For the Roanoke and New River Valleys
Guidelines and Project Progress

Background
Why A Plan?
Purpose/Need and Pre-Project Planning
Data Collection and Analysis
Goals and Objectives
Planning Guidelines
Implementation
Evaluation

RIDE Solutions is the regional TDM agency for the Roanoke and New River Valley regions of Southwest Virginia, a cooperative effort between the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission, out of which RIDE Solutions has been based since its inception in 2001-02, and the New River Valley Planning District Commission, with whom an agreement was struck in 2006 to offer ridematching services in the New River Valley region. The program is funded primarily by VDRPT’s Commuter Assistance grant with matching funds coming from each PDC and additional financial support from Virginia Tech. Current staff consists of a Program Director out of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission whose responsibilities include all technical work, including website development, ridematching, database maintenance; general marketing, branding, and awareness campaigns; and employer outreach efforts within the Roanoke Valley region. An Employer Outreach Coordinator is staffed part-time out of the New River Valley Planning District Commission who works exclusively with New River Valley businesses and professional organizations to establish employer programs and build program awareness.

The area serviced by RIDE Solutions is defined by the boundaries of its parent Planning District Commissions and is primarily rural with two urban centers : the Roanoke metro area, the largest population and employment center in the region , and the Blacksburg/Christiansburg area, smaller in population but host to three institutions of higher education: Virginia Tech, Radford University, and New River Community College. Predictably, the demographic there skews considerably younger than Roanoke’s. Commuting between the two regions makes for a significant number of daily trips up and down the congested I-81 corridor, a major freight route that may generate additional truck traffic when the intermodal center in Elliston is completed. The expansion of Virginia Tech’s Corporate Research Center in Blacksburg also promises to add to traffic growth along I-81 between the New River Valley and Roanoke Valley.

On the whole, congestion is not a significant problem in the area, with the exception of a few small corridors and time periods; even so, the perception of congestion is growing, particularly when commuter traffic competes with long-haul truck traffic on I-81, and that perception has driven some segment of commuters to seek alternatives. As the Roanoke Valley-Area MPO looks ahead, it is expected that the 2010 census will result in the area being designated a TMA and putting a congestion management plan into place. RIDE Solutions will be a significant contributor to that effort, and the LRTDMP will likely be integrated into the CMP in some way.

Though congestion is not of immediate concern, mobility is. Residents of the largely rural areas often have no option but to use single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) travel to get to work, and residents without access to a vehicle can be trapped. In that respect, RIDE Solutions may service as their only mobility option through carpool matching.

The two regions are served by small transit agencies with limited penetration into their respective areas: Blacksburg Transit serves the Town of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech, with limited service to Christiansburg and no service to outside areas such as Radford or south Christiansburg. Pulaski Area Transit is a non-fixed-route service supporting the Pulaski County area. The Greater Roanoke Transit Company offers regular bus service within the City of Roanoke, limited connecting service to the City of Salem and the Town of Vinton, and no service into Roanoke County. GRTC also offers a commuter bus, the SmartWay, between the Roanoke and New River Valleys that has grown increasingly popular since March of 2008 as gas prices have soared.

Many commuters in the region travel long distances into the two urban employment centers. Roanoke regularly draws commuters from all over Franklin and Bedford Counties, particularly as the Smith Mountain Lake area has seen incredible development and growth. Virginia Tech aided in the launch of RIDE Solutions service in the NRV because it draws employees from as far away as West Virginia and other communities further southwest in Virginia. Many commuters have regular one-way trips of 35 miles or more. With limited or no transit options, carpool facilitation with RIDE Solutions is often their only option. Roanoke serves as the headquarters for the region’s largest employer, Carilion Clinic, with 11,000 employees across both the Roanoke and New River Valleys. Carilion is in the process of a brownfield redevelopment project, building a new clinic, a medical school in cooperation with Virginia Tech, and a biomedical research facility near downtown Roanoke. In support of this development a 1,600 space parking garage was built, indicating that once completed the new research park and medical school will create additional congestion and parking demand in an already busy Downtown Roanoke Jefferson Street Corridor and along the 581/Route 220 corridor.

