National Transportation Planning

Soon after starting work on the development of a methodology for national trans­ portation planning in Venezuela, we realized the importance of an integrated management process for such an effort. We also realized the absence in the literature of specific guidelines on how to manage and conduct a transportation planning effort. The literature on the subject of national transportation planning is predominantly theoretical and technical in nature. To a large extent, the absence of literature on management and broad-based methodological approaches reflects the limited and ad hoc nature of the experience in national transportation planning. This book is an attempt to fill that gap. The main objective of the book is to show one way by which a methodology for national transportation planning can be integrated into a process management framework. It reports on the experience that the authors had in the Venezuelan case, as well as in earlier national planning efforts. The book is not intended as a theoretical discussion of planning. Instead, it adopts a particular theoretical stand and proceeds on that basis to develop a program for applying a specific methodology. The intention is to leave as much of the details and elaborations of that methodology to the user. This is motivated by two considerations. The first is a pragmatic attempt to limit the scope of the book.

1. Introduction.- 2. Inventory.- 3. Diagnosis.- 4. Definition of policies, objectives, and criteria.- 5. Institutional and financial analysis.- 6. Supply analysis.- 7. Demand analysis.- 8. Operational and capital improvements.- 9. Forecast of interzonal movements on the road network.- 10. Future modal options.- 11. Identification of future transportation deficiencies.- 12. Generation, analysis, and evaluation of critical corridor alternatives.- 13. Generation, analysis, and evaluation of transportation system alternatives.- Appendices.- 1. Final outputs of the national plan.- 2. Timing and scheduling of work tasks.- 3. Air transport study.- 4. Procedures for a continuing planning process (CPP).- 5. Bibliography.