METRANS researchers convened Southern California-based regional and city planners for the Metropolitan Transportation Management Certificate pilot course, a class conducted over four consecutive Fridays in February and March which addressed multi-modal transportation conflicts in urban areas. Participants in this course included employees of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) and Caltrans, as well as representatives from the office of Los Angeles City Council member Joe Buscaino.

“The goal of this course was to increase the understanding of the vital role that freight movement plays in sustainable metropolitan communities. We wanted to approach multi-modal transportation planning fundamentals from a freight perspective,” said METRANS Associate Director Tom O’Brien. “This pilot course represents an innovative new frontier in transportation workforce development.”

Participants analyzed the potential conflicts between freight and passenger movement planning using a hypothetical west Los Angeles case study. They took part in an extensive bus tour of west Los Angeles prior to undertaking a case study area walk audit. The tour was led by former Century City Chamber of Commerce Executive Director and CITT Project Manager Steve Lantz. The walk audit incorporated the use of a Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) technology to analyze and record data developed by research assistants at CSULB.

Specific topics addressed in the course included:

• Geography of the Supply Chain and Trucking Perspective on the Passenger-Freight Conflict;
• Local Planning Approaches to integrate Goods Movement into Site Specific Planning and Innovative Approaches to Last Mile Deliveries;
• Understanding and Improving the Effectiveness of a Request for Proposal (RFP) Scope of Work; and
• Identifying Solutions with the help of GIS data collection tool

Robert Gomez, Transportation Manager at Port Logistics, was invited to lead a discussion during the first session of the course on the challenges to the freight sector of residential and commercial developments in Los Angeles that do not accommodate delivery trucks. Alan Clelland, Senior Vice President at Iteris Inc., was invited to the second session to help participants review a RFP scope of work for the hypothetical case study and consider how a consultant assisting an agency such as LA Metro might address the freight impacts of developments.

“What was most interesting to me was the blending of the transportation of freight with the business sector, and how complicated it can be without proper planning,” said Lilia Montoya, Director of Transportation Operations at LA Metro. “What I gained was the understanding of how there isn’t really a ‘meeting of the minds’ between parties. It seems disjointed. I think there needs to be more communication.”

The presentations, open discussions and group activities throughout this program fostered opportunities to collaborate with professionals from other public agencies in an effort to further enhance transportation planning efforts. The success of this pilot program has motivated the METRANS team to further develop its curriculum and share it as an educational tool for planning and transportation professionals around the country.

Kevin Argueta

Kevin Argueta is a research assistant at the Center for International Trade in Transportation. He is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in Political Science at Cal State Long Beach, and is expected to graduate in May 2017. Kevin’s interest lies in public policy for urban development through sustainable and innovative technologies. He can be reached at [email protected].