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This document discusses traffic impact assessments (TIAs) in Asian countries. It describes how TIAs evaluate potential traffic effects of new developments and are meant to accompany projects that could significantly impact transportation networks. The document then examines the institutional frameworks for TIAs in several Asian nations, including laws and guidelines established in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. Common issues facing effective TIA implementation in Asia are also outlined, such as unclear legislation and lack of established standards.
This document discusses traffic impact assessments (TIAs) in Asian countries. It describes how TIAs evaluate potential traffic effects of new developments and are meant to accompany projects that could significantly impact transportation networks. The document then examines the institutional frameworks for TIAs in several Asian nations, including laws and guidelines established in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. Common issues facing effective TIA implementation in Asia are also outlined, such as unclear legislation and lack of established standards.
This document discusses traffic impact assessments (TIAs) in Asian countries. It describes how TIAs evaluate potential traffic effects of new developments and are meant to accompany projects that could significantly impact transportation networks. The document then examines the institutional frameworks for TIAs in several Asian nations, including laws and guidelines established in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. Common issues facing effective TIA implementation in Asia are also outlined, such as unclear legislation and lack of established standards.
Comparison of traffic impact assessment in Asian countries
Definition of traffic impact assessment
A traffic impact assessment or TIA is an evaluation of the potential effects that a particular developments traffic will have on the transportation network in its impact area. The magnitude of these studies will vary depending on the type, size and location of the project. Ideally, TIA should accompany developments which have the potential to significantly impact the transportation network.
The term significant is actually a relative quantity since the contributions of different types of developments will vary and the available capacity of a network to absorb additional traffic is also variable. Thus, the threshold value of 100 additional vehicle trips employed by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) may not be applicable in all cases, especially those outside the United States and countries with similar traffic situations. Note that it is this threshold value that is one of the criteria for requiring TIA for developments.
In this section, the implementation of TIA in Asian countries is discussed. Particular focus is given to the institutional framework and existing challenges for TIA to be effectively applied in Asia. Recommendations are made for the promotion, implementation and monitoring of TIA.
Institutional framework
Formulation and effective implementation of TIA is heavily dependent on the existence of an institutional framework, under which the TIA process can be realized. TIA in Asia is usually under the environmental impact assessment process and thus encounters problems similar to those met in the implementation of EIA. Typical problems pertaining to the implementation of EIA as identified by Briffett, et al (2003) include the following:
Institutional problems where EIA is seen as bureaucratic red tape, Deficiencies in data management systems, Inappropriate monitoring mechanisms, Lack of skilled and trained manpower, and Political interference
Such problems extend to TIA, which is subsumed by the EIA process. This is compounded by unclear policies regarding TIA where the requirement of TIA becomes arbitrary rather than according to established guidelines. Examples of various efforts in establishing TIA in Asian countries are discussed in the succeeding paragraphs. Thus, a first requirement to be able to implement TIA is to have the institutional framework to enable the TIA process. This framework includes the existence of laws or formal policies covering TIA and is actually found in most Asian countries.
The Japanese government enacted the Law Concerning The Measures By Large Scale Retail Stores For Preservation Of Living Environment through the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) with the objective of regulating large scale commercial developments. The law is an attempt to apply a single standard for commercial establishments throughout the whole country; where traffic impacts may be under- or over-
2 estimated depending on the location and characteristics of cities. The law covers such elements like parking, access and egress design and the recommendation of options to the developer regarding the alleviation of negative impacts such as potential traffic congestion due to the project.
Japan also published formal guidelines for the conduct of traffic impact assessment (IATSS, 2001). The committee who worked on the guidelines was composed of representatives from government agencies, the academe and the general public. Most provisions point to existing guidelines or regulations like the Traffic Plan Manual for Large-Scale Development Districts, by the City Traffic Research Section of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT), as well as those in each prefecture.
In South Korea, they have enacted the Urban Planning Law, Urban Traffic Improvement Promotion Law (which contains the TIA guidelines), Environment Transportation Disaster Impact Assessment Law, and the Parking Lot Law. The TIA process in South Korea is shown in the Figure 1. The deliberation process details the entire work flow including the inputs from the laws covering TIA.
