The impact of urban spatial structure on travel demand in the United States
Advanced Search
Select up to three search categories and corresponding keywords using the fields to the right. Refer to the Help section for more detailed instructions.

Search our Collections & Repository

All these words:

For very narrow results

This exact word or phrase:

When looking for a specific result

Any of these words:

Best used for discovery & interchangable words

None of these words:

Recommended to be used in conjunction with other fields

Language:

Dates

Publication Date Range:

to

Document Data

Title:

Document Type:

Library

Collection:

Series:

People

Author:

Help
Clear All

Query Builder

Query box

Help
Clear All

For additional assistance using the Custom Query please check out our Help Page

i

The impact of urban spatial structure on travel demand in the United States

Filetype[PDF-2.47 MB]


  • English

  • Details:

    • Resource Type:
    • Geographical Coverage:
    • Corporate Publisher:
    • Abstract:
      Attempts to limit urban growth or to change its form are motivated by three concerns?to preserve open space and foster urban development that is more aesthetically appealing, to reduce the cost of providing public services, and to reduce dependence on the automobile and the externalities associated with automobile use?especially air pollution and congestion?that have accompanied urban sprawl. This naturally raises the question: how does urban form?whether measured by the spatial distribution of population or employment or the public transit network?affect vehicle ownership and the number of miles driven by households in the United States? This paper combines measures of urban form and public transit supply for 114 urbanized areas with the 1990 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey to address two questions: (1) How do measures of urban form including city shape, road density, the spatial distribution of population and jobs-housing balance affect the annual miles driven and commute mode choices of U.S. households? (2) How does the supply of public transportation (annual route miles supplied and availability of transit stops) affect miles driven and commute mode choice? This analysis shows that jobs-housing balance, population centrality and rail miles supplied significantly reduce the probability of driving to work in cities with some rail transit. Population centrality and jobs-housing balance have a significant impact on annual household vehicle miles traveled (VMTs), as do city shape, road density, and (in rail cities), annual rail route miles supplied. The elasticity of VMTs with respect to each variable is small, on the order of 0.10-0.20 in absolute value; however, changing several measures of form simultaneously can reduce annual VMTs significantly. Moving sample households from a city with the characteristics of Atlanta to a city with the characteristics of Boston reduces annual VMTs by 25%. References, appendices, tables, 54 p.
    • Format:
    • Main Document Checksum:
    • File Type:

    Supporting Files

    • No Additional Files

    More +

    You May Also Like

    Checkout today's featured content at rosap.ntl.bts.gov

    Version 3.26