In addition, many localities in our region are becoming increasingly interested in, or have already undertaken steps towards, policies that address local contribution to climate change. Blacksburg is seeking designation from the Sierra Club’s Cool Cities program, and Blacksburg’s Mayor Ron Rordam serves on the Governor’s Climate Change Committee. The Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition, of which RIDE Solutions is an affiliate, has worked to get Roanoke City and County, and the City of Salem to measure their carbon footprint via the ICLEI process and is a strong partner in developing strategies to bring overall greenhouse gas emissions down. In all of these cases, it is recognized that a regional approach will be necessary to affect the segment of emissions generated by vehicles, and that RIDE Solutions will be a major player in implementing regional trip reduction programs. Further, the Roanoke Valley is borderline nonattainment for ozone and fine particulate matter pollutions (PM 2.5). Roanoke recently completed its Ozone Early Action Plan and is expected to be declared in attainment; trip reduction through RIDE Solutions was a major component of that plan, and trip reduction will be instrumental in maintenance of local air quality. RIDE Solutions staff are increasingly seen as the “go to” people for transportation-related environmental issues and serve as a source of local expertise for city administrations, council and board members, private businesses and professional organizations.

The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) is developing a Statewide Travel Demand Management Plan. The focus of the plan will be on TDM measures and their impacts in reducing and managing traffic congestion, improving air quality, and supporting economic development programs. This plan must be complete by May 1, 2009. The plan will allow for a continuous 20-year planning horizon, coincide with the Statewide Transportation Plan (VTRANS) horizon of 2035, and be incorporated into VTRANS. As envisioned by DRPT, the plan will contain six distinct sections that include, in order, the following:

• Purpose/Need and Pre-Project Planning
• Data Collection and Analysis
• Goals and Objectives
• Planning Guidelines
• Implementation
• Plan Evaluation

DRPT is requiring all TDM agencies in Virginia to draft their own TDM Plans by February 2, 2009 which will be incorporated into the Statewide TDM Plan. The Statewide TDM Plan, along with the local TDM Plans, will demonstrate the potential return on investment for TDM programs, identify best practices for establishing successful TDM programs, and provide a blueprint for program expansion through future planning. This will include a heavy emphasis on benchmarking and developing quantifiable performance measures.

This section involves two primary elements. The purpose and need element will answer the questions why (other than it is required) we are doing this plan and what do we hope to achieve with this plan. Answers to these questions will be developed in association with a Review Team. The second element of this section will be to form the Review Team, and to have the Review Team approve the timeline and public participation plan for the statewide plan. The Review Team will be selected by the DRPT Planning Division.

RIDE Solutions expects that we will establish that the plan purpose will be defined by several major themes including Sustainability, Mobility, Air Quality, Climate Change, and Health.

This section will involve the collection of appropriate data and specific analysis that leads to the next steps of the planning process. At a minimum, data will be obtained from the following sources where available.

• Existing Travel Demand Management Plans (source: RIDE Solutions)
• Grantee marketing plans (source: RIDE Solutions)
• State of the Commute Data (source: DRPT)
• Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) or Planning District Commission (PDC) Long-Range Plans (source: MPO or PDC)
• MPO Travel Demand Management Plans/Congestion Management Process (source: MPO or PDC)
• Corridor plans (source: MPO or PDC)
• Regional Traffic Mitigation Plans/Construction Management Plans (source: VDOT)
• Placement Rate Study (ridematching database survey) (source: DRPT)
• Coordinated Human Service Mobility Plans (from local transit agency, MPO or PDC)
• Local Economic Development Plans (source: local governments, typically Planning and/or Community Development Departments)
• Relevant proffers and other development agreements (source: local governments, typically Planning and/or Community Development Departments)
• Other Commission and Task Force Reports (source: MPO, PDC or local governments)
• Any other data sources as recommended by RIDE Solutions

Once the data is collected the analysis shall include, at a minimum, the following:

• Existing conditions at each agency
• Agency benchmarks
• Available and projected (to 2035) resources and funding
• Market report from State of the Commute
• Identification of key corridors of state significance in which travel demand management applications will be a vital component of corridor preservation
• What plans and/or regional programs are you included in , what is your specific role, and what budget has your agency been given to meet this role
• Identification of system strengths
• Identification of system weaknesses
• Identification of opportunities
• Identification of potential threats
• Identification of service gaps
• Identification of factors beyond TDM agency control that may impact travel demand management programs
• Identification of regional performance measures
• Any other issues that need attention

In cases where listed plans for data collection purposes are not available, it should be noted as a weakness. If situations exist where grantee Travel Demand Management Plans and Regional Plans (MPO or PDC) are incongruent or the TDM program is not mentioned, this should be identified as a weakness. If regional plans call for an increase in travel demand management programs and no funding is identified by the regional entity, this is to be listed as a threat.

