Nationwide survey of transportation planning courses: Introduction, findings, and recommendations

Abstract

This paper reports on a nationwide survey that was conducted from November 2004 through April 2005. The survey is part of a project titled the National Transportation Planning Course Syllabus and Associated Case Studies, funded by the Dwight David Elsenhower Transportation Fellowship program at the U.S. Department of Transportation. The primary objective of the survey was to determine what topics are currently being covered and their level of emphasis. The secondary objective was to identify topics for which educators would use case studies and references provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Instructors of transportation planning courses from 47 universities were chosen for the survey, and they returned 32 completed survey instruments. On the basis of the survey efforts, it was found that, first, the survey and the project that it serves can be useful in improving transportation planning instruction at U.S. universities; second, the survey and the project were welcomed by most universities and educators surveyed; third, the survey results can potentially be used for multiple purposes; fourth, not having a list of the institutions offering a transportation planning course(s) posed challenges for sample selection for the survey and validation of the survey results; and fifth, it is difficult to design a survey instrument for a discipline such as transportation planning, which is dynamic and ever changing.