Asha Weinstein Agrawal

Chair and Associate Professor
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
San Jos� State University

Director
MTI's National Transportation Finance Center

Mailing address: One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192-0185
Office: Washington Square Hall, Room 216D
Email: asha.weinstein.agrawal(at)sjsu.edu
Phone: 408-924-5853

university logo: linked to university homepage

Courses

Current semester (Fall 2012)

URBP 297P (course page)

URBP 298A and 298B (course page)

Past semesters

URBP 200 - Introduction to Urban & Regional Planning (course page)

URBP 213 - Communications Skills for Planners (course page)

URBP 234 - Field Study Seminar

URBP 178/256 - Transportation Planning: Local Issues (course page)

URBP 240 - Environmental Planning (syllabus in Word and pdf)

URBP 260 - Environmental Topics: Transportation and the Environment (syllabus in Word and pdf)

URBP 298A and 298B - Special Study (course page)

 

Publications

"A Simple and Inexpensive Approach to Sampling for Pedestrian and Bicycle Surveys: The PABS (Pedestrian and Bicycling Survey) Approach," with Ann Forsyth and Kevin Krizek
-
Transportation Research Record, in press.

What Do Americans Think About Federal Tax Options to Support Public Transit, Highways, and Local Streets and Roads? Results from Year 3 of a National Survey, with Hilary Nixon
- Published by the SJSU Mineta Transportation Institute, June 2012 (full text
here)

Shared-Use Bus Priority Lanes On City Streets: Case Studies in Design and Management, with Todd Goldman and Nancy Hannaford
- Published by the SJSU Mineta Transportation Institute, April 2012 (full text
here)

�Reliability Testing of the PABS (Pedestrian and Bicycling Survey) Method,� with Ann Forsyth, Kevin J. Krizek, and Eric Stonebraker
-
Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Vol. 9, No. 5 (2012), pp. 677-688.

"Constraints to Green Vehicle Ownership: A Focus Group Study," with Bradley Flamm
-
Transportation Research D, Vol. 17, No. 2 (2012), pp. 108-115.

�Are Land-Use Planning and Congestion Pricing Mutually Supportive? Evidence from a Pilot Mileage Fee Program in Portland, OR," with Zhan Guo and Jennifer Dill
-
Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 77, No. 3 (2011), pp. 232-250.

What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results from Year 2 of a National Survey, with Hilary Nixon
- Published by the SJSU
Mineta Transportation Institute, May 2011 (full text here).

The Intersection of Urban Form and Mileage Fees: Findings from the Oregon Road User Fee Pilot Program, with Zhan Guo, Jennifer Dill, Megan Quirk, and Melissa Reese
- Published by the SJSU
Mineta Transportation Institute, March 2011 (full text here).

An Investigation into Constraints to Sustainable Vehicle Ownership: A Focus Group Study, with Bradley Flamm
- Published by the SJSU
Mineta Transportation Institute, March 2011 (full text here).

Getting Around When You�re Just Getting By: The Travel Behavior and Transportation Expenditures of Low-Income Adults, with Evelyn A. Blumenberg, Sarah Abel, Gregory Pierce, and Charles N. Darrah
- Published by the SJSU
Mineta Transportation Institute, January 2011 (full text here).

Measuring Walking and Cycling Using the PABS (Pedestrian and Bicycling Survey) Approach: A Low-Cost Survey Method for Local Communities, with Ann Forsyth and Kevin J. Krizek
- Published by the SJSU
Mineta Transportation Institute, December 2010 (full text here).

"Can Information Promote Transportation-Friendly Location Decisions? A Simulation Experiment," with Daniel Rodriguez, Jonathan Levine, and Jumin Song
-
Journal of Transport Geography, Vol. 19, no. 2 (2010): 304-312.

What Do Americans Think About Federal Transportation Tax Options? Results from a National Survey, with Hilary Nixon
- Published by the SJSU
Mineta Transportation Institute, June 2010 (full text here).

"TTSAT: A New Approach to Mapping Transit Accessibility," with Chao-Lun Cheng
-
Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 13, No. 1 (2010), pp. 55-72 (full text here).

"Green Transportation Taxes and Fees: A Survey of Public Preferences in California," with Jennifer Dill and Hilary Nixon
-
Transportation Research D, Vol. 15, No. 4 (2010), pp. 189-196.

Green Transportation Taxes and Fees: A Survey of Californians, with Jennifer Dill and Hilary Nixon
- Published by the SJSU
Mineta Transportation Institute, June 2009 (full text here).

Paving the Way: Recruiting Students into the Transportation Professions, with Jennifer Dill
- Published by the SJSU
Mineta Transportation Institute, June 2009 (full text here).