RIDE Solutions expects that the data analysis and collection will include separate regional analyses of each the Roanoke and New River Valleys, since the demographic differences between the two are significant. We also expect separate analyses of the rural areas of the region. Analyses will include key corridor reviews, partocularly:

• 419 between Park and Ride and Tanglewood Mall
• Bent Mountain to Roanoke
• Fincastle to Roanoke
• 220, Rocky Mount to Roanoke
• Pembroke to Blacksburg
• Pepper’s Ferry between Radford and Christiansburg
• I-81 between Roanoke and Christiansburg

We will examine general trends in program performance and marketing efforts, projected funding, and transportation trends in the region. We will integrate findings from related studies and plans, such as the regional Bikeway Plan and Greenway Conceptual Plan, emphasizing connectivity between networks whenever possible. We will also update plans as necessary, primarily the 2005 Park and Ride Study.

After needs, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats are identified a series of goals and objectives will be developed to guide how travel demand management services can be enhanced to meet the needs of changing markets. In addition, goals and objectives will be developed that address each of the five phases in changing commuter behavior (define here). By DRPT definition, a goal is a general statement explaining what action will be taken to address specific issues. An objective is a quantifiable measure used to help achieve the stated goal. The goals and objectives must focus on outcomes and measuring quantifiable improvements such as shifts from single occupant vehicles to another mode or to alternative work arrangements..

We believe our Goals and Objectives will include:

• Database growth and mode-shift
• Target employers and areas of employment (such as the Corporate Research Center and Carilion Biomedical Research Facility)
• Growth of infrastructure options (additional/larger park and rides, transit service, casual carpooling, etc)
• Designation of target local governments as Bicycle Friendly Communities from the League of American Bicyclists
• Marketing guidelines

The purpose of this section is to provide a detailed description of policies and programs that will need to be developed to address the stated goals and objectives. This would include at a minimum:

• Ways to maintain or expand existing strengths
• How to correct weaknesses
• How to take advantage of identified opportunities
• How to deal with potential threats
• How to fill service gaps
• How to move choice riders through the five phases in changing commuter behavior

Recommendations may include new or existing programs, important policy decisions or changes that may be required, identification of new funding streams, and any other issues that may need to be addressed through a policy or program.

We expect to establish specific guidelines by modes (carpool, vanpool, bike, walk, transit, telework), and by indirect or support efforts.

The implementation section would be broken into three distinct time periods: short-term, medium-term, and long-term. Short-term implementation strategies should be either specific projects that would be listed in the Statewide Six-Year Improvement Program or a new DRPT initiative to enhance travel demand management services that must be started within the first six years of the plan. Medium-term implementation strategies would include specific projects that could be added to future Statewide Six-Year Improvement Programs if certain conditions are met or policies and programs that DRPT should consider over the next seven to 10 years. Long-term implementation strategies would include future policy considerations, specific actions necessary to turn ideas into projects, or other long-term visions that could enhance travel demand management services within the Commonwealth. For each time period (short, medium, and long-term) a budget plan should be identified (including funding source).

Implementation efforts will include adding or expanding existing infrastructure such as park-and-rides, program expansion into neighboring regions to service a broader commuter base, targeted employer partnerships, better integration and support for LEED, creation of sustainability plans for central business districts, achieving Bicycle Friendly Community/Business designations in the region, and offering additional carpool products and services such as event carpools, school pools, church pools, and so forth.

This section would provide DRPT with ways to react to situations or events that may affect the plan. It should also include ways to measure if objectives are being reached, how to evaluate new projects to determine if they help meet stated goals, and suggestions for the agency to consider should corrections be necessary to meet goals and objectives. It should also compare program performance against established benchmarks and regional performance measures that were selected.