A core purpose of the transportation system is to efficiently connect residents to destinations. Access to opportunities (ATO) measures how well people can reach essential needs such as jobs, schools, grocery stores, parks, and community centers by combining mobility and proximity analyses.

The Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) has primarily measured ATO through travel demand model (TDM) outputs and developed web-based tools to explore regional accessibility. However, a faster, more flexible method was needed to complement the TDM approach. To address this, WFRC developed the ATO Impact Tool, built on ESRI's ArcGIS Network Analyst. This tool assesses the accessibility benefits of individual or small groups of road, transit, bike, and land-use projects. It does so by incorporating candidate projects into the baseline network, adjusting travel time assumptions, and recalculating distance-decayed travelsheds for over 3,000 traffic analysis zones (TAZs). The tool then quantifies changes in job and household accessibility, allowing comparisons between baseline and project scenarios at regional and local scales.

The ATO Impact Tool’s results have been integrated into WFRC’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) prioritization process. The tool generates an ATO metric that measures both how well residents can access jobs and how well employers can reach the labor force. These measures are scaled using the Region’s jobs-per-household ratio, producing a composite score.

By identifying accessibility gaps, ATO analysis supports planning decisions, and includes summary metrics for underserved populations who may be less frequent users of  personal vehicles to meet their travel needs. Designed for efficiency, the tool’s analysis takes 20-30 minutes per project and can be applied beyond the WFRC planning area. While individual projects typically have a minor impact on regional ATO—less than 1%—they show meaningful variation at the local level. This allows for targeted planning and a better understanding of transportation equity across different populations.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), in cooperation with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA), is conducting engineering and environmental studies for high-speed passenger service between downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth, which spans a distance of approximately 31 miles. High-speed service between Dallas and Fort Worth would potentially connect to a separate high-speed passenger rail service being planned between Dallas and Houston, and high-speed passenger services planned to link Fort Worth to south Texas metropolitan areas. This study is evaluating high-speed alternatives in the Dallas-Arlington-Fort Worth corridor by analyzing potential alignments and technologies; follow-on operations and service planning will inform preliminary engineering and environmental documentation for high-speed passenger service. At a minimum, conventional, higher-speed, and high-speed passenger rail, as well as magnetic levitation (maglev) and emerging hyperloop technologies, are considered. The project scope of work consists of two phases. Phase 1 (2020-2022) developed and evaluated a wide range of high-speed technology and alignment alternatives. The result of Phase 1 was a limited number of alignments and one high-speed technology to be refined and further evaluated in Phase 2. These efforts will be documented through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. In Phase 1, 43 alignments and five technologies were evaluated through three levels of screening analyses. To help inform Levels 2 and 3 of the screening analysis, a travel demand investigation evaluated the potential demand for high-speed service based on premium service characteristics, connectivity to other high-speed corridors, regional connectivity, socio-economic information, and travel behavior. The intent of the travel demand analysis in Phase 1 was to provide a sufficient level of detail to differentiate between modes and alignments and was not to serve as a ridership estimation.

 In Phase 1, various travel demand scenarios based on technologies/modes, number of stations, and connectivity were developed to determine the effect of these variables on demand. Within each scenario, three different trip types are defined to make up the forecasted travel demand: intra-regional, intercity, and external to external trips. Intra-regional trips were estimated using the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Travel Demand Model (RTM), which NCTCOG developed and maintains. Intercity and external to external trips were estimated with support from previous forecasting efforts by others. Special events, induced demand, and latent demand were considered in forecasting the overall travel demand as well.

In Phase 2, a modified regional travel model was developed to forecast intra-regional ridership for the locally preferred alternative and high-speed mode. Transit skim was incorporated into the trip distribution process to allow OD distribution to adopt high-speed’s faster travel time. External trips are introduced in the mode choice and transit assignment steps to produce intercity trips. 

Background to Problem

Urban freight transportation faces a critical transition period as cities seek to reduce emissions while maintaining economic vitality. The shift to cleaner fleets presents complex challenges requiring careful balance of industry capabilities, environmental justice, and climate goals. While federal regulatory processes generate substantial stakeholder feedback, this valuable data source remains underutilized in transportation planning, particularly in understanding divergent perspectives on fleet electrification.

Description of Application

Part 1 of this project demonstrates how sentiment analysis and topic modeling of federal regulatory comments can be used to characterize stakeholder attitudes towards fleet electrification. Using FinBERT, an open-source transformer-based natural language processing model, we analyze 1,171 unique organization- and individual-submitted comments (comprising 4.7 million words) from the EPA’s docket on greenhouse gas standards for heavy-duty vehicles. Our analysis quantifies topic and sentiment across themes such as infrastructure readiness, costs, regulation, climate change, and public health, revealing systematic differences across stakeholder groups. For example, trucking-affiliated businesses expressed negative sentiment about costs and feasibility, while nonprofits and individuals highlighted climate and health issues..

Part 2 extends this methodology to assess procedural equity in rulemaking. We examine EPA’s published response-to-comment file to evaluate which stakeholders’ concerns were acknowledged and how responsiveness varied across institutional categories, regulatory relevance, and comment sophistication.We find that industry stakeholders consistently received attention regardless of comment sophistication, while nonprofits and individuals were rarely acknowledged, even when presenting technically strong input. Moreover, EPA devoted greater attention to comments focused on compliance costs than to those emphasizing public health or climate impacts. This inequitable weighting of stakeholder input has direct implications for planners: federal rules shape local freight transitions, but not all community priorities are equally represented in those rules.