"To Be a Transportation Engineer or Not?  How Civil Engineering Students Choose a Specialization," with Jennifer Dill
-
Transportation Research Record 2046 (2008), pp. 76-84.

"How Far, By Which Route, and Why? A Spatial Analysis of Pedestrian Preference," with Marc Schlossberg and Katja Irvin
-
Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 13, No. 1 (2008), pp. 81-98.

"An Assessment of GIS-Enabled Walkability Audits," with Marc Schlossberg and Katja Irvin
-
URISA Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2 (2007), pp. 5-12 (full text as pdf).

"Extent and Correlates of Walking in the USA," with Paul Schimek
-
Transportation Research Part D, Vol. 12, No. 8 (2007), pp. 548-563.

"How to Pay for Transportation? A Survey of Public Preferences in California," with Jennifer Dill
-
Transport Policy, Vol. 14, no. 4 (2007), pp. 346-356.

How Far, By Which Route, and Why? A Spatial Analysis of Pedestrian Preference, with Marc Schlossberg, et al.
- Published by the SJSU
Mineta Transportation Institute, June 2007 (full text here).

Transportation Financing Opportunities for the State of California, with Jennifer Dill, Todd Goldman, et al.
- Published by the SJSU
Mineta Transportation Institute, October 2006 (full text here).

"Unraveling Equity in HOT Lane Planning: A View from Practice," with Gian-Claudia Sciara
-
Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2006), pp. 174-184.

�Congestion as a Cultural Construct: The �Congestion Evil� in Boston in the 1890s and 1920s�
-
Journal of Transport History, Vol. 27, No. 2 (2006), pp. 97-115.

Can Consumer Information Tighten the Transportation/Land-Use Link? A Simulation Experiment, with Jonathan Levine, et al.
- Published by the SJSU
Mineta Transportation Institute, March 2006 (full text here).

�Curing Congestion: Competing Plans for a 'Loop Highway� and Parking Regulations in Boston in the 1920s�
Journal of Planning History, Vol. 3, No. 4 (2004), pp. 292-311.

The Congestion Evil: Perceptions of Traffic Congestion in Boston in the 1890s and 1920s

- PhD dissertation, City and Regional Planning, University of California at Berkeley, 2002 (
full text as pdf).

Financing Transportation in California: Strategies for Change
, with Martin Wachs, et al.
- Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California at Berkeley, 2001 (
full text as pdf).

The Future of Highway Finance in California, with Martin Wachs et al.
- Published by the California Policy Seminar, 1999 (
summary as pdf)
- Published in shortened and revised form as �Reforming Highway Finance: California�s Policy Options�  in
California Policy Options 2001, School of Public Policy and Social Research, University of California, Los Angeles, 2001.
- One chapter revised and published as �Assessing the Need for Highways� in
Transportation Quarterly, Vol. 54, No. 2 (2000), pp. 93-103.

"Assessing the Need for Highways," with Mary Hill, et al.
-
Transportation Quarterly, Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 93-103.

�How Local Jurisdictions in the United States Finance Traffic Calming,� with Elizabeth Deakin
Transportation Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 3 (1999), pp. 75-87.

A Survey of Traffic Calming Practices in the United States, with Elizabeth Deakin
- Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of California at Berkeley, 1998 (full text as a low-resolution
pdf).

Book review of
Tower Block: Modern Public Housing in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
-
Growth and Change: A Journal of Urban and Regional Policy, Vol. 25, No. 4 (1994), pp. 520-521.

Selected conference presentations and invited talks

Note: Presentations marked with an * were selected through a peer-review process; other presentations were by special invitation.

�Paying for the Roads, Buses, and Bike Paths of the Future: A Framework for Evaluating Transportation Tax and Fee Options and Assessment of Some New (and Old) Options�
- ITS-UC Davis Weekly Seminar Series (Davis, CA; February 24, 2012)

�Evaluating Transportation Tax and Fee Options: What�s Effective, Equitable, & Politically Acceptable?�
- Transportation Policy Committee meeting of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (San Jose; February 14, 2012)

�Shared-Use Bus Priority Lanes on City Streets: Case Studies in Design & Management�
- Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (Washington, D.C.; January 25, 2011)*

�Matching New Capital Projects to the Demands of the Modern Passenger�
- Transit Wireless Communications (San Francisco, CA; November 2011)

�Getting Around When You�re Just Getting By: Transportation Survival Strategies of the Poor�
- Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (Salt Lake City, UT; October 16 2010)*

�Solving the First and Last Mile Commute Problem�
- SXSW Eco (Austin, TX; October 5, 2011)

�U.S. Transportation Infrastructure: Buying the Future�
- Public forum at the Commonwealth Club of California (San Francisco, CA; June 24, 2011)

"Are There Transportation Taxes that People Support? A Review of Evidence�
- Transportation Research Board Executive Committee Policy Session on �Financing and Funding Transportation in a Transformational Period� (Woods Hole, MA; June 10, 2011)

