INTD 182-026 Planes, Trains & Automobiles How Transportation Systems Affect the Way We Live

Norman W. Garrick FLC 311 - (860) 486-2990 garrick@engr.uconn.edu	John N. Ivan FLC 313 - (860) 486-0352 johnivan@engr.uconn.edu
Thurs 3:30-4:30 PM	E-II 323

Course Description

Have you ever thought about how our streets, highways, rail lines and airports get built? Who decides where they will go? Who designs them? Have you ever wondered why we have suburban sprawl, or why Connecticut cities are struggling to survive? In this course we will investigate how transportation engineering and planning decisions made in the past affect how we live today.

Class meetings will be in the following formats:

• Interactive group exercises
• Viewing and discussing videos
• Discussion of readings from both technical and non-technical sources
• Talks by outside speakers

Course Grading

Instead of formal examinations and homework assignments, students will keep a journal consisting of no more than two pages written about what they learned in each class period. These journals will be collected four times during the course and returned with comments and a grade on the following dates: Sep. 30, Oct. 21, Nov. 11, Dec. 9

Each submission is cumulative, that is students are expected to revise what they have written for the previous submissions according to instructor comments, permitting them to improve their grade on that portion of the journal.

Course Text

There is no textbook for the course. Readings will be assigned from materials available through course reserve at Babbidge Library or handed out in class. A list of readings is attached to this syllabus.

Course Schedule

click on assignment to get available course material

	Topic	Reading
Sept 02	Introduction
Sept 09	Exercise: Role of Transportation in Society	1, 2
Sept 16	Exercise: Urban Form and Transportation Choices	3, 4
Sept 23	Video: Divided Highways (Part 1)	5, 6, 7, 8
Sept 30	Video: Divided Highways (Part 2)
Oct 07	Video: Divided Highways (Part 3)
Oct 14	Speaker: Deborah Gordon, "Transportation and the Environment"
Oct 21	Exercise: Personal Trip Making
Oct 28	Exercise: Traffic Calming	9
Nov 04	Exercise: Transit Villages / New Urbanism	10, 11
Nov 11	Exercise: Environmental Justice	12, 13, 14
Nov 18	Exercise: Curitiba / Ottawa Case Study	15, 16, 17
Nov 25	NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING RECESS
Dec 02	Speaker: Martha Frankel, "A Rural Village for Columbia"	18, 19
Dec 09	Course wrap-up and review

READING LIST

All items are on reserve in Babbidge Library. All except those indicated with an * are available through electronic reserve.

1. Rachel Beck, "Online groceries growing," The Chronicle, Willimantic, CT, Friday May 28, 1999, p. 18.

2. James Lardner, "Please don't squeeze the tomatoes online," U.S. News & World Report, Nov. 9, 1998, p. 51-52.

3. Peter Kilborn, "No work for a bicycle thief: children pedal around less," New York Times, June 7, 1999, p. A1, A21.

4. Jonathan Silver, "Tokens can make for easy going," Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, Dec. 4, 1998.

5. John Hughes, "Businesses fight urban sprawl," The Chronicle, Willimantic, CT, June 15, 1999, p. 18.

6. Glen Johnson, "D.C. traffic is bad and getting worse," The Chronicle, Willimantic, CT, Feb. 26, 1999, p. 6.

7. Jill Jordan Sieder, "Traffic jam," U.S. News & World Report, Feb. 8, 1999, p. 28.

8. Lori Wiechman, "Gridlock in Atlanta driving city crazy," Hartford Courant, Sep. 7, 1998, p. A7.

9. Robin Stansbury, "Neighbors fear fast cars near Morley School," Hartford Courant, July 12, 1999, p. B1.

10. *Arlene Horowitz, "New Urbanism Designs Suburbs for People, Not Cars," New Jersey Institute of Technology, InTransition, Spring 1998, p. 6-11, 36-37.

11. *Michael Bernick, "Transit Villages: Tools for Revitalizing the Inner City," University of California Transportation Center, Access, University of California, Berkeley, No. 9, Fall 1996, p. 13-17.

12. *Fern L. Shepard and Paul K. Sonn, "A Tale of Two Cities," Chapter 4 in Just Transportation, Robert D. Bullard and Glenn S. Johnson (editors), New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, 1997, p. 42-52.

13. Gail Daly, "The battle is on - Proposal for another halfway house renews the debate over dumping," The Chronicle, Willimantic, CT, Apr. 29, 1999, p. 1, 8.

14. Edward Barnes, "Can't get there from here," TIME, Feb. 19, 1996, Vol. 147, No. 8.

15. *G. B. Arrington, "Portland Oregon is Transit-Friendly, Thriving Economically & Livable, Too!," New Jersey Institute of Technology, InTransition, Spring 1998, p. 12-17, 38.

16. Mike Swift, "Transit study in the works," Hartford Courant, Nov. 1, 1998, p. B2, B3.

17. Tom Condon, "A good plan powered by simplicity, " Hartford Courant, Aug. 20, 1998, p. A3. 18. Diane Church, "Village district plans reviewed," The Chronicle, Willimantic, CT, Aug.

18, 1999, p. 2. 19. Harold Shayer, "Columbia appeals board denies post office exemption," The Chronicle, Willimantic, CT, July 9, 1999, p. 3.

photographic credit - Norman W. Garrick

Date of last update - 31 Aug 1999