch 2007) – Bicycle safety – “At UWSP, bicycle accidents are on the rise. There have been 57 campus-related bicycle accidents at UWSP in the past ten years, two of which resulted in death” (1996 – 2006). This raises the question of the City’s involvement in transportation safety and possible modal change from car/bus to walk/bike.

Vision for student engagement

Students
Student organizations
Invite their participation.
Invite their suggestions on how they might best participate
Ask them to engage on our program and agenda
This is an organizational coordination effort
Will need a laundry list of things that need to be done
Will create an opportunity for proposals for autonomous participation
Requires events in the calendar

Faculty/employee

Faculty/employees
Faculty/employee organizations’?
Sometime there was a bike to work event. What was that?

Local governance and institutional relationships

City of Stevens Point Ecomunicipality initiative -
(Stevens Point Eco-Municipality 2008)
“We support sustainable growth through land uses and development that reduces fossil fuel consumption, supports healthy eco-systems, promotes social and economic equity, and creates a beautiful community”.
P2:
Objective 2.1: Establish a method for measuring and reporting development densities and spatial patterns of population and monitor changes over time.
P4:
Goal 6: Major institutional uses including the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, Mid State Technical College, St. Michael’s Hospital and others shall remain strong and grow in the central city in a pattern that is sustainable, diverse, and accessible.
Objective 6.1: Work with these groups to better create their identity (their own identified neighborhood).
Objective 6.2: Create distinguished entrances to these institutions that people and traffic can easily identify and utilize.
Objective 6.3: Encourage these organizations to use land more intensively rather than extensively so as to protect and preserve surrounding residential neighborhoods.
P6:
Objective 8.2: Make walking and bicycling safer for and more appealing to residents of all ages and abilities.
Action 1: Narrow traffic lanes at crosswalks to slow traffic.
Action 2: Allow alternate materials for sidewalks to allow for easy changes or repairs when impacted by tree roots.
Action 3: Use alternate crosswalk paving to accentuate crossing areas
Action 4: Add crosswalks and sidewalks to all existing commercial and retail areas.
Action 5. Require that pedestrian and bicycle use is included in all new development plans and road reconstruction projects.
(Senfelds, Olson et al. 2008) – this one is even more explicit on vision for walk/bike future infrastructure/practices.
City of Stevens Point Transit Services
Portage County Portage County Comprehensive Planning Program
North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission
Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA)

Vision for local governance engagement:

Data sharing and development

Data needed: Sidewalks, bike routes, curb ramps

Stevens Point:

The area has 20 developed parks, a 26-mile (42km) bicycle and jogging trail (the Green Circle Trail)

The Stanley Project – this is evidence that the community is excited about the bicycle idea.

Description (linked from the City’s website) (Hettler 2009)

Major community engagement (Taylor 2010)

The city residents have expectations of student involvement. (Paulson 2010) “Numerous people also called for students and faculty members to be tapped for their expertise on a number of issues, ranging from downtown planning to helping small businesses develop business plans and models.“

U RI GHG study. (Sholly 2006). Responsiveness to survey methods. What is their experience and effect with practical on the ground measures for participation?

What is GEM? - they are a force on campus but their activity does not seem to be practical and local with regard to transportation. Harvest their position on transportation and gauge the degree of activity on campus or w

(UW-O Campus Sustainability Team 2008) – What does Oshkosh have to say about transportation assessment or initiatives.

Parking on campus annual fee: $95 (

Upper Midwest Association for Campus Sustainability

“Students will be hired as sustainability coordinators to perform background research in initiatives, perform continued maintinance on the campus sustainability website, plan and organize student events and outreach.”
“The Public Relations Student Society of America has created a campus-wide sustainability pledge to promote sustainable living. Pins are handed out to any student, staff or faculty member who commits to the pledge.”

Bicyclists of UWSP Facebook page

(University of Wisconsin Stevens Point 2007)

