Guidelines for Transit-Sensitive Suburban Land Use Design

• Authored by:  E. Beimborn
• Co-authored by:  H. Rabinowitz , P. Gugliotta , C. Mrotek , S. Yan

Beimborn E., H. Rabinowitz, P. Gugliotta, C. Mrotek, and S. Yan. Guidelines for Transit-Sensitive Suburban Land Use Design, U.S. Department of Transportation, DOT-T-91-13 (1991)

      This report includes theoretical prototypes for a new type of suburb with “a mix of land uses and a high quality access system using walking and bicycle pathways to link land use with transit service.” The guidelines address all levels of the planning and design process including overall planning issues, such as the location and designation of transit corridors, to individual site decisions, such as pedestrian access to buildings. It would spatially separate auto-oriented corridors and land uses (e.g. big box retail) from transit corridors and transit oriented land uses by predesignating transit corridors and establishing transit oriented development guidelines.

      The ideal concept would provide ¼ mile separation between the auto-oriented highway corridor and the transit corridor. “Activities conducive to the use of public transit include those that occur with some regularity and with a direct origin-destination pattern.” Although somewhat dated, it offers an intriguing alternative for suburban areas that may be useful in the chapters on Corridor Management and Land Development and Access. The network designs illustrate methods of providing high levels of internal connectivity to transit corridors, while reducing internal through traffic and maintaining limited access to arterials.