Figure 1. TIA evaluation process in South Korea (Source: Regidor, Kubota and Sakamoto, 2001) 1. Request TIA 2. Submit TIA report Central TIA Deliberation (Ministry of Construction & Transportation) Rural TIA Deliberation (City or Prefecture) Central Council Rural Council Client Owner of building City Office District Office Mayor, District Chairman or Country Headman 3. Submit TIA report 4. Pre-examination (Complementary Assessment or not) 5. Deliberation Approval? Consulting Service Company Laws Urban Planning Law - Urban Basic Planning Urban Traffic Improvement Promotion Law - Urban Traffic Improvement Basic Planning (Every 20 years) Traffic index - TIA Guidelines Environment Transportation Disaster Impact Assessment Law Parking Lot Law - Parking lot Improvement Basic Planning YES Permission NO Case 1: Re-Discussion Making up for critical mistakes and submission of Assessment Supplementary Report NO Case 2: Conditional Approval Case 3: Report of Condition Partial amendment of the TIA report Improvement of supplementary items & confirmation by council Deliberation Process of TIA
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In Thailand, they have the Town and Country Planning Act, the Building Control Act, the Land Development Act, and the Enhancement and Conservation of National Environment Quality Act. The first aims to develop a comprehensive city plan and project plan at the macroscopic level. The second deals with the building regulations and the procedures for obtaining a building permit. The act that focuses more on the project site characteristics is the third one as TIA guidelines were introduced under this law, which focused on environmental problems.
The typical TIA process in Thailand as applied in Bangkok is illustrated in the flowchart in Figure 2. Note that the process has similarities with the Korean process from the macroscopic perspective.
Figure 2. Traffic impact assessment process in Bangkok (Source: Hokao and Mohamed, 1999)
In the Philippines, Presidential Decree 1586 created an Environmental Impact Statement System in 1979. This was strengthened by Department Administrative Order 96-37 that provided guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment under which TIA was implied but not explicitly mentioned. The Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board issued a series of memos in 2005 requiring TIA for subdivision development of 30 hectares or more.
4 The TIA process for the Philippines is shown in Figure 3. In the figure, only the shaded boxes are actually implemented and this is due to that part being under the established EIA system. The reality is still that TIA is largely unknown in the local government level, where cities that are expected to benefit the most from TIA have no appreciation of its potential. Yet, even with an understanding of the TIA process, many cities are incapable to evaluate reports and therefore are prone to be tricked by developers and their consultants into accepting TIAs where the cities are at a disadvantage.
Figure 3. TIA process in the Philippines (Source: Regidor and Teodoro, 2003)
Similar efforts in institutionalizing TIA have been undertaken in other Asian countries. These, again, are usually done within the EIA framework of these countries.
Issues and concerns
TIA is often considered as a hindrance or obstacle to development. It is seen as an additional requirement on top of the other components of an EIA. Project proponents would often balk at the idea of having to conduct a full-scale traffic analysis due mainly to the cost of undertaking a TIA and the additional costs that may result from the assessment outcomes.
Limapornwanitch, et al (2005) identified obstacles to the effective implementation of TIA. These are the following: TIA Application Criteria Site development in critical area Urban renewal or industrial site development Rezoning Undertake TIA LGU review and approval Covered under EIA? Prepare TIA as part of locational clearance Prepare TIA as part of EIA/IEE Zoning plan LGU review and approval EMB review and approval Locational clearance certificate Issuance of ECC Municipal or City Council review and approval Permit to construct Permit to construct Zoning ordinance YES NO
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1) Institutionalization and legislation; 2) Unavailability of established and applicable standards; 3) Lack of knowledge; and 4) Budget limitation
Institutionalization and legislation refers to laws or regulations covering TIA. The inclusion of TIA in most Asian countries EIA systems is often implicit and therefore also vague. It is unclear on when TIA is required and the extent or detail that is necessary for the assessment.
Unavailability of established and applicable standards points to the absence or unsuitable adaptation of TIA guidelines most especially guidelines developed by the ITE. Inclusive here are concerns regarding trip generation rates (i.e., ITE is expressed in vehicle trips), analytical techniques (e.g., travel demand modeling and forecasting, micro-simulation), and
Lack of knowledge is directed mainly to the capacity of government, most particularly cities, to assess TIA reports. Capacity can be equated to knowledge in transport planning and traffic engineering. Such is required to understand assessments and provide comments, as well as recommendations that lead to appropriate countermeasures to potential transport and traffic problems.
Budget limitation may mean several things. Constraints in financial resources may refer to the cost of undertaking a TIA and the resulting costs of providing solutions to negative impacts. These costs are to be borne by the developer or the proponent of the project and include the cost of hiring consultants for the TIA. Budget limitations may also be associated with costs of implementing the TIA process including the capacity building required to review TIA reports and approve developments. As such, we can easily classify costs into the following categories:
Cost of TIA report these are direct costs for the impact assessment including data collection, analysis, and simulation. These are usually costs borne by the developer or proponent. Cost of mitigating measures these are costs as a result of the recommended options for alleviating negative impacts including possibly the provision of infrastructure to improve transport conditions, traffic management schemes, or reduction of the magnitude of the development. Cost of assessment of TIA report these are costs of reviewing the TIA report. This should also include costs attributed to the capacity that is required for the responsible agency to be able to make the assessment. If there is little or no capacity then costs of training or education is included in this cost category.