"Funding the Transportation System of the Future" (panel participant)
- Public forum at the Commonwealth Club of California (San Francisco, CA; June 25, 2010)

"Measuring Walking and Cycling: A Low-Cost Survey Method for Local Communities" (paper with Ann Forsyth and Kevin Krizek)
- "Bridging Transportation Research and Practice, Seminar #3: Encouraging Sustainable Travel," organized by the California University Transportation Centers and Caltrans (Sacramento, CA; June 16, 2010)

�The Intersection of Urban Form and Mileage Fees: Findings from the Oregon Road User Fee Pilot Program� (poster and paper with Zhan Guo, et al)
- *TRB's Fourth International Conference on Financing Surface Transportation in the United States (New Orleans, LA; May 19, 2010)

�Public Perceptions on Transportation Financing Options for California"
- "Financing California�s Transportation System: Strategies for Moving from Crisis to Stability," organized by UCLA's IITS and UC Berkeley�s ITS Tech Transfer Program (Sacramento, CA; March 4, 2010)

��Green� Taxes and Fees: A Politically Acceptable Way to Raise Transportation Revenues?� (paper with Jennifer Dill and Hilary Nixon)
- *Fourth Annual International Transport Economics Conference (Minneapolis, MN; June 15, 2009)
- Second Annual Transportation & Infrastructure Convention (Washington, D.C.; March 11, 2009)
- *Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (Washington, D.C.; January 12, 2009)
- Second Annual California University Transportation Centers/California PATH Conference (Los Angeles; November 7, 2008)*

"The Hollywood Chauffeuse, 1914 - 2008: Does Character Track Competence?"
- Fourth International Conference on Women's Issues in Transportation (Irvine, CA; October 27, 2009)

 �Getting a Date: Matchmaking for Researchers and Policymakers�
- Eighth Annual UC/CSU/CCC Sustainability Conference (Santa Barbara, CA; June 23, 2009)

�Transportation Policy, Finance and Land Use Research Needs"
- �Research Briefing for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (Washington, D.C.; April 29, 2009)

�California�s Experience with Financing Options Beyond the Gas Tax�
- Beyond the Gas Tax: A Symposium on Funding Future Transportation Needs (Syracuse, NY; October 7, 2009)

�To Toll or Not to Toll: What Do Californians Think?�
- �For Whom the Road Should Toll? The Future of Toll Roads and Road Pricing in California,� Second Annual Leonard Transportation Forum (Ontario, CA; May 2, 2008)

�New Approaches to Transportation Finance: A Survey of Public Preferences�
- �Paying for Tomorrow's Infrastructure: Options and Strategies for Sustainable Financing� (Sacramento, CA; March 6, 2008)

�How Do Students Choose a Specialization?" (paper with Jennifer Dill)
- *Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (Milwaukee, WI; November 2007).

"Planning Schools Should Teach Peer Review� (paper with Shishir Mathur)
- *Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (Milwaukee, WI; November 2007.

"Helping Master�s Degree Students to Write Better Planning Reports and Theses�and Finish on Time"
- *Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (Milwaukee, WI; November 2007.

�Paving the Way, Workforce Development�
- Norman Y. Mineta National Transportation Policy Summit: The Crisis in Transit Workforce Development (Charlotte, NC; October 2007)

�How to Pay for Transportation? A Survey of Voter Preferences� (paper with Jennifer Dill)
- *First International Conference on Funding Transport Infrastructure (Banff, Calgary, Canada; August 2006)
- Norman Y. Mineta National Transportation Policy Summit: Transportation Finance: Tough Choices Down the Road (San Jose, CA; October 2006)
- *Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (Fort Worth, Texas; November 2006)
- California PATH-University Transportation Centers First Annual Conference (Berkeley, CA; October 2007)
- Keston Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure Finance conference, �Paying for Tomorrow�s Infrastructure: Options and Strategies for Sustainable Financing� (Sacramento, CA; March 6, 2008)

"Pedestrian Preference Walking to Transit: A Spatial Analysis of Route Choice� (paper with Marc Schlossberg, et al)
- *Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (Fort Worth, Texas; November 2006)
- *Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (Washington, D.C.; January 2007)
- Monthly meeting of the Santa Clara Valley Housing Action Coalition (Santa Clara, CA; April 11, 2008)

"A Framework for Understanding the Equity Implications of Value Pricing"
- Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (Washington, D.C.; January 2006)

"Addressing the Equity Implications of HOT Lanes" (paper with Gian-Claudia Sciara)
- *12th International HOV Systems Conference of the Transportation Research Board (Houston, TX, April 2005)
- Presentation to the 2/16/05 Regional Meeting of the Transportation and Land Use Coalition (San Francisco, CA)
- Presentation to the Congestion Pricing Outreach Subcommittee of the Transportation Research Board (Washington, D.C.; January 2005)

