Atlanta Regional Commission Research Articles

Integrating Engine Start, Soak, Evaporative, and Truck Hoteling Emissions into MOVES-Matrix

The MOVES (MOtor Vehicle Emissions Simulator) model was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to estimate emissions from mobile sources and is required to be used for regional air quality planning and conformity analysis in all states except California. However, the MOVES interface is complicated, and assessing emissions from dynamic large-scale transportation networks can be difficult. To aid in these analyses, the MOVES-Matrix modeling tool was developed as an alternative to the direct application of the MOVES model. MOVES-Matrix employs a massive multidimensional array of MOVES outputs created by running MOVES with every allowable combination of input variables. Once this output array has been generated, subsequent energy and emissions analyses can be conducted quickly and dynamically. Until recently, MOVES-Matrix has only been used to analyze running exhaust. In this study, MOVES-Matrix has been used expanded to include emissions from engine starts, truck hoteling, evaporative sources, and brake/tire wear as well as running exhaust. A case study is conducted for the metropolitan Atlanta, GA to verify the feasibility of using this expanded version of MOVES-Matrix and to ensure that the approach obtains the exact same results as applying MOVES directly. The travel activity inputs come from regional travel data generated by the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Travel Demand Model. The emission results from MOVES-Matrix were compared with MOVES output to verify the equivalence of this approach.

Data-enabled public preferences inform integration of autonomous vehicles with transit-oriented development in Atlanta

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have emerged as a transformative technology with the potential to both fundamentally improve lives in cities but also to exacerbate suburban sprawl, vehicle miles traveled and the associated greenhouse gas emissions. Are communities willing to adopt best practices that can lead to early adoption of more sustainable outcomes? This paper presents innovative means to analyze social preferences, demand for AVs, and the potential to resolve community concerns with integrated solutions. We discuss our comprehensive analysis of unstructured and structured data from a survey on AVs that was conducted by the Atlanta Regional Commission in 2015. We used topic modeling to synthesize the “topics” from 1540 comments. The topics captured Atlanta residents' concerns and suggestions about implementing AVs. Further, sentiment analysis revealed people's attitudes on the topics. Accordingly, we proposed an integration of AVs and transit-oriented development (TOD: the development of compact and mixed-use communities around high quality mass transit services within a 10-min walking distance). The second type of data is people's responses to multiple-choice questions about AVs and TOD, which we call structured data. Using latent-class analysis, we identified heterogeneity in preferences for AVs and TOD. More Atlanta residents are willing to live in transit-oriented communities than traditional automobile-dependent ones if AVs save time and improve productivity. This finding portends the future success of combining AVs with TOD and reaping the sustainable benefits of this transformative technology.

Method for Gauging Usage Opportunities for Partially Automated Vehicles with Application to Public Travel Survey Data Sets

Vehicle automation has garnered a significant amount of interest in recent years. When the automated driving (AD) capability of a vehicle is assessed, it is important to distinguish between full automation, in which no human driver is required, and partial automation, in which a human driver may be required to intervene or take control of the vehicle occasionally for portions of the trip. This paper presents a method for assessing usage opportunities of partial AD in light-duty vehicle fleets. Key assumptions are that ( a) the longer the time fraction of driving in which AD is active, the better, and ( b) drivers will value having longer contiguous sections of AD-active time over having to frequently regain vehicle control. Given second-by-second records of real-world driving trips, the method uses a fuzzy inference system to estimate the fraction of driving time at a certain quality-of-use level. Performing the quality-of-use assessment for all trips and vehicles in a representative data set can then provide insight into the fraction of the population that would likely find partial AD desirable. To demonstrate the proposed method, data on vehicle trips from public travel surveys in California (California Household Travel Survey) and Atlanta, Georgia (Atlanta Regional Commission Travel Survey), were used along with simplified prototypical models for partial AD. Simulation results were generally in agreement with common perceptions but showed a wide range of possibilities, which could have been narrowed down further when more detailed trip data became available.