Recognizes the importance of the commercial district along Division to student/campus life and laments its mixed appearance. “outdated vehicle oriented strip with mixed architecture.” P6
Rerouting major highway designations around campus will change priorities on recognized campus entry locations. Has bearing on transportation pressures and routing. P8
Campus circulation (vehicle movement through campus): Fourth avenue is identified as a major bottleneck for city through traffic. P10
Busses
Student bus initiative in 2003 allows students to ride busses for free.
Two bus routes serve campus, day routes (commuter) and night routes (shopping).
2004 Student fees fund route through concentrations of student residences. The bus passes through these areas twice each hour and back to campus Monday through Friday for 12 hours. (Where are these? Find out which routes these are and where they go. P12
Parking P14
3206 parking spaces total
Varying sizes due to parcel and use contortions
Contributes an uncomfortable appearance to campus
Parking demand is high and there is a waiting list.
Parking demands were satisfied in 2006 [what was the enrollment?]
2600 permits were sold to students and staff in 2006
Students used 800 spaces in 2006 [31%]. Student parking on campus may be reduced by policy in the future [p48]
Student parking pattern: idle during the week and used for home commute on weekends.
1400 on-street spaces near campus along city streets.
On-street parking is preferential even for those with permits [there’s an opportunity here to tag campus permit cars parking on city streets]
City parking policy is recognized for its impact on campus parking policy and practices.
Pedestrial/Bicycle p14
Disorganized or poorly identified routes; no hierarchy
Ped-traffic issues on Fourth at the HEC and between the library and DUC
Green Circle and connection with Schmeekle are valued.
There was a Residential Living Market Analysis??? P17
Sustainability is recognized including “promoting alternative transportation and attitude toward parking.” P22
It is a ‘wellness campus’ that promotes walking and bicycling. P22
Promote wayfinding and intuitive circulation patterns on campus P24
Reduce the impact of parking on campus neighbors, campus image and expected space needs.
P44 “The master plan recommends an overall reduction of on campus parking and a reallocation of these lands to other uses. A parking structure is proposed just west of the campus core to provide convenient, consolidated parking on campus.
PARKING [p48]
“Given the trade off between providing convenient surface parking and meeting other campus needs and goals, the campus has committed to the reduction of on-campus surface parking over time.”
“…walking will be promoted as a primary mode of transportation and support the health and wellness goal; reduction in parking is more environmentally defensible; and less parking, especially for younger students, means they will be more likely to stay on campus for the weekend, supporting the goal of creating a 24/7 campus lifestyle.”
“The majority of people driving to and parking on campus are faculty/staff, upperclassman, nontraditional students and students with off-campus jobs.”
Parking [sec 3 page 5] “new parking lots should designate prime stalls for vehicles using alternative energies such as electricity, ethanol, biofuel, hybrid cars, community cars and those used for carpooling.”
Bicycle structures [sec 3 p 16] “covered bicycle lockers should be provided at trail heads for the Green Circle Trail, and possibly in other places on campus, including near residence hall areas.
Bicycle lanes [sec 3 p 16] “When any campus street requires reconstruction in the future, a traffic study shall be conducted to determine if the traffic volume justifies installation of a designated bicycle lane.”
Parking [more]
Concept Main Streets [sec 1 iii] “Maintain existing parking quantity through addition of structured parking” [interpretation: this is talking about city streets and a UWSP investment in a structure would be a contribution?]
Concept Green Scheme [sec 1, vii] “a. Reduce parking by 25%; b. Introduce structured parking”

UWSP asks incoming students to leave cars at home – blog post from 2008

Reports incoming students value going home for the weekends. Mostly, very or fairly important to 75% of the students.

Campus assessments are also useful for establishing baseline information about campus performance, setting goals and priorities, and tracking progress.

Campus sustainability case studies :

Phase I: Indicator assessment and audits

Database development
Geocode student address database 1990, 2000, 2010
Conversion of the residential address database is the first step to assess the transportation physical and carbon footprint. The GIS Center uses ESRI StreetMap Premium Data 2009 to estimate address physical locations (geocoding). Geocoding success varies with the quality of data and adherence to standards. Determination of the correct location of addresses is on average 87.5% (Radcliffe 2002) requiring investment in manual validation and correction to achieve suitable results.
20 PI hours : $800
60 student hours: $616
Geocode employee address database 2010
Employee addresses will require a different approach than the students because this information is less available and will require engagement with UWSP administration.
10 PI hours: $400
30 student hours: $408
Road network data development for origin-destination routing
The roads database available for the Stevens Point region requires development and adjustment before it can support modeling of origin-destination choices and evaluation of roadway burden. Development and adjustments will address presence and function of traffic signals, street signs, roadway lanes, directionality, sidewalks, on-street parking and speed limits. This is a labor-intensive undertaking.
60 PI hours: $2400
200 student hours: $2720
Census residence, employment, and transportation spatial patterns.
Need these to establish a foundation of local conditions on which the student and employee population function. Spatial statistics include population density, residence tenant/ownership percentage.
10 PI hours: $800
20 intern hours: $320
Assessment of indicators and analysis of distribution
Student resident distribution
Local addresses

a)Understanding of the distribution of student residences and possible travel patterns is indispensable for transportation planning. The information and cartographic products needed to support this objective will quantify and communicate density, clustering and determination of factors that contribute to these patterns. Assess change in distribution of student residences with change in local development patterns in housing availability and zoning since 1990.

b)12 PI hours for analysis & cartography: $480

c)20 student hours for cartography: $360

Difference between local/permanent residences

a)Students’ cars may remain parked during the week but 75% of incoming students express going home on weekends is a most, very, or fairly important value of their anticipated college experience. (Office of the Chancelor 2008). How far away are students’ permanent residences and how many are within a day’s drive time? How has the distribution of local/permanent distance and distribution changed since 1990?

b)6 PI hours: $240

c)20 intern hours $320

Employee residence patterns and comparison with students’

a)Frequently there are sharp differences between student and employee residence patterns and transportation practices (Sholly 2006). The same quantification objectives articulated above will be applied to the employee address database and compared to the patterns revealed for the student population.

b)12 PI hours: $480

c)12 intern hours: $200