Surface Transportation Environmental Research A Long-Term Strategy -- Special Report 268 (2002) / Chapter Skim
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6 Research Area 5: Land Use
6 Research Area 5: Land Use
Pages 128-158
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From page 128... ...
In general, a better understanding is needed of the complex forces that shape land development and subsequent community form so 1Several recent publications provide detailed reviews of the literature on transportation, land use, urban design, and growth patterns. For example, the National Transit Institute's Coordi nating Transportation and Land Use Course Manual provides a detailed discussion of transit oriented development studies (NTI 2000)
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From page 129... ...
Conversely, improvements to transportation systems have the ability to influence accessibility to existing activity centers, thereby improving land values and influencing location decisions and development patterns (Meyer and Miller 2000)
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From page 130... ...
. Expansive land development has come to rural areas and small towns as well.
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From page 131... ...
; National Asso ciation of Local Government Environmental Professionals (1999) ("In recent years, more and more business leaders have come to realize that sprawl can be bad for their bottom lines and eco nomic competitiveness .
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From page 132... ...
. Developed land growth as represented by urbanized area in census data.
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From page 133... ...
For the 5 years 1996 through 2000, driving grew at an average rate of more than 2 percent per year, ranging from a 3.1 percent increase in 1997 to no increase in 2000, a year of higher fuel prices and a dampened economy.4 Although the relationships of association and causation between the two trends are complex and only partly understood, their implications are significant for the future of community development, transportation planning, transportation system effi ciency, and environmental quality. Environmental Problems Associated with the Land UseTransportation Connection Understanding how metropolitan growth and travel trends are related -- how land use and other factors, including national and local policies and investment decisions, influence travel behavior -- will be fundamental to the choices Amer ican society must make as the country's population and economy grow in the 21st century.
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From page 134... ...
Despite improvements in the emission performance of indi vidual vehicles, total nitrogen oxide emissions from highway vehicles rose 5Changes in the world's climatic patterns due to the greenhouse effect have already been detected by consensus among international scientists, and the eventual damage to human health and eco systems is predicted to be widespread and serious. As of this writing, it is unclear what the ultimate American response will be to international agreements negotiated in Rio de Janeiro and Kyoto on containing greenhouse gas emissions or whether new agreements will be negotiated.
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From page 135... ...
In addition, it is becoming increasingly clear that new highway capacity can itself induce additional travel and land development, which in turn can necessitate still more roadway space and other infrastruc ture, although the extent and workings of this dynamic are still largely to be determined, and more research is needed before any definitive conclusions can be drawn (Noland and Lem 2002)
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From page 136... ...
Growth in traffic and land development has substantial impacts on com munities in addition to congestion. As investment follows transportation facil ities to the fringe of metropolitan regions, existing communities in central cities and traditional towns can suffer declining jobs and opportunities.
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From page 137... ...
A number of studies have examined cor relations between travel and land development patterns, but have not con trolled for such variables as household income, household size, automobile ownership, and age of household members, leaving the findings subject to interpretation. Research has also been limited by a lack of data or a lack of resources to assemble available data from local sources.
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From page 138... ...
. An extensive 1998 review of the literature on the costs of sprawling land development performed for the Transit Cooperative Research Program found support for all of these conclusions.
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From page 139... ...
There is little existing research on these subjects. The same can be said for research on how highways and public transit facilities affect development patterns and communities, although the issue has been examined both in histories (e.g., Warner 1962; Jackson 1985)
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From page 140... ...
Looking only at the federal government, for example, no agency or insti tution is in charge of tracking and assembling land usetransportation infor mation, to say nothing of communicating such information to potential users and the public. Instead, there are numerous independently conceived and man aged studies scattered among separate institutions, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, Fannie Mae, and oth ers.
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From page 141... ...
RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendation 5-1. Expand and focus research on the impacts of development patterns and characteristics on travel behavior.
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From page 142... ...
Example: Refinements in methodology. Research is needed to improve on the current methodology used to study the impacts of development patterns on travel behavior.
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From page 143... ...
Finally, although it is likely that future research will confirm and refine the current understanding that development patterns play a significant role in influencing how much Americans travel and by what means, it is probable that other factors are significant and help explain rising rates of vehicle use. These factors might include, for instance, economic growth, rising personal incomes, new living options made possible by communications technology, entry of multiple household members into the workforce, and continued relatively low fuel prices, among others.
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From page 144... ...
Some intriguing corollary questions concerning commercial locations also need to be explored more fully than in the past. The most recent com prehensive study of the impact of commercial development on travel is a Transportation Research Board study on travel characteristics of large-scale suburban activity centers (Hooper 1989)
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From page 145... ...
What role is played by land development induced or facilitated by highway construction? To what extent is induced traffic a cause of increasing regional travel volume?
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From page 146... ...
Decision makers, practitioners, and the public need to know more about how transportation facilities affect land development, not just how development affects transportation. For example, it is evident from observation that the open ing of new freeways is often followed by the construction of commercial facili ties near exits.
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From page 147... ...
Conduct and expand research on the causes and benefits of current development patterns. Evidence suggests that expansive land development and so-called "leapfrog" development that skips over undeveloped land are associated with increased motor vehicle use per capita.
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From page 148... ...
. Dispersed development patterns may also be caused or influenced by Americans' patterns of time management, which are shifting because of emerging technology (see Chapter 5)
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From page 149... ...
Assess and compare alternative transportation and land use strategies. Closely related to causes of vehicle use and expansive land development are questions concerning how different transportation and land use strategies will most likely affect travel patterns (see Chapter 7)
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From page 150... ...
Because of the complexity, difficulty, and cost of modeling long-run changes in land use and travel behavior given different transportation investment scenarios, many metropolitan areas do not use very sophisticated techniques to analyze land use as part of the transporta tion planning process by incorporating the interaction over time among new facilities, subsequent land development patterns, and altered travel behavior. A striking exception is the LUTRAQ study in Portland, Oregon, which involved extensive evaluation over several years.
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From page 151... ...
One example is the development of a better method for assessing the eco nomic attractiveness of alternative scenarios comprising different combinations of transportation investment and management decisions and land use planning and development patterns. Transportation is one of the largest categories of public expenditure, yet there is not a valid and accepted methodology for com paring, within a given geographic sector of a metropolitan region, the eco nomics of roadway investments versus different sorts of transit expansions and land use strategies in a way that accounts correctly for the likely effects of development patterns on travel behavior.
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From page 152... ...
Changes in federal trans portation law -- the most important of these being the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act and its successor, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century -- have made a difference in encouraging states, munici palities, and metropolitan regions to work together in planning a region's major transportation investments (at least those that receive federal funds)
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From page 153... ...
In making this complex body of research more accessible, some attention needs to be paid to the dissemination of data on overall land development and transportation trends and patterns. Currently, a lack of standards and uniform
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From page 154... ...
1972. Impact of Rapid Transit on Suburban Property Values and Land Development.
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From page 155... ...
In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1780, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., pp.
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From page 156... ...
12/17/02 12:11 PM Page 156 156 SURFACE TRANSPORTATION ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH: A LONG-TERM STRATEGY FHWA.
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From page 157... ...
Transportation Research D, Vol.
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From page 158... ...
In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1747, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., pp.
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