Glossary of Useful Terms
Access: A way or means of entering or leaving a location.
Arterials: Designated "principal" or "minor," arterials may run for many miles across the city and county. Posted speed limits are generally in the middle ranges 35 to 45 miles per hour with access provided at grade. Traffic signals are often used to regulate the flow of vehicles along arterials. Access is managed, although movement to adjacent property along arterials is sometimes allowed depending upon the character of the area and the uses being served.
Bid/Let: To offer a price for a construction job. This is a competitive process by which construction companies submit "bids" to the City to construct a project. Bids are awarded to the lowest responsible, responsive bidder that meets the specification requirements. "Let" is a synonym for "Bid."
Capacity: The volume of vehicles the road was designed to carry; can also be applied to transit or bicycle/pedestrian paths.
Capital Improvement Program (CIP): An annually updated document approved by the City Council that describes the City's transportation, flood control, and park improvements, along with other capital projects and expenditures programmed for the next six years.
Comprehensive Plan: A planning document that comprises the city and county's policies and vision for long-term development over a 25-year timeframe. The document establishes a vision for growth while considering land use, social and economic outlooks, transportation and environmental issues. Updates are usually made every five years and coincide with an extensive public input effort.
Collectors: These streets serve as links between local streets and the arterial system. They provide both access and traffic circulation within residential, commercial, and industrial areas. Moderate to low traffic volumes are characteristic of these streets.
Design: The engineering process that occurs before a project can be built. During the design phase, a project's detailed configuration and construction requirements are determined with the production of technical specifications, drawings and cost estimates.
Design Engineer: The person or firm responsible for the design of a project.
Functional Classifications: A road classification that indicates how the roadway is intended to be used and of the relative importance of a roadway to the neighborhood, community, and region. Functional classifications include: interstate, expressway, arterial, collector and local street.
Grade: (1) Elevation. "At-grade" means at ground level. (2) To shape or reshape an earth road by means of cutting or filling. (3) A roadway's rate of ascent or descent.
Grade Intersection: An intersection where all roadways join or cross at the same level.
Grade Separation: A structure that provides for highway, bicycle or pedestrian traffic to pass over or under another highway or railroad tracks.
Grading: (1) Construction of the earthwork portion of the Highway. (2) Planing or smoothing the surface of various parts of a roadbed.
Level of Service (LOS): a qualitative rating of the effectiveness of a roadway in serving traffic, in terms of operating conditions such as traffic flow, using an alphabetical scale from A to F with A being the best (free flow) and F being the worst (stopped traffic).
Lincoln Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO): A policymaking board comprised of representatives from local government and transportation authorities who review transportation issues and develop transportation plans and programs for the metropolitan area. The Lincoln MPO is responsible for developing the Long-Range Transportation Plan, which is covered in the Mobility and Transportation sections of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan.
Local Streets: Local streets typically have a low amount of traffic with a high level of access to the properties along them. An example would be residential street with a driveway for each of its houses.
Local Traffic: Traffic that begins or ends (has an origin or destination) within a specified area.
Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) *see Mobility and Transportation section in Comprehensive Plan: A plan developed by the Lincoln Metropolitan Planning Organization that extends out over a 20-year horizon. The LRTP acts as the official guide for the expenditure of federal and state transportation funds expected to be available in Lincoln and Lancaster County. It is integrated into the Lincoln-Lancaster County Comprehensive Plan.
Median: The portion of a divided highway separating the traveled ways for traffic in opposite directions.
Minor Arterials: This functional class serves trips of moderate length and offers a lower level of mobility than principal arterials. This class interconnects with, and augments principal arterials, distributes traffic to smaller areas, and contains streets that place some emphasis on land access. These are characterized by moderate to heavy traffic volumes.
Principal Arterial: This functional class of street serves the major portion of through-traffic entering and leaving the urban area and is designed to carry the highest traffic volumes. Included in this class are fully controlled access facilities and partially controlled access facilities. For other principal arterials, the concept of service to abutting land is subordinate to serving major traffic movements.
Project Inspector: The site representative for the City, responsible for issuing instructions and drawings to the contractor's representative. Also called the Project Observer, field representative or field engineer.
Project Manager: The person or firm responsible for the planning, coordination and controlling of a project from inception to completion, meeting the project's requirements and ensuring completion on time, within cost and to required quality standards. Often, there is a City Project Manager and a consultant Project Manager.
Right-of-Way (ROW): The land (usually a strip) acquired for or devoted to highway or rail transportation purposes.
Traffic Calming: Measures to reduce the negative effects of vehicles, and improve conditions for walking or bicycling. A familiar example is the orange barrels with the warning to stop for pedestrians.
Through-traffic: Traffic that passes through a specified area, without beginning or ending within the area.
Traffic Control Devices: Signs, signals, markings, and devices used for the purpose of regulating, warning, or guiding traffic.
Traffic Control Plans: The overall plans for traffic control during construction. These plans are formulated during the final design phase or during the construction of a project.
Transportation Improvement Program (TIP): The TIP is an intermediate-range planning document that reflects the transportation expenditures programmed over the next five-years. Project details are provided in the TIP such as the general project description and cost,the funding source and funding year.
Volume: The number of vehicles that actually pass through a given mile of road; can also be applied to transit or bicycle/pedestrian paths.
Volume-to-Capacity (V/C) Ratio: The ratio of traffic volume (number of vehicles) on a roadway to the roadway's vehicle capacity; used to calculate level of service.
Superintendent: A representative of the contractor who is responsible for the execution of a construction project.