Statement on Why Application is Noteworthy

For planners, this work demonstrates a novel way to bring federal regulatory data into local decision-making. First, it offers a replicable method for transforming large volumes of stakeholder input into clear, actionable metrics that can inform local planning. Second, it highlights procedural equity dynamics that shape which perspectives influence regulatory outcomes. This knowledge can guide planners in more inclusive community engagement. Third, by relying entirely on open-source tools and public data, the approach can be readily adapted by planning agencies to assess stakeholder perspectives in other areas of transportation policy, from safety to sustainability.

A Corridor Study, including two corridors, conducted as part of the Transportation Talks program, aims to enhance safety, mobility, and aesthetics along the corridors. The study evaluates current conditions, engages community stakeholders, and develops targeted improvements to address pedestrian and vehicular safety concerns, multimodal accessibility, and urban design enhancements.

The study utilized a multi-phase approach, incorporating technical analysis and extensive public engagement. Key methodologies included the following efforts. Community Outreach was conducted through public meetings to gather input and refine recommendations. Data Collection and Analysis was done to review corridor characteristics, travel patterns, and crash data. Roadway Safety Audit (RSA) was performed to identified critical safety concerns and high-risk locations. Solutions and improvements were proposed based on public feedback and technical evaluations, including enhanced lighting, improved pedestrian crossings, and multimodal infrastructure upgrades.

The study proposes a phased implementation strategy. For Short-Term (1-3 years), repair damaged sidewalks, install pedestrian safety measures, such as curb extensions and marked crosswalks, and improve lighting conditions. For Mid-Term (3-5 years), reconfigure left-turn lanes, add buffered bike lanes, consolidate driveways, and enhance transit infrastructure. For Long-Term (5+ years), relocate utility poles, introduce cycle tracks, and implement large-scale roadway narrowing for pedestrian and cyclist safety.

The Corridor Study presents a data-driven, community-informed roadmap for transforming the corridor into a safer, more accessible, and visually appealing urban space. By integrating public feedback and technical assessments, agency can aim to prioritize improvements that address safety concerns, multimodal needs, and urban aesthetics while ensuring long-term sustainability. The study serves as a foundation for future planning and funding initiatives to enhance the corridor’s functionality for all users.

Abstract Background

In most parts of the country, transportation investments are heavily skewed towards roadways. The tools developed to guide the decision-making process typically include a travel demand model, which are often focused on roadway calibration. This leads to the belief in certain traditional DOTs that ‘widening’ and ‘new roadways’ are the only solutions to improving mobility and reducing congestion. This presentation shows the modeled impacts of removing widening projects from the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) of Triangle West Transportation Planning Organization (TWTPO) in North Carolina and makes a case for a more balanced approach when determining when to consider widening.

Project level planning in North Carolina is done with the assumption that changes on a particular corridor will impact only that corridor, and not the regional system Many agencies believe the traffic studies assume that the demand on a given roadway corridor will remain constant no matter the capacity of the roadway. Certain agencies’ outlook is completely opposite – that if roadway widenings are not provided, the demand will disappear or take other forms of transport. Our analysis suggests that the reality lies somewhere between these two positions, and so do the solutions. Neither ‘widening’ nor ‘not-widening’ is always the answer, and that policy choice often is the issue to be tackled. 

The TWTPO removed many previously planned road widenings in their 2050 MTP assumption behind the removal of widening projects was that the trips will use other arterial and local roads for shorter trips, and some congestion will necessitate mode-shift towards non-motorized modes and transit. NCDOT wanted to understand the impacts of this decision to be able to have an informed negotiation during the ongoing 2055 MTP discussions. 

Our analysis was not limited to standard congestion metrics. It also included accessibility of population and employment, transit ridership change, change in aggregate production and attraction, aggregate delay, cost of delay, and basic calculations of return on investment. This helped NCDOT understand how removing widenings on each individual project will impact overall system level travel metrics and provide them with enough information to have a discussion with TWTPO to come to a common understanding regarding road-widening in the upcoming 2055 MTP. 

The project concluded in August 2025

This work presents a framework for integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into transportation analysis tools to address the complexities of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) impact assessments under California’s SB 743 regulations. Using a web-based VMT analysis tool (TREDLite VMT) as a practical example, the framework illustrates how AI can streamline workflows, enhance regulatory compliance, and improve user experience for planners, engineers, and policymakers.

The framework introduces three core components: a natural language interface for intuitive user interaction, an AI-powered chatbot enriched with a comprehensive knowledge database, and automated workflows for efficient reporting and analysis. The chatbot allows users to ask complex questions, interpret regulatory requirements, and access actionable insights, transforming the execution of VMT analyses while the other features enable advanced handling of geospatial data, structured inputs, and unstructured regulatory guidance.

This work highlights the technical integration of these components, emphasizing lessons learned in adapting AI to existing systems, overcoming limitations of off-the-shelf AI tools like Microsoft Copilot Studio, ensuring robust database connectivity, and addressing user-centric needs. By focusing on the framework’s background, development, and deployment, it offers actionable insights for practitioners aiming to leverage AI in VMT analysis and provides a scalable roadmap for incorporating AI into similar tools.