Roles of Transportation in Achieving "Green City": Options, Measurement, Priorities, and Limits

Many cities in the US are embarking on "Green" projects that promote environmentally sustainable lifestyle and the provision of city services. Transportation is an important component in such an effort; Transportation - "Greenliness" - the Quality of Life are intimately connected. Many ideas that will ultimately change the role of the automobiles and regulate the use of it are being put force in order to reduce negative environmental effects, to reduce energy consumption, and to promote the ideas of healthy lifestyle with walking and bicycling. These ideas are associated with changes in land-use pattern, changes in traffic controls and regulations, improved transit network and services, better facilities for walking and bicycling, pricing incentives and disincentives for transportation choices, and technology developments. What is not apparent, however, is the effectiveness of these schemes in the long run and the ultimate level of greenliness which they can achieve. What sounds good for publicity and political purposes may not necessarily sustain its appeal in the long run. The costs (both tangible and intangible) and benefits must be analyzed and a system of decision-making needs developed, in order for the effort to be credible. This project examines all possibilities and options which a medium-sized city could introduce, including technologies, regulations, land use rules, traffic controls, networks, and pricing incentives and disincentives for choices of transportation, etc. first. The City of Falls Church, VA, will be used for building such scenarios. Falls Church recently declared to become the "Green Lab City." The project develops the process and mechanisms that are necessary to measure the effectiveness of each of the schemes and also the combined effects. This also identifies the necessary instrumentation for monitoring the effects. Different transportation simulation models will be used to test the feasibility of such an instrumentation and measurement of the air quality, energy consumption, vehicle use, and travel demand patterns. Finally, based on the approach outlined above, the overall effectiveness of the Green Plan is evaluated at different future time points. The results will help to set the priorities of implementation of green ideas and also to understand the scope of the overall "Green" effects. The purpose of the project will be to develop the analytical framework and the processes to evaluate the "Green plans," which are being considered in many cities. The study will help provide credibility and the perspectives in the planning process.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $45000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  DTRT07-G-0003

  VT-2009-01

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
  3500 Transportation Research Plaza
  Blacksburg, VA  United States  24061
• Performing Organizations:

  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute
  3500 Transportation Research Plaza
  Blacksburg, VA  United States  24061
• Principal Investigators:

  Kikuchi, Shinya

• Start Date: 20090824
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20110531
• Source Data: RiP Project 24178

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Environmental impacts; Green; Greenways; Land use planning; Quality of life; Research projects; Sustainable development; Traffic control devices
• Geographic Terms: Falls Church (Virginia)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01461840
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: DTRT07-G-0003, VT-2009-01
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 1:53PM