Emerging Practices in Multimodal Design and Performance Measurement: Review of Recent Literature and Practical Documents

Abstract

This paper summarizes the state of the knowledge and practice for multimodal design and the use of multimodal performance measures in transportation projects. The traditional auto-centric approach to transportation performance measurement is reviewed before turning to recent efforts to design and evaluate projects across multiple modes. Approaches to developing multimodal level of service (MMLOS) measures, including the differences between supply- and demand-based performance measures, are reviewed and how these measures can integrate into the design process summarized. Five U.S. state Departments of Transportation are identified as multimodal practice leaders and a review of their design processes is provided to benchmark the state of the practice. It is found that, compared with traditional approaches, modern best practice for multimodal projects engages a broader range of stakeholders in project design, considers a wider range of alternatives, and allows for more design flexibility to match a solution to its specific context. The literature and current practice have not yet standardized on a single approach or list of performance measures to fit all multimodal projects. Rather, today’s multimodal design processes employ a suite of performance measures that address the competing stakeholder interests involved in a solution and allow them to see the tradeoffs among competing goals.