University of Houston Transportation Management Plan

To upgrade the transportation management plan for an increase in students, Walter P Moore reviewed all aspects of the University of Houston’s parking and transportation department, including staff, salaries, policies, and operations. The study suggested staff reductions and other changes that reduced operations costs. A system for data collection and analysis and an operation manual were created, as well.

This plan tied transportation improvements to campus expansion plans and helped maximize light rail and bus services. Intra-campus routes were also laid out to accommodate vehicular traffic and encourage pedestrian movement.

Using Mobility GIS software, Walter P Moore analyzed parking accumulation patterns and then built a dynamic timeline model demonstrating when the university would need to bring on new parking inventory. The results showed that incentivizing carpooling could eliminate one new garage—saving about $45 million.

The recommendation to use license-plate recognition software confirmed that over 70% of parkers had no university parking decal. Using universal parking would instead free up lots that had previously been restricted to certain tags, leaving vacant spaces and moving much of the parking out of the campus center to perimeter zones, which are served by shuttles. This switch could also reduce carbon emissions and noise, increase pedestrian safety, and help to create a more landscaped campus.

Walter P Moore’s three decades of experience on the campus allowed us to draw from a tremendous wealth of knowledge. As a result, we were asked to update this plan in 2019 and to conduct similar studies at the Sugar Land, Victoria, and Clear Lake campuses.