How can you improve transportation related to a large, suburban office park without building bigger parking lots and expanding the road system? By embracing Transportation Demand Management, or “TDM.”
Or, as my TDM colleague Justin Schor put it recently to over three dozen employers in suburban Philadelphia, it’s necessary to “manage what you have” in terms of infrastructure.
Recently, the Ambler Gazette of Montgomery County, PA published an article about the first TDM plan in the greater Philadelphia region, a project that our firm is working on with the Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association (GVF). The TDM plan is sponsored by Upper Dublin Township in Montgomery County to determine ways to reduce congestion related to single occupancy vehicle usage and increase transportation options for the 14,000 employees who work in the township’s 536-acre Fort Washington Office Park.
The TDM plan is also forward-thinking: “to attract future businesses and investments, with a mix of new uses.” Of course, that is a key benefit of TDM.
Our TDM consultants at Wells + Associates are pleased to be working on the TDM plan with GVF. While the plan itself won’t be completed until later this year, it will be guided by the results of surveys of commuters, employers, and property owners at the office park. These surveys are now underway.
Read more at the Ambler Gazette: Upper Dublin Hosting Survey on Office Park Transportation