Targeted Smart Growth Planning Initiatives in the Suburbs: Effects on Home Values

ABSTRACT:Although many studies have examined the effects of regional growth management policies on housing prices, little is known about the impact of neighborhood-level smart growth strategies on home values in the targeted and nearby communities. The purpose of this article is to measure the impacts of a pair of geographically focused smart growth planning and development efforts on home values in the suburban context. This article examines two initiatives under the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Livable Center Initiative (LCI) as examples of smart growth planning. The results show that smart growth developments focused both on a smaller scale town center LCI and on a larger scale activity center LCI have positive effects on housing prices inside the target area. However, their effects on adjacent areas differ, with the larger scale activity center having some positive effects on nearby property values, while the smaller scale effort resulted in lower values in some nearby areas. The results indicate that smart growth development programs may contribute to revitalizing old suburban downtown centers, but that the effects of smaller scale efforts may result in predominantly zero-sum outcomes, in which higher values within the target area are accompanied by lower values in adjacent areas.

Transforming the Way We Live Together: A Model to Move Communities From Policy to Implementation

Most cities, counties, and neighborhoods are not designed for an aging population. By providing a range of services to all residents, Lifelong Communities allow individuals to age in place. Although the Lifelong Communities Initiative is based on established guiding principles, little information exists regarding the realities of moving from policy to implementation. The Atlanta Regional Commission conducted a case study in Mableton, Georgia, and found successful implementation requires a combination of support from local citizen groups and government. The Atlanta Regional Commission is replicating these best practices in other communities and providing support to those aspiring to launch or expand Lifelong Communities.

Using Third-Party Data for Travel Demand Modeling

This research investigated how targeted marketing (TM) data could be used as a source for up-to-date demographic and socioeconomic information. TM data provide several advantages over data from the Bureau of the Census, including the ability to incorporate additional behavioral information through lifestyle variables and to conduct longitudinal studies at a low cost. This paper describes TM data and a comparison of an Atlanta, Georgia, sample with census data. The most recent household travel survey conducted by the Atlanta Regional Commission was compared with census data; both weighted and unweighted survey data were used. Results showed that the distributions of socio-demographic variables were similar, particularly for age, gender, household income, and the presence of children. The largest discrepancies between TM data and census data were associated with educational attainment and ethnicity; however, these discrepancies were comparable to those observed in the household travel survey.

Atlanta Unbound: Enabling Sprawl through Policy and Planning by Carlton Wade Basmajian (review)

Reviewed by: Atlanta Unbound: Enabling Sprawl through Policy and Planning by Carlton Wade Basmajian Amanda Rees ATLANTA UNBOUND: Enabling Sprawl through Policy and Planning. By Carlton Wade Basmajian. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. 2013. Born at the confluence of two railroads in the 1830s, today the city of Atlanta is home to less than 500,000 residents (US Census Bureau, 2012). However, metro Atlanta (Atlanta-Sandy Springs Roswell Metropolitan Standard Area), the focus on Carlton Wade Basmajian’s book, has almost 5.5 million people. Containing over half the population of Georgia (an otherwise rural state), metro Atlanta covers an area the size of Massachusetts, and is frequently cited as a remarkable example of sprawl in the United States. It certainly offers a powerful case study to explore twentieth century low-density urban expansion in the United States. A quick review of Atlantan urban histories over the last twenty-five years indicates that Atlanta has been interpreted through three primary lenses: race (as in R. Bayor’s Race and the Shaping of 20th Century Atlanta [1996]); political economy (as in D. Whitelegg’s “A Battle on Two Fronts: Competitive Urges ‘Inside’ Atlanta” [End Page 125] [2002]); and regime theory (as in C. Stone’s Regime Politics: Governing Atlanta, 1946-1988 [1989]). Claiming that previous scholars of Atlanta’s urban history, like scholars of US urban expansion more generally, have ignored the active role of regional planning, Basmajian explores how regional planners engaged with Atlanta and post–World War II expansion. Swimming in the archival seas in and around Atlanta, Basmajian has masterfully charted the course of the Atlanta Regional Commission (est. 1971): the 1976 Regional Development plan of metro Atlanta; 1980s “growth management” efforts; and the 1990s battle over the regional transportation network. The penultimate transportation chapter comes across as the most animated of the book. Sprawl-oriented assumptions underlying computer modeling drove the relentless building of major highways into suburbia. Threaded with both thoughtful analysis and rambunctious newspaper accounts, this chapter also stands as a useful reflection on Roy Barnes governorship of the state. Basmajian offers the concept of planning as an “imprint of ‘regional thinking,’” examining three scales of infrastructure policy (local, state, and federal) that, “together managed the urban development process” (2). Basmajian offers a way of understanding regional planning as a discourse of planning growth in northern Georgia (2). However, a more fully fleshed out theoretical articulation of regional thinking and institutional discourse would have been welcome. Several theorists who might have offered useful spatial and legal perspectives to theorize the various planning discourses materializing urban and suburban Atlanta spaces include: Duncan and Duncan’s always thoughtful reflections on power and landscape (as in Landscapes of Privilege: The Politics of the Aesthetic in an American Suburb [2004]); Richard Schein’s work on the work various formal and informal organizations shape urban spaces (as “A Conceptual Framework for Interpreting an American Scene” [1997]); and Lewyn’s reflections on legal spaces (as in “Zoning and Land Use Planning: Plans are Not Enough” [2013]). More broadly, Basmajian follows in the footsteps of Americanists engaged in understanding the cultural production of urban and suburban spaces. This book offers American Studies practitioners a useful example of what the cultural geographer Richard Schein calls materialized discourse and discourse materialized. Atlanta Unbound provides a powerful resource for considering an evolving relationship between ideology and material landscapes. It also leaves this reader to wonder about the next step of both recognizing the unique elements of individual metropolitan regions, while also drawing larger conclusions about sprawl in twentieth century American cities. Amanda Rees Columbus State University. Copyright © 2014 Mid-America American Studies Association

