John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center's Books

Protecting National Park Soundscapes

By: John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center,National Park Service,National Academy of Engineering

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Protecting National Park Soundscapes

By: John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center,National Park Service,National Academy of Engineering

America's national parks provide a wealth of experiences to millions of people every year. What visitors see-landscapes, wildlife, cultural activities-often lingers in memory for life. And what they hear adds a dimension that sight alone cannot provide. Natural sounds can dramatically enhance visitors' experience of many aspects of park environments. In some settings, such as the expanses of Yellowstone National Park, they can even be the best way to enjoy wildlife, because animals can be heard at much greater distances than they can be seen. Sounds can also be a natural complement to natural scenes, whether the rush of water over a rocky streambed or a ranger's explanation of a park's history. In other settings, such as the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, sounds are the main reason for visiting a park. The acoustical environment is also important to the well-being of the parks themselves. Many species of wildlife depend on their hearing to find prey or avoid predators. If they cannot hear, their survival is jeopardized-and the parks where they live may in turn lose part of their natural heritage. For all these reasons it is important to be aware of noise (defined as unwanted sound, and in this case usually generated by humans or machinery), which can degrade the acoustical environment, or soundscape, of parks. Just as smog smudges the visual horizon, noise obscures the listening horizon for both visitors and wildlife. This is especially true in places, such as remote wilderness areas, where extremely low sound levels are common. The National Park Service (NPS) has determined that park facilities, operations, and maintenance activities produce a substantial portion of noise in national parks and thus recognizes the need to provide park managers with guidance for protecting the natural soundscape from such noise. Therefore, the focus of the workshop was to define what park managers can do to control noise from facilities, operations, and maintenance, and not on issues such as the effects of noise on wildlife, noise metrics, and related topics. To aid in this effort, NPS joined with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and with the US Department of Transportation's John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center to hold a workshop to examine the challenges and opportunities facing the nation's array of parks. Entitled "Protecting National Park Soundscapes: Best Available Technologies and Practices for Reducing Park- Generated Noise," the workshop took place October 3-4, 2012, at NPS's Natural Resource Program Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. Protecting National Park Soundscapes is a summary of the workshop.

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National Academies Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0309285429

ISBN 13

9780309285421

White Mountain National Forest Alternative Transportation Study

By: John A. Volpe National Transportation Systecenter

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White Mountain National Forest Alternative Transportation Study

By: John A. Volpe National Transportation Systecenter

The White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) is one of the most visited federal lands for recreation in the country, attracting 1.7 million visitors annually. But growth in visitation to the WMNF is increasingly affecting the visitor experience and the WMNF's natural resources. This report documents a planning effort to improve car-free travel options in and around the forest. It documents visitor use trends and transportation issues, explores partnership opportunities for alternative transportation implementation; and identifies options for additional alternative transportation planning or implementation projects. It concludes with recommendations and possible future scenarios for alternative transportation systems.

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140

Publisher

CreateSpace

Published Date

ISBN 10

1494356651

ISBN 13

9781494356651

Transportation Systems and Service Policy

A Project-Based Introduction

By: John G. Schoon

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Transportation Systems and Service Policy

A Project-Based Introduction

By: John G. Schoon

The many aspects of urban transportation planning and design demand a multi faceted approach to ensure responsive, economical, and environmentally sensi tive facilities that enhance mobility. Yet all too easily the complexity of the process can obscure the major elements. This book aims at assisting the analyst to provide decision makers with a range of solutions by illustrating how service policies regarding quality of service, fares, investment levels, and environmental impacts affect and are affected by each other. This book, therefore, concentrates on the process of planning and design. It addresses the major elements of urban transportation planning, design, and impact estimation, and offers practice in undertaking typical projects. It focuses on the linkages and interaction with public policy regarding user service levels, and the resulting design and impacts. The process is illustrated by (1) outlining the individual transportation analysis and design techniques and their linkages, (2) describing the planning and design process, from population changes affect ing demand and mobility needs to estimation of air pollution and energy use impacts that are instrumental in shaping public policy and strategic planning, (3) presenting examples of transportation design projects showing how service policy may affect the physical and operational design of multimodal, urban trans portation systems, (4) enabling the readers to obtain practice in basic, applied transportation analysis, design, and impact estimation by defining the key service policy variables of projects for solution, and (5) familiarizing the reader with

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