Transportation's Role in Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions ...

Transportation’s Role in Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Volume 2
Washington, D.C.—have developed and have begun to implement aggressive plans to
expand bicycling infrastructure as well as supportive programs. In addition, a growing
number of State and local transportation agencies are adopting “complete streets” policies
or revising design practices to ensure that all modes are accommodated in future street
construction and reconstruction. According to FHWA, between Fiscal Years 1992 and
2005, the number of new Federally funded stand-alone pedestrian and bicycle projects
grew significantly, from 50 in 1992 to over 1,000 in 2005, with total annual obligations for
these projects of nearly $400 million (FHWA, 2005). This was a direct result of policy and
funding changes under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991
(ISTEA). In addition, the U.S. DOT’s Safe Routes to School program has provided funding
for pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements near schools, increasing from $54 million
in FY 2005 to $183 million in FY 2009. Federal-aid obligations for pedestrian and bicycle
projects were $1.2 billion in FY 2009. This figure does not include all FHWA or FTA
spending on bicycle and pedestrian facilities. Bicycle and pedestrian projects are broadly
eligible for almost all FHWA and FTA program funds. See
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep/bkepedtble.htm.
Magnitude and Timing of GHG Reductions
Pedestrian improvements are likely to have only minor impacts unless they are
implemented in conjunction with land use strategies to promote compact, mixed-use
development. This is because the primary factor in choosing to walk is the distance to the
destination, and walk trips are short (0.7 miles on average, according to the 2001 National
Household Travel Survey). Nevertheless, pedestrian improvements can help to reduce
VMT and GHG especially in areas where destinations are relatively close together, but
wide streets or a lack of sidewalks or safe crossings discourage pedestrian activity. Nearly
25 percent of all trips are less than one mile, yet approximately 75 percent of these trips are
made by automobile; and less than 30 percent of trips to school (children ages 5 to 15) less
than one mile are made by walking or bicycling (U.S. DOT, 1999).
Substantial investments in bicycle infrastructure have been demonstrated to lead to very
high bicycle mode shares in college towns. For example, 14 percent of commuters bicycled
to work in 2000 in Davis, California, which has a comprehensive network of off-street and
on-street paths. Larger cities have recently begun to make significant bicycle
improvements and are beginning to gather evidence on the impacts of these
improvements. For example, in Portland, Oregon, 8 percent of city residents reported
bicycling as their primary commute mode in 2008, up from 6 percent in 2007 (City of
Portland, 2008), and compared with 2 percent in the 2000 Census. Additional evidence is
available from Europe. Countries with little investment in bicycling infrastructure
(including the U.K. and France) report bicycle mode shares of 2 to 3 percent; this share
increases to 9 to 10 percent for Germany and Sweden, 18 percent for Denmark, and
27 percent for the Netherlands, which has a particularly extensive cycling infrastructure.
Another comparison can be made by examining time-series data on bicycling in German
cities, which found mode shares of 2 to 6 percent in the 1970s versus 6 to 20 percent in the
1990s and early 2000s, after major infrastructure improvements were made (Pucher, 2008).
Bicycling is most competitive for shorter trips, and in areas where automobile travel is
relatively slow (due to traffic congestion) and/or expensive (due to high fuel and/or
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