Evaluation of Two Methods for Identifying Trip Purpose in GPS-Based Household Travel Surveys

Data needs for developing travel demand models have increased at the same time that household travel survey (HTS) participation rates have generally fallen over recent decades. GPS-assisted HTS methods are recognized today as the most promising direction in further enhancement of individual travel data collection. The principal advantage of the GPS-assisted survey technology is that a full stream of locations visited by the person is identified with a high level of spatial and temporal resolution, but automatic identification of trip purpose remains an issue that is difficult to solve. This paper evaluates the performance of two methods, choice modeling and decision tree analysis, that can be used to build models capable of identifying trip purpose. The developed methods assume that basic household- and person-level data, typically collected in an HTS, are available, as are supporting spatial data sets. The methods presented are then evaluated for a case study that employed data from the 2011 Atlanta Regional Commission HTS. The developed models produced encouraging results with overall accuracy greater than 70% across all purposes and around 90% for mandatory activities (i.e., work and school). The performance of the developed models was evaluated in terms of error rates by purpose category and the impact of ancillary spatial data. The paper concludes with a summary of the findings and recommendations for practitioners.

Lifestyle Segmentation Variables as Predictors of Home-Based Trips for Atlanta, Georgia, Airport

This research investigated the influence of demographic and socio-economic factors on air travel demand by using a unique data set purchased from a credit-reporting agency. Linear regression models based on lifestyle segmentation variables were used to predict air passenger trips for Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. The study focused on predicting trips that originated from or terminated at residences in Atlanta's 13-county metropolitan area. The lifestyle regression models were compared with regression models based on income, because the latter were similar to the regression models currently used by the Atlanta Regional Commission to predict home-based airport passenger trips. The results provide directional evidence for using lifestyle clusters over income groups in predicting airport passenger trips. The evidence suggests that alternative data sources with adequate information for lifestyle segmentation can improve airport passenger models. The discussion points out the need for air passenger surveys to collect information about the number of annual air trips a surveyed individual takes.

