Developing Courses in Applied Geography for Transportation Planners

Abstract

From the demand-side, the clients and the student practitioner, TARP was a success. Although some students were not overly enthusiastic, they were exposed to a large set of new ideas and presented new skills to equip them in the transition to multimodal transportation. Local Caltrans directors were pleased with TARP. From the supply side, JCTS, the faculty, and the CSUC Consortium, TARP was a partial success. The positive elements accruing to the faculty have been mentioned. Some of the negative elements of TARP such as high initial cost occurred because of the innovative nature and the grand scale of the program. The pool of potential faculty was probably too small to permit the degree of course specialization planned for in all five locations and given the decentralized approach. Three locations would have been better from the supply-side point of view. While certain difficulties remain with such educational programs in areas of identification of clients and their needs in planning, marketing, and teaching, a rich harvest of knowledge and rapport can accrue. Returned research dollars from agencies, interdisciplinary cooperation among professors, sharing of data and equipment by agencies for student theses and, in general, a larger role for geography programs in the state and local regions are recognized as benefits. Certain geography programs that have the required expertise to initiate such applied geographic educational efforts on a more modest scale must be prepared to take the plunge. They offer a unique perspective.

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