A rendering of the Gateway light-rail station from a report released this week in Chapel Hill, NC. Image via The News & Observer.
This week, the town of Chapel Hill, NC considered development suggestions for 18 stations along its new 17-mile light rail line. The planning report was the result of feedback from community workshops and supported by a federal grant from the FTA.
Several resources are available in the TODresources.org library to help with station area and corridor planning specifically.
An important first consideration in the process could be corridor type. Is it an employment heavy corridor with lots of destinations or a commuter corridor with low density neighborhoods surrounding station areas? Dena Belzer lays out the important reasons for considering corridor types in her presentation Corridor-Level Approaches to Creating Transit Oriented Districts.
Next, consider the specific location of stations and their types to determine what is feasible from a transportation integration and development standpoint. The Station Area Planning TOD 202 document from FTA and CTOD lays out each station type from a Regional Center to a lower density Transit Neighborhood and their characteristics. Determining station types and future development possibilities can save money by pushing back more detailed station area plans until absolutely necessary, keeping reports from wasting away on a shelf.
Finally, you can score existing stations using a number of different standards including overall performance, reducing vehicle miles traveled, or equity. The TOD Standard by IDTP measures whether your station is the best at integrating transportation and urban design. The Performance Based Transit Oriented Development Typology Guidebook by CTOD gives tools for reducing VMT and measuring stations against peers while the eTOD rating system developed by the Dukakis Center measures equity.
Recent TOD news
Here’s what has been happening this week at TOD projects across the country.
- Report shares ideas from Chapel Hill light-rail station workshops — The News & Observer
- RTD’s R Line light-rail train through Aurora opens today with free rides, celebrations — Denver Business Journal
- MARTA finds new partner for King Memorial Station development — Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- MARTA unveils new TOD at King Memorial Station — Curbed Atlanta
- Brewery on tap for Midtown Oklahoma City development – News OK
- LETTER: Transit, bike paths key to Camden’s growth — Courier-Post
- Planning Dept Releases JJJ-Driven Transit-Oriented Development Incentives — Streetsblog LA