Modeling of road traffic noise and estimated human exposure in Fulton County, Georgia, USA

Environmental noise is a major source of public complaints. Noise in the community causes physical and socio-economic effects and has been shown to be related to adverse health impacts. Noise, however, has not been actively researched in the United States compared with the European Union countries in recent years. In this research, we aimed at modeling road traffic noise and analyzing human exposure in Fulton County, Georgia, United States. We modeled road traffic noise levels using the United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Traffic Noise Model implemented in SoundPLAN®. After analyzing noise levels with raster, vector and façade maps, we estimated human exposure to high noise levels. Accurate digital elevation models and building heights were derived from Light Detection And Ranging survey datasets and building footprint boundaries. Traffic datasets were collected from the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Atlanta Regional Commission. Noise level simulation was performed with 62 computers in a distributed computing environment. Finally, the noise-exposed population was calculated using geographic information system techniques. Results show that 48% of the total county population [N = 870,166 residents] is potentially exposed to 55 dB(A) or higher noise levels during daytime. About 9% of the population is potentially exposed to 67 dB(A) or higher noises. At nighttime, 32% of the population is expected to be exposed to noise levels higher than 50 dB(A). This research shows that large-scale traffic noise estimation is possible with the help of various organizations. We believe that this research is a significant stepping stone for analyzing community health associated with noise exposures in the United States.

Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in urban green space accessibility: Where to intervene?

Access to green spaces is important to physical activities and public health, yet one concern remains as to whether the disparities in green space access exist. This study aimed to (1) introduce an approach to quantify potential spatial accessibility to green spaces in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment; and (2) evaluate the racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in green space access. Urban green spaces ( n = 890) in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia were collected from the Atlanta Regional Commission. A Gaussian-based two-step floating catchment area method was adapted to assess the spatial accessibility to green spaces at the census tract level. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model and the spatial lag model were used to evaluate the racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities. Results suggest that the spatial accessibility to green spaces in Atlanta was not evenly distributed. Both models show that neighborhoods with a higher concentration of African Americans had significantly poorer access to green spaces ( P < 0.05). Asian population had significantly poor access in the OLS model but not in the spatial lag model. Poor access was present in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas as well. Findings can be used for the city and regional planners to target the specific areas for green space development in order to elucidate the disparities.

Creating Communities: Atlanta's Lifelong Community Initiative

ABSTRACTAtlanta, like most other parts of the nation, is experiencing a dramatic increase in its older adult population. To support healthy aging, it is important to create lifelong communities where people can live throughout their lifetime and where older adults can age in place. The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), serving as the Area Agency on Aging and the Metropolitan Planning Organization, developed the Lifelong Communities Initiative as a comprehensive effort to help communities in the metro area respond to the diverse needs of a changing population. To more fully realize the Lifelong Community concept for the Atlanta region, ARC sponsored an intensive design workshop that produced several major breakthroughs in what makes a community truly “lifelong.” This article will describe ARC's Lifelong Community Initiative, the planning process, the outcomes of the charrette process, and present the community of Mableton as a case study to implement a lifelong community.

Community Approaches to Meet Residents’ Needs in an Affordable Public Housing Community

The Atlanta Regional Commission and the Atlanta Housing Authority are working together to address the unique challenges and opportunities of naturally occurring retirement communities. Leveraging local partnerships and several converging initiatives, a multidisciplinary team is developing and coordinating resources and supports while re-imagining the physical structure of affordable public housing communities for the elderly and individuals with disabilities. This article will examine how the application of the Atlanta Regional Commission's Lifelong Community framework in one high-rise apartment building, Marian Road, has broadened supports for aging residents while changing the way the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Atlanta Housing Authority serve the needs of current and future older adults. However, it is clear that replication on any significant scale will require a shift in federal and state rules that regulate housing construction, housing subsidies, and community-based services that only marginally support and in some cases thwart this work.

Projecting Sprawl? The Atlanta Regional Commission and the 1975 Regional Development Plan of Metropolitan Atlanta

In 1975, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), the designated metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for Atlanta, Georgia, adopted a new regional development plan (RDP) for the seven counties that comprised the metropolitan area. During the process of writing the plan, ARC staff adapted a large-scale urban model to produce a set of region-wide population, employment, and land-use projections, for a 30-year horizon (1970—2000). The development policies ARC ultimately adopted encouraged the building of a vast, low-density landscape, exactly as the model predicted. A number of participants argued that the model had distorted the process by privileging policies that closely matched its projections of sprawling growth. Yet in spite of its trouble, the model helped ARC establish its legitimacy as a powerful force in the development of metropolitan Atlanta. An examination of the process of writing the 1975 RDP provides a case example of the role of planning technologies in shaping regional planning discourse in the latter part of the twentieth century.

