More connected urban roads reduce US GHG emissions
We quantify the importance of early action to tackle urban sprawl. We focus on the long-term nature of infrastructure decisions, specifically local roadways, which can lock in greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come. The location and interconnectedness of local roadways form a near-permanent ba...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2017-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa59ba |
| _version_ | 1797748369567776768 |
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| author | Chris Barrington-Leigh Adam Millard-Ball |
| author_facet | Chris Barrington-Leigh Adam Millard-Ball |
| author_sort | Chris Barrington-Leigh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We quantify the importance of early action to tackle urban sprawl. We focus on the long-term nature of infrastructure decisions, specifically local roadways, which can lock in greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come. The location and interconnectedness of local roadways form a near-permanent backbone for the future layout of land parcels, buildings, and transportation options. We provide new estimates of the environmental impact of low-connectivity roads, characterized by cul-de-sacs and T-intersections, which we dub street-network sprawl. We find an elasticity of vehicle ownership with respect to street connectivity of –0.15—larger than suggested by previous research. We then apply this estimate to quantify the long-term emissions implications of alternative scenarios for street-network sprawl. On current trends alone, we project vehicle travel and emissions to fall by ∼3.2% over the 2015–2050 period, compared to a scenario where sprawl plateaus at its 1994 peak. Concerted policy efforts to increase street connectivity could more than triple these reductions to ∼8.8% by 2050. Longer-term reductions over the 2050–2100 period are more speculative, but could be more than 50% greater than those achieved by 2050. The longer the timescale over which mitigation efforts are considered, the more important it becomes to address the physical form of the built environment. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:03:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-918f68056f2744adb90c52c7cd62bb69 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1748-9326 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T16:03:47Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-918f68056f2744adb90c52c7cd62bb692023-08-09T14:30:37ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262017-01-0112404400810.1088/1748-9326/aa59baMore connected urban roads reduce US GHG emissionsChris Barrington-Leigh0Adam Millard-Ball1Institute for Health and Social Policy and McGill School of Environment, McGill University , Canada; Authors are listed alphabetically. Both authors contributed equally to this paper.Environmental Studies Department, University of California , Santa Cruz, United States of America; Authors are listed alphabetically. Both authors contributed equally to this paper.We quantify the importance of early action to tackle urban sprawl. We focus on the long-term nature of infrastructure decisions, specifically local roadways, which can lock in greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come. The location and interconnectedness of local roadways form a near-permanent backbone for the future layout of land parcels, buildings, and transportation options. We provide new estimates of the environmental impact of low-connectivity roads, characterized by cul-de-sacs and T-intersections, which we dub street-network sprawl. We find an elasticity of vehicle ownership with respect to street connectivity of –0.15—larger than suggested by previous research. We then apply this estimate to quantify the long-term emissions implications of alternative scenarios for street-network sprawl. On current trends alone, we project vehicle travel and emissions to fall by ∼3.2% over the 2015–2050 period, compared to a scenario where sprawl plateaus at its 1994 peak. Concerted policy efforts to increase street connectivity could more than triple these reductions to ∼8.8% by 2050. Longer-term reductions over the 2050–2100 period are more speculative, but could be more than 50% greater than those achieved by 2050. The longer the timescale over which mitigation efforts are considered, the more important it becomes to address the physical form of the built environment.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa59baclimate mitigationtransportation policyurban sprawl |
| spellingShingle | Chris Barrington-Leigh Adam Millard-Ball More connected urban roads reduce US GHG emissions Environmental Research Letters climate mitigation transportation policy urban sprawl |
| title | More connected urban roads reduce US GHG emissions |
| title_full | More connected urban roads reduce US GHG emissions |
| title_fullStr | More connected urban roads reduce US GHG emissions |
| title_full_unstemmed | More connected urban roads reduce US GHG emissions |
| title_short | More connected urban roads reduce US GHG emissions |
| title_sort | more connected urban roads reduce us ghg emissions |
| topic | climate mitigation transportation policy urban sprawl |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa59ba |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chrisbarringtonleigh moreconnectedurbanroadsreduceusghgemissions AT adammillardball moreconnectedurbanroadsreduceusghgemissions |