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https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27432/critical-issues-in-transportation-for-2024-and-beyond

Modeling Car Ownership Decisions and Vehicle Availability in the State of Maryland

Under a contract with the Maryland State Highway Administration and in cooperation with Parson's Brinkerhoff, the National Center for Smart Growth is building a sketch-level transportation model. That model, which will include the entire states of Maryland and Delaware, the District of Columbia, and parts of Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania will be used for a variety of purposes, including but not limited to examining the effects of various transportation investments on traffic flows, examining the effects of transportation investments on land use patterns, and examining alternative future development scenarios. The model is expected to play an important role in transportation decision making for years into the future. Among the many policy decisions that must be made in the near future is how to respond to climate change. A recently issued report from the Maryland Climate Commission recommends that emissions associated with vehicle miles traveled be reduced by 25 to 50 percent of 2006 levels by 2020. Interim reduction goals are 10 percent by 2012 and 15 percent reductions by 2015, respectively. Under this project supported by the Maryland University Transportation Center, researchers at the National Center for Smart Growth will enhance the capacity of the transportation model and exercise the model to explore alternative options for meeting these greenhouse gas reduction goals.