Challenge of implementing TIA in Asia
Monitoring is an essential component of the TIA process. This is meant to ensure that countermeasures or proposed solutions to mitigate negative impacts are implemented. Initially, the burden will be with government or the cities who evaluated the TIA reports. City officials, particularly those in charge of traffic management will be blamed for the congestion and other negative impacts of developments. As such, pressure may be exerted
6 by the general public on the city to act on this responsibility. Therefore, the burden should be passed on to the developers whose projects have been approved and implemented with the condition that they also implement mitigation measures according to the TIA recommendations. However, as many cases go, developers will balk at what they consider as additional costs and will not implement countermeasures at all.
It is clear that the challenge for effectively implementing TIA in Asia continues and requires more effort to overcome. This is due to many loopholes in the entire TIA system that Asian countries or cities cannot put the process in practice. As such, there needs to be the formulation of an effective strategy for this purpose. This strategy should be practical for a more realistic implementation that involves all stakeholders in the TIA process. Figure 4 illustrates an ideal set-up for the implementation of TIA in Asia with the academe leading the way.
Figure 4. Implementation stages for traffic impact assessment (Source: Limapornwanitch, et al, 2005)
The academe has long been regarded as having the knowledge or capacity required for TIA. However, this knowledge is not efficiently used as there are often limited contacts or involvements between the academe and the various stakeholders in TIA. On one hand, the criticism has been that the academe seems to be on a pedestal and unwilling to contribute by engaging stakeholders especially the government. On the other hand, there is indifference by government and other stakeholders in engaging the academe, preferring to maintain the illusion of its capacity in assessing TIA, and not needing assistance for capacity building, enhancement, or education. Such an impasse needs to be resolved and a partnership needs to be developed and cultivated among stakeholders.
Conclusion
The ultimate burden for TIAs non-implementation is on the general public. It is the community who will experience congestion. It is the public who will pay for the internal costs including fuel costs and maintenance costs. The same people will pay for the externalities brought about by congestion and other traffic problems. These include costs associated with but not limited to the following:
Lessened productivity due to longer travel times (i.e., more delay in travel); Increased incidence of respiratory diseases due to increased emissions; and Increased occurrence of traffic accidents involving motorists and pedestrians due to traffic conditions and poor provision or design of facilities.
7 The implementation of an effective strategy where the academe plays an important role in the promotion, formulation and evaluation of TIA is essential to establish TIA as a vital and integral part of the impact assessment process where transport and traffic are necessary components. TIA then will ultimately be viewed not as an impedance to development but a requirement to ensure that responsible and sustainable development is realized.
References
Alshuwaikhat, H.M., Strategic environmental assessment can help solve environmental impact assessment failures in developing countries, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 25, 307317, 2005.
Briffett, C., Obbard, J.P., and Mackee, J., Towards SEA for the developing nations of Asia, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 23, 171196, 2003.
Environment Canada, Strategic environmental assessment. An integrated approach to the environmental assessment of policy, plan and program proposals, 2003.
Institute of Transportation Engineers, Traffic Access and Impact Studies for Site Development, A Recommended Practice, Prepared by the Transportation Planners Council Task Force on Traffic Access/Impact Studies, Brian S. Bochner, Chairperson, Washington, D.C., 1991.
International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences, Traffic Assessment Study, Tokyo, 2001. (Original version in Japanese translated into English)
Limapornwanitch, K., Montalbo, C.M., Hokao, K., and Fukuda, A., The Implementation of Traffic Impact Assessment Studies in Southeast Asian Cities: Case Studies of Thailand and the Philippines, Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol. 6, pp. 4208 - 4223, 2005
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Law Concerning The Measures By Large Scale Retail Stores For Preservation Of Living Environment,
Regidor, J.R.F., Kubota, H., and Sakamoto K. A Comparative Analysis of Traffic Impact Assessment in the Philippines, Japan and South Korea: Implementation and the Use of Computer Simulation as an Analytical Tool, Philippine Engineering Journal, Vol. XXII, No. 2, pp. 1-16, 2001.
Regidor, J.R.F. and Teodoro, R.V.R., Institutionalizing Traffic Impact Assessment in the Philippines, Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, Vol. 5, pp. 3192-3205, 2003.