Ecologically and Socially Sustainable Development in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

East Lake Commons is a 67 home mixed-use, mixed-income in-fill community in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The community planning process began in 1997, and construction was substantially complete by 2000. East Lake Commons successfully incorporates a wide range of ecological and social concepts, including those of Atlanta Regional Commission and the US Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, the project has established new practices such as Handicap Visitability that is influencing national policy makers.

A model for joint choice of daily activity pattern types of household members

Intra-household interactions constitute an important aspect in modeling activity and travel-related decisions. Recognition of this importance has recently produced a growing body of research on various aspects of modeling intra-household interactions and group decision-making mechanisms as well as first attempts to incorporate intra-household interactions in regional travel demand models. The previously published research works were mostly focused on time allocation aspect and less on generation of activity episodes, trips, and travel tours that are necessary units for compatibility with regional travel demand models. Also, most of the approaches were limited to household heads only and did not consider explicitly the other household members as acting agents in the intra-household decision making. A model is proposed for joint choice of daily activity pattern (DAP) types for all household members that explicitly takes into account added group-wise utilities of joint participation in the same activity. The model is based on the aggregate description of individual DAP types by three main categories – mandatory travel pattern, non-mandatory travel pattern, and at-home pattern. Important intra-household interactions can be captured already at this aggregate level. A choice structure considers all possible combinations of DAPs of all household members as alternatives. Utility function of each alternative includes components corresponding to each individual DAP type as well as group-wise interaction terms that correspond to joint choice of the same pattern by several household members. Statistical analysis of intra-household interactions and estimation results of the choice model are presented. The model estimation has confirmed a strong added utility of joint choice of the same pattern for such person types as non-worker or part time worker in combination with child, two retired persons, two children, and others. The proposed model represents a part of the advanced regional model system being developed for the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Escorting Children to School

An important aspect of intrahousehold interactions–-joint travel arrangements that arise when adult household members escort children to school–-is investigated. Previously published research on intrahousehold interactions have focused mostly on time allocation or episode generation between individual and joint activities and have largely been limited to interactions between household heads. Insights into the less-explored aspect of intrahousehold interactions between adults and children in the household are provided. Children are explicitly considered active agents in the intrahousehold decision making, and the interaction itself takes the form of a joint travel arrangement rather than a shared activity. A statistical analysis indicates the importance of this segment of intrahousehold interactions in the overall system of household activity and travel. A choice model, which is formulated and estimated, relates the probability of various types of ridesharing and escorting to the person, household, and zonal variables. The developed model is designed for possible inclusion in the regional travel model system being developed for the Atlanta (Georgia) Regional Commission.

Travel Demand Modeling and Conformity Determination: Atlanta Regional Commission Case Study

The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) regional travel demand model is described as it relates to its link-based emissions postprocessor. In addition to conformity determination, an overview of other elements is given. The transit networks include the walk and highway access links. Trip generation addresses trip production, trip attraction, reconciliation of productions and attractions, and special adjustments made for Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport. Trip distribution includes the application of the composite impedance variable. In the mode choice model, home-based work uses a logit function, whereas nonwork uses information from the home-based work to estimate modal shares. Traffic assignment includes preparation of time-of-day assignments. The model assigns single-occupancy vehicles, high-occupancy vehicles, and trucks by using separate trip tables. The procedures can accept or prohibit each of the three types of vehicles from each highway lane. Feedback between the land use model and the traffic model is accounted for via composite impedances generated by the traffic model and is a primary input to the land use model DRAM/EMPAL. The land use model is based on census tract geography, whereas the travel demand model is based on traffic analysis zones that are subareas within census tracts. The ARC model has extended the state of the practice by using the log sum variable from mode choice as the impedance measure rather than the standard highway time. This change means that the model is sensitive not only to highway travel time but also to highway and transit costs.

