‫جامعة البلمند‬

Spring 2022/2023 Lecture 2

CVLE 542 : Sustainable Development in Transportation

Engineering

Chapter 2: UnSustainable Vs Sustainable Transportation

Dr. Firas Barraj

1
Increased Mobility Demands
*Automobile dependence*
❑ The dominant transportation
Increased Mobility Demands
paradigm until present:

Emphasized single-mode mobility – whether automobiles,

planes or huge cargo ships; ‘hard path’ approaches relying upon
facility expansion – whether roads, parking, ports or runways.

“The paradigm of conventional transportation planning and

policy may be termed BAU”.
Common
Scenes
on our
streets
 Traffic Congestion
 Air pollution
 Noise pollution
 Visual pollution
 Parking problems
 Destruction of houses
 Increased risk of accidents

3/31/2023 5
Investments in road
infrastructure for
reducing peak-hour
traffic jams are
regressive
It would take the typical
developing country city
more than 100 years to
have a road infrastructure
like that of Atlanta. Yet in
Atlanta time lost in traffic
jams increases every year.
 Trying to solve traffic jams building more road
infrastructure is like trying to put out a fire with gasoline
Build it
and they
will come
Cities in Danger !!
 Operational
➢ Can roads accommodate increasing traffic?

➢ Is fuel going to be available to power these vehicles?

 Economic, Social, Environmental

➢ Can we afford to build and maintain infrastructure that is

