Volpe Center: Transportation Strategic Plans

National Research Agenda for Transportation and Sustainable Communities

APPENDIX A

Excerpts from Transportation and Sustainable Communities Initiative: Overview of Federal Sustainable Transportation Activities, June 1, 1998.

Approach to Transportation and Sustainability

The most frequently cited definition of sustainable development was that adopted by the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission) in 1987: "A sustainable condition for this planet is one in which there is stability for both social and physical systems, achieved through meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The Brundtland Commission definition was selected for this Initiative because it acknowledges that sustainability has social and community as well as physical dimensions.

To reflect the broad concerns and responsibilities of the agencies participating in this Initiative, this Overview Report takes a comprehensive approach to the much debated subject of sustainability. This approach enables the Research Agenda to be viewed as an extension of important recent studies. In addition to that of the Brundtland Commission, these include:

The National Research Council’s Transportation Research Board, Committee for a Study on Transportation and a Sustainable Environment (Toward a Sustainable Future, 1997). The report recognizes that research on sustainable transportation can cover both ecological and natural resource needs, as well as social and economic aspects. The report focuses on transportation’s contribution to long-term irreversible environmental problems, specifically on long-term effects of motor vehicle transportation on climate and ecology. Concerns include the risk of losses in biological diversity and ecosystem functions from changes in air, water, and soil chemistry caused by chemicals emitted into the air by motor vehicles and from changes in habitats caused by road systems and other transportation infrastructure. Two approaches for reducing motor vehicle emissions are explored -- (1) changing travel behavior, and (2) developing new transportation technologies that use less fuel or alternative fuels.
The President’s Council on Sustainable Development (Sustainable America -- A New Consensus for Prosperity, Opportunity, and A Healthy Environment for the Future, 1996), uses the Brundtland definition of sustainable development and includes the following in its vision statement: "A sustainable U.S. will have a growing economy that provides equitable opportunities for satisfying livelihoods and a safe, healthy, high quality of life for current and future generations." A key goal of the Council’s report, Energy and Transportation, is to "improve the economic and environmental performance of the U.S. transportation system while increasing all Americans’ access to jobs, services, and recreation." The report provides indicators of progress, and statements on national and economic security, efficient transportation, traffic congestion, and the need to improve accessibility while reducing travel.
In an effort related to the work of the Council, the President established the Policy Dialogue Advisory Committee to Assist in the Development of Measures to Significantly Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Personal Motor Vehicles, known popularly as "Car Talk." Although the Committee did not reach a consensus, its work provides a valuable source of data for analysis of automobiles and greenhouse gas emissions.
The World Bank (Sustainable Transport: Priorities for Policy Sector Reform, 1996), which considers economic and financial sustainability; environmental and ecological sustainability; and social sustainability. The report considers how transport policy can be formulated to further these goals.
The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and European Conference of Ministers of Transport (Urban Travel and Sustainable Development, 1995) concentrate on: the relationship between land-use and transport policies; increasing levels of urban automobile use and growing congestion, air pollution, noise, and acid rain; the risk of global warming; and formulating integrated policies and strategies to foster sustainability. OECD/ECMT have another project with the Pollution Prevention and Control Group’s Sustainable Transportation Task Force. This Task Force has, among other things, developed a list of various projects relating to sustainability with case studies on sustainable transportation.

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Transportation systems interact with other built, social, and natural systems to produce broad impacts. Within this context, transportation systems have major impacts on sustainability, as understood in the literature cited. This Initiative focuses on the inter-relationships between transportation decisions, including policies, investments, and strategies; and development strategies. These relationships produce environmental, social equity, and economic outcomes, sometimes characterized as the "Three E’s." Transportation systems can be considered "sustainable" to the extent that they contribute to improved economic opportunity, social equity, efficient public expenditures, and environmental quality. In addition, this Research Agenda includes health as a human environment and sustainability measure. Transportation decisions affect individual, community and national health and well-being. Physical activity, through walking or bicycling can reduce the risk of premature mortality.

Conceptually, transportation decisions can be considered "more or less" sustainable in terms of promoting economic, environmental, and equitable outcomes, individually or in combination. Advancement of sustainability can be considered as a matter of degree, or as movement along a continuum using indicators to measure accomplishment of desired goals and outcomes. Examples of indicators include levels of greenhouse gases and their affect on ecosystems or ease of access to employment by former welfare recipients. The related national (or local) goals discussed in the next section can be expressed in terms of these same indicators (e.g., reduce greenhouse gases by x by year z, attain the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone by 2010, or provide access to public transit for x % of mobility impaired citizens by year y). The challenge for decision makers is to achieve a balance among preferred sustainability goals and outcomes, some of which may be in competition or difficult to discern in the short-term.

Research results in specific outputs (for example, improved forecast models or data bases) which can be applied to produce desired outcomes (for example, applications of the model by planning agencies, or ultimately, applications that improve transportation efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions).

This conceptual approach to sustainable transportation is described in Figure A-1. Because development of the Research Agenda is a "work in progress," the choice of outputs, outcomes, and measures will be evolutionary and continue to be refined by participating agencies and key stakeholders.

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Figure A-1. Transportation and Sustainability

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Policy Context and Desired Outcomes

As indicated above, the scope of "sustainability" has been a prominent and fundamental consideration by the team. Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly in the transportation sector, is a key sustainability focus within the Administration at this time. Nonetheless, issues such as metropolitan and rural "quality of life," including air and water quality, a vigorous economy, social equity, and meeting needs for housing are also of major importance.

Several basic goals or outcomes targeted by this Initiative either have been identified through Federal legislation, or are in the process of being negotiated at this time. The following examples of federal legislation, policies, and related goals set a broad context for this Initiative, as represented in Figure A-1. These are not presented as a complete set, nor are they intended to limit the Initiative, which combines state and local with federal perspectives.

Achievement of the goals of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA);
Attainment of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), according to timetables established through EPA regulations implementing the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA), as updated in 1997;
Achievement of Energy Policy Act (EPAct) goals for market penetration of transportation fuels from domestic and/or nonpetroleum feedstocks;
Achievement of targets for atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas (GHG) established by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC);
Achievement of standards and goals of the Clean Water Act;
Achievement of equal access for mobility impaired citizens to transportation, economic, and social opportunities as described in the Americans with Disabilities Act;
Improvement of the performance of multi-modal transportation systems, and promotion of environmental, economic, and social equity goals through integration of transportation, land use, and air quality planning, as originally encouraged by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), and continued by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), June 1998.

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