Driving and the Built Environment: Effects of Compact Development on Motorized Travel, Energy Use, and CO2 Emissions

TRB Special Report 298: Driving and the Built Environment:  Effects of Compact Development on Motorized Travel, Energy Use, and CO2 Emissions examines the relationship between land development patterns and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the United States to assess whether petroleum use, and by extension greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, could be reduced by changes in the design of development patterns.  The report estimates the contributions that changes in residential and mixed-use development patterns and transit investments could make in reducing VMT by 2030 and 2050, and the impact this could have in meeting future transportation-related GHG reduction goals.

Commissioned papers used by the committee to help develop Special Report 298 are available online.  A four page summary of and a press release on the report is also available online.

A podcast on SR 298, produced as part of the National Acadmies's Sounds of Science series, is avaialble online.

An article on SR 298 that appeared in the May-June 2010 TR News is available online.