In June, 2003, the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management hosted a peer-to-peer exchange to lay a foundation for dealing with the state of the practice and processes related to context sensitive solutions, and to identify specific examples that could be used as benchmarks for lessons learned and best practices in large central cities. Examples were drawn from Boston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, and Philadelphia. In June, 2003, the NYU Wagner Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management hosted a peer-to-peer exchange session, funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and supported by the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), on context sensitive design/solutions (CSD/S) in large central cities. Participants at the session were drawn from departments of transportation or public works in nine major cities (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York City, and Philadelphia) and three states (Illinois, Maryland, and New York). Representatives also attended from American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO), Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO), and FHWA. The decision to hold a peer-to-peer exchange session on context sensitive design/solutions (CSD/S) was made in conjunction with the NACTO cities and FHWA. Representatives from the NACTO cities agreed that understanding CSD/S and sharing lessons learned and best practices is important for large central cities and that, because of their unique role in the nation's economy and society, there is something fundamentally different about large central cities that renders illustrations from less urbanized areas insufficient. However, a quick literature review showed that most of the published examples of CSD/S are from smaller cities or suburban or rural areas. Further, the few disseminated findings dealing with large urbanized areas (e.g. Route 9A in New York City), tend to focus on State-led projects rather than City-led initiatives. The goal of the session was to lay a foundation for dealing with the state of the practice and processes related to context sensitive solutions, and to identify specific examples that could be used as benchmarks for lessons learned and best practices. Examples were drawn from the following cities: Boston's American Legion Highway Reconstruction Project; Los Angeles' Santa Monica Boulevard Transit Parkway Project; Minneapolis's I-35W Lake Street Access Project; New York City's Herald Square; and Philadelphia's Germantown Avenue Bridge.

Further Reading:

Context Sensitive Solutions in Large Central Cities