CE 5212/PA5232:

Transportation Policy, Planning, and Deployment

Fall 2008

• Times: Monday and Wednesday 4:00 - 5:55
• Room: Civil Engineering 212
• Instructor: David Levinson
• Contact: dlevinson@umn.edu (preferred) or +01 (612) 625-6354 (not preferred). Office CE138
• Office Hours: By appointment. Email me or see me before or after class to set up appointment.

Textbook

• Garrison, W. and Levinson, D. (2005) The Transportation Experience (TTE), available at University of Minnesota Bookstore.
  

Objectives

This course aims to provide an environment for students to learn essential facts and develop models and frameworks to understand the development of transportation policy, the making of transportation plans, and the deployment of transportation technologies. The course uses a mixture of traditional lectures (generally on Mondays), and interactive learning through case studies and role playing (generally on Wednesdays). Both the lectures and the cases allow the students to develop an inductive understanding of transportation. The course will be successful if at the end, the student has developed a worldview on transportation (not necessarily the same as the instructor's), and has an appreciation for merits and demerits of various points of view on transportation issues. The course seeks an integrative approach for transportation, and though the stories in lecture will be told mode by mode, there are a number of opportunities to see the relationships between modes, in their structure in function, and in the learning as one mode adopts successful (and unsuccessful) attributes of others.

This Page: http://nexus.umn.edu/Courses/ce5212

Schedule

Notes: READING, Cx - refers to Chapter x in The Transportation Experience, CSx.html - refers to Case Study x, TBD - To Be Determined. Other articles will be provided in class, or links to articles will be provided.

Grading

20% Midterm Exam - Examination integrating ideas of lectures and case studies.

20% Final Exam - Comprehensive examination integrating ideas of lectures and case studies.

25% Assignments

-- (5%) Assignment 1 - Research Synthesis

-- (5%) Assignment 2 - Logistic Curve - Get original time series data on the deployment/adoption of a transportation mode, technology, or process. Estimate logistic model (S-curve). Discuss model and qualitative aspects of deployment of technology/mode.

-- (5%) Assignment 3 - Games as Simulations - Participate in game night. Review the games you played as a simulation of the actual historical network growth processes.

-- (5%) Assignment 4 - Federal Transportation Reauthorization Bill Position Paper - You will represent a particular group (assigned) that has interests in the upcoming US Federal Government surface transportation transportation bill. Draft a memo which represent your organization's interests in the outcome of the surface transportation bill.

-- (5%) Assignment 5 -

-- (~1%) BONUS A pool of 15 points will be allocated to participants whose primary position is adopted by Federal Legislation. (15/N)

20% Term Paper - A 10 -15 page single-spaced (10 or 12 point times new roman or similar font) piece on a transportation policy, planning, or deployment topic of your choice, with instructor's consent. You will submit a topic and an outline earlier in the semester and should get feedback on these. If you have any questions, you are encouraged to meet with your instructor. (Including Presentation)

15% Class Participation/Case Studies

-- 10% Preparation of Case Study: In groups of about 4, prepare 1 case study (determined on first day of class). This preparation includes collating materials, writing ~ 15 page (ss) background piece with key discussion questions, as well as leading discussion. You will work with the instructor on this.

-- 4% Weekly summary of cases: A 1-2 page (single-spaced) integrative summary of key points of the case, and relationship to ideas of related lectures. Graded in check, check plus, check minus format.

-- 1% General Participation: Your participation in cases that you do not prepare.

Cases

Written Case Study Report should include

• Summary,
• Annotated List of Actors,
• Timeline of Events,
• Maps of Locations,
• Clear Identification of Policy Issues,
• Narrative of the Case,
• Discussion Questions.
• Complete References of Cited (primary and secondary) Documents). (with hyperlinks as appropriate)

It should be written from a Neutral Point-of-View. Online encyclopedias are not acceptable sources (feel free to read to get background information, but they are at-best tertiary sources).
The report should be on the order of 10-15 pages, single-spaced, 12pt, 1in margins. It should be fully referenced. Additional readings on the order of 30 -100 pages should be assigned with the case, these will be linked on the case web page or handed out in class.

Groups are responsible for both the case web page and the case study report.

Policies

Students are advised to see:

• http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/Conduct.html
• http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/StudentConductCode.html
• http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/humanresources/Academic_Misconduct.html

regarding policies on academic conduct.

Fall, 2000

To: Students in the Institute of Technology

From: Peter Hudleston, Associate Dean

The purpose of this letter is to call your attention to the issue of scholastic dishonesty, so that you can avoid any problems during your studies at the University of Minnesota. The basic statement on this issue appears in the Undergraduate Catalog (p. 262) and in the back of the IT Student Guide: The Institute of Technology expects the highest standards of honesty and integrity in the academic performance of its students. Any act of scholastic dishonesty is regarded as a serious offense, which may result in expulsion. The Institute of Technology defines scholastic dishonesty as

submission of false records of academic achievement; cheating on assignments or examinations; plagiarizing; altering, forging, or misusing an academic record; taking, acquiring, or using test materials without faculty permission; acting alone or in cooperation with another to obtain dishonestly grades, honors, awards, or professional endorsement. Aiding and abetting an act of scholastic dishonesty is also considered a serious offense.

The questions below are often asked by students who seek interpretation of this policy.

1. What is cheating? Cheating is the violation of rules under which an examination is given or homework is assigned. This includes submitting an examination, an essay, a report, or a computer program that is not your own.
2. Does this mean that I can never study with another student? No. We encourage students to study together, and in the workplace you will often work as part of a team. The key issue is whether you are being evaluated as an individual on the basis of the work you hand in. Your instructor should make it clear when team work is expected and when you should work alone. If you are not sure, ask!
3. What is plagiarism? An excellent definition of plagiarism is from the Modern Language Association: "In short, to plagiarize is to give the impression that you have written or thought something that you have in fact borrowed from another." W. S. Achtert and J. Gibaldi, The MLA Style Manual, New York, Modern Language Association of America, 1985, p. 4.
4. When should I cite sources? There are two issues here. The first is to avoid plagiarism. The second is to make sure that the reader can follow your line of thought, verify the information that you have used, or explore the issue further. Some things are known so widely that they do not need citing: for example, the definition of momentum or solving a linear differential equation with constant coefficients. On the other hand, if you are writing for an audience who might not know how to solve a linear differential equation with constant coefficients, you might want to give a citation so that they could find out how. If you find the solution to a homework problem in a text or journal article, you should give a citation. If you are allowed to utilize previously written computer code, published or unpublished, within your own code, you should clearly identify such code and cite the source.

Web Sites on Plagiarism

• http://www.georgetown.edu/honor/plagiarism.html - What is Plagiarism?
• http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml - Plagiarism
• http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~janicke/plagiary.htm - Cut-and-Paste Plagiarism
• http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/c-merkel/cite.htm - Tips to Avoid Plagiarism and Cite Sources

LAST UPDATE August 23, 2008