A Proposed Water Management Plan for Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia

Southeastern Geographer Vol. 25, No. 2, November 1985, pp. 105-121 " A PROPOSED WATER MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR METROPOLITAN ATLANTA, GEORGIA Evelyn H. Hopkins In 1981 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with other agencies participating in the Metropolitan Atlanta Area Water Resources Management Study (MAWRS), recommended the construction of a reregulation dam on the Chattahoochee River (Fig. 1) just downstream of Buford Dam as part of a long range water management plan for metropolitan Atlanta. The appropriation for the Corps of Engineers to build the dam was not included in the President's 1986 proposed budget. Debate has already begun on whether the affected local governments should implement the recommended MAWRS plan. The primary objective of this paper is to propose an alternative to the water management plan recommended by MAWRS. The plan proposed in this article does not include the construction of the new dam. THE WATER SUPPLY/HYDROELECTRIC POWER SYSTEM. Compared to many metropolitan areas in the United States, Atlanta is fortunate in having a major source of water supply which is both relatively free of pollution and close to the city (Fig. 1). The Chattahoochee River and Lake Lanier provide most of the water supply of the city ofAtlanta, the seven member counties of the Atlanta Regional Commission, and three nearby counties. (J) The remainder comes from other surface water sources. There are no significant groundwater (well) supplies. Lake Lanier was formed by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1958. The dam is located about 45 miles upstream ofAtlanta. It was built and is operated by the Corps of Engineers for the purposes of power generation, flood control, and navigation. The water management problem arises not because the Chattahoochee River-Lake Lanier system provides insufficient water for water supply but because the system must meet conflicting demands. The water stored at Lake Lanier is also used for generation of hydroelectricity at Buford Dam and therefore is not always available at the time Ais. Hopkins holds an M.A. degree in geographyfrom Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30303. -*¦""Southeastern Geographer Fig. 1. Chattahoochee corrider water system. Vol. XXV, No. 2 107 it is needed for water supply from the river at Atlanta. Water is released continuously from Buford Dam through a small turbine which produces up to 6000 kilowatts (kw) of energy and up to 600 cubic feet per second (cfs) flow. Buford Dam also has two large turbines, each with a capacity of 40,000 kw. When these units are operating along with the small turbine, water flow varies from 4,000 to 12,000 cfs. Although the dam itself is operated by the Corps of Engineers, operation of the two large turbines is scheduled by the Georgia Power Company on weekdays to produce valuable "peak power. " Peak power is electricity generated to meet maximum short-term demand. (2) Unless there is considerable inflow from the Chattahoochee's tributaries between Buford Dam and Atlanta, the relatively small amount of flow produced by the operation of the small generator alone may not be sufficient to meet area water supply needs, particularly as the population increases. Any change in the operation of the dam which increases the river flow at times when peak power is not needed (such as weekday nights and weekends) decreases the dam's value as a source of peak power by decreasing the amount of stored water available for generation at times of peak demand. Morgan Falls Dam, which is located between Buford Dam and Atlanta on the Chattahoochee, is owned and operated by the Georgia Power Company. The reservoir behind this dam has become heavily silted and therefore has a reduced capacity to store water, but it does make a limited contribution to water management. A temporary agreement currently is in effect between the City of Atlanta and the Georgia Power Company to reregulate incoming river flow at Morgan Falls to provide a more steady flow for water supply. (3) In addition to water supply and hydroelectric power generation, water from the Chattahoochee River also is used for wastewater assimilation for the sewage treatment plants near Atlanta. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division requires that 750 cfs flow remain...

The influence of race and gender on perceptions of community impact

Since 1968, research in public transportation planning has included an increasing number of analyses of the perceptions and attitudes of people who use and live in proximity to the systems (Nash and Hille 1968, McMillan et al. 1969, Wachs 1976). The results of the study reported here suggest that race and gender may explain more about attitudes toward the community impact of a transit system than do the levels of user satisfaction with the system. The implication for future research in this area is that surveys employing “satisfaction” and “importance” as indicators may not be using appropriate indices of evaluation. This study reports the results of a 1980 attitude survey of the perceptions of black and white men and women living within a two-block corridor along the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) east line in Atlanta, Georgia. The research supports the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Transit Impact Monitoring Program (TIMP). The survey used a stratified random sample technique to identify 100 households in which in-home interviews were subsequently conducted. A further stratified sampling procedure designated the gender and age of persons to be interviewed. The analysis included the isolation of responses by gender and race and used the chi-square statistic at the 0.05 significance level. The results identity differences in responses of males and females, blacks and whites.