�How Far Do Americans Walk? What Travel Surveys Do (And Don�t) Tell Us� (paper with Paul Schimek)
- *Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (Portland, OR; October 2004)
- *Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (Washington, D.C.; January 2005)

�Traveler or Pesky Impediment to Travel? Pedestrians and Traffic Regulations in the U.S. and France, 1870-1930"
- *Urban History Association Third Biennial Conference (Tempe, Arizona; upcoming October 2006)
- *Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (Kansas City, MO; October 2005)
- *2nd Annual International Conference on the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility (Dearborn, MI; November 2004)

�The Congestion Evil - Public Perceptions of Traffic Congestion in Boston in the 1890s and 1920s�
- ITS-UC Davis Seminar Series (Davis, CA; May 2006)
- UC Irvine, Institute of Transportation Studies Seminar (Irvine, CA; January 2004)
- *Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (Washington, D.C.; January 2004)
- *National Conference on American Planning History  (Philadelphia, PA; November 2001)
- *Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (Cleveland, PA; November 2001)
- UC Berkeley, Department of City and Regional Planning Colloquium (Berkeley, CA; November 2001)

�Planning for Congestion Relief in the 1920s in Boston: New Roads or New Vehicle Restrictions?�
- *Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (Portland, OR; October 2004)
- *11th International Planning History Conference (Barcelona, Spain; July 2004)
- *International Conference on the History of Transport, Traffic and Mobility (Eindhoven, The Netherlands; November 2003)

�Drawing the Link between Urban History and Current Public Policy�
- *Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association � Pacific Coast Branch (San Jose, CA; August 2004)

�How Far Will We Walk and What Influences Us?�
- *The Bike/Walk California Conference (Oakland, CA; October 2003)

�The Future of Highway Finance in California� (paper with Martin Wachs, et al.)
- UC Berkeley, Institute of Transportation Studies Seminar (Berkeley, CA; October 1998)

�A Survey of How Local Jurisdictions in the United States Finance Traffic Calming� (paper with Elizabeth Deakin)
- *Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (Washington, D.C.; January 1999)

�Study of Current Traffic Calming Practice in the United States� (paper with Elizabeth Deakin)
- *Institute of Transportation Engineers� conference �Harmonizing Transportation and Community Goals� (Monterey, CA; May 1998)
- *Annual Conference of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (Pasadena, CA; November 1998)

"Responding to Student Writing"
- California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Statewide Conference (San Francisco; March 2006)

Consulting

Agrawal, Asha Weinstein. Options for Using Financial Incentives to Protect the Great Lakes from Ship-Borne Aquatic Invasive Species: An Advisory Report
-
Prepared on behalf of the Mineta Transportation Institute for the Great Lakes Protection Fund, August 2008.

Weinstein, Asha, and Gian-Claudia Sciara.  Assessing the Equity Implications of HOT Lanes. 
-
Prepared for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, November 2004 (pdf)

Work in progress

Incorporating New Data Needs into Travel and Activity Surveys
- With Dr. Jennifer Dill
- Funding from the
Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium

Some favorite planning and urban history books

The following books are ones I recommend for anyone interested in planning and urban history.  Some I recommend because the authors are top-rate urban historians�e.g., the works by Fogelson and Jackson.  Others I recommend because they are a lot of fun to read and include a strong link to urban and planning history, such as the books by Carr and Larson.

Carr, Caleb. The Alienist. New York: Random House, 1994.

A mystery set in 19th century New York City, with many descriptions of what the city was like at the time.  The characters include some real people important in planning history, such as Jacob Riis.

Fogelson, Robert M. Downtown: Its Rise and Fall, 1880-1950. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.

This book traces the evolution of an American concept about city form, the "downtown."

Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.

This classic in urban history shows how the U.S. evolved into a nation of suburbs in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: The Modern Library, 1993 (orig. 1963).

No explanation needed!

Johnson, Steven. The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic -- and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006.

A real-life mystery story: The book focuses on an 1854 cholera outbreak in London and two men who discovered and proved that the cause was contaminated water.

Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. New York: Vintage Books, 2004.

This book, a blend of history and some fiction, tells the true stories of two men in 1893 Chicago: architect Daniel Burnham, who led the creation of the World's Fair, and H.H. Holmes, a doctor who murdered dozens of young women.

Rome, Adam. The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

The author traces the technological, social, economic, and political forces that supported the growth of suburban housing after World War II, and he also links suburbanization to the development of the environmental movement in the U.S.

Fun links

Eating California-Indian with Asha and Anurag

Photographs by Margo Weinstein

Math by Alan Weinstein

Page last updated 6 March 2012