Transportation and the Environment

CHAPTER 4

INFRASTRUCTURE AND AUTOMOBILE SHIFTS: POSITIONING TRANSIT TO REDUCE LIFE-CYCLE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS FOR URBAN SUSTAINABILITY GOALS

MIKHAIL CHESTER, STEPHANIE PINCETL, ZOE ELIZABETH, WILLIAM EISENSTEIN AND JUAN MATUTE

4.1 BACKGROUND

It is widely accepted that the combustion from passenger vehicle tailpipes is a leading cause of environmental pollution and emerging life-cycle approaches present an opportunity to better understand how transit investments reduce transportation impacts. In California, automobile travel is responsible for 38% of statewide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other pollutants have been linked to significant health impacts [1, 2]. California’s Assembly Bill 32 calls for the reduction of statewide GHG ...