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Freight Transportation and
Impact on Land Use and the Environment for U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
ICF International analyzed institutional, physical,
land use, environmental, economic, and community
impact issues regarding intermodal freight corridors
to explore the likelihood and extent of modal
shifts in freight transportation and the consequences
in terms of land and environmental impacts. Environmental
justice and other distributional impacts for poor
and minority communities were determined through
geographic information systems (GIS) analysis
in seven representational cities, as brownfields
were developed and as existing intermodal facilities
were expanded.
Transportation and Land Use
Alternatives for the Georgia Regional Transportation
Authority
ICF International developed transit-supportive land
use scenarios, and matched those scenarios with
transportation investment scenarios for the greater
Atlanta, Georgia, region. We evaluated scenarios
for performance across measures of transportation,
environmental, and social impact, including equity
and accessibility. The analyses used the regional
four-step model—post-processing for evaluating
regional policies that could not be analyzed using
the four-step model—and a GIS-based model
for evaluating local-scale transit- and pedestrian-focused
policies.
Environmental and Community
Impacts Assessment of the Atlantic Steel Project
for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
ICF International evaluated the transportation, environmental,
and community impacts of a proposed Atlantic Steel
development, and that development's application
to EPA's Project XL regulatory flexibility program.
We worked with a public agency and citizen group
stakeholders to answer questions about the Atlantic
Steel proposal and develop analyses addressing
their concerns. We also analyzed impacts of land
use at the macro-scale (where development locates)
and micro-scale (how a given site is developed).
At the macro-scale, travel was modeled using the
regional transportation model in Atlanta, Georgia.
At the micro-scale, high-performance site plans
were developed, and evaluated for transportation
and environmental performance. EPA approved the
Atlantic Steel Project XL application in September
1999, taking the unprecedented step of defining
a development as a Transportation Control Measure
(TCM).
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Technical Discussion of the
Built Environment and Sustainable Communities
for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
ICF International staff undertook a research effort
to provide evidence that the way land use and
transportation are developed has important implications
for environmental quality. ICF International prepared
a technical background paper, "Our
Built and Natural Environments: A Technical Review
of the Interactions between Land Use, Transportation,
and Environmental Quality." This report
identifies how the built environment has direct
environmental implications to habitat and water
quality, and indirect effects to air pollutant
emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel
consumption, and water quality through changes
in travel behavior. It provides evidence from
case studies, modeling scenarios, and various
analyses that transportation investment and land
use patterns matter to environmental concerns
that EPA is charged with addressing.
Evaluation of Modeling Tools
for Assessing Land Use Policies and Strategies
for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
ICF International assessed the current state of integrated
transportation and land use modeling to determine
how these models can potentially be used to evaluate
the impact of proposed land use-related policies
(e.g., zoning restrictions and monetary and nonmonetary
incentives) on achieving land use strategies.
Such strategies include increased development
density, mixed land use development, and infrastructure
modifications to encourage alternative travel
modes. This report includes:
- a brief discussion of land use strategies
and their relationship to vehicle miles traveled
(VMT) reduction
- an overview of travel demand and land use
modeling tools
- a review of the current land use and transportation
modeling practices of several U.S. metropolitan
planning agencies
- a detailed summary of the most widely used
land use and integrated land use transportation
models
- an assessment of current models' effectiveness
in capturing impacts of selected land use policies
on land use and traffic outcomes
Develop and Implement a Land
Use and Transportation Decision Support System,
Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization,
Burlington, Vermont
ICF International developed a Decision Support System
(DSS) that links the county's existing travel
model with a GIS-based land use model. The DSS
supports both citizen involvement and local and
regional planning, and outputs a wide variety
of indicators of regional performance.
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