Built environment characteristics are associated with walking, bicycling, transit use, and vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Developing built environments supportive of walking, bicycling, and transit use can help meet state VMT reduction goals. But tools are necessary to understand how changes to the built environment may translate into changes in travel. Such tools can help optimize land use and transportation investments for reduced VMT and communicate such changes to the public.
This report reviews the built environment characteristics associated with travel and the tools available that utilize these built environment characteristics to estimate travel and related outcomes such as vehicle emissions and health co-benefits. Tools ranged from simple to complex, and a number of factors should be considered when applying a tool to a planning effort.
July 29, 2013
Anne Vernez Moudon, Orion Stewart.
Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC)
- # of Pages: 36 p., 555 kb (PDF)
- Subject: Land use, Travel behavior, Vehicle miles of travel, Nonmotorized transportation, Public transit, Mode choice, Greenhouse gases, Transportation planning.
- Keywords: Walking, bicycling, transit, VMT reduction, estimating tools, built environment characteristics, planning, travel choices.
- Related Publications: A Framework for Monitoring the Performance of Travel Demand Management and Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Reduction Activities (WA-RD 806.1) ;
Sidewalk Data in King County's Urban Growth Boundary (WA-RD 806.2).
This abstract was last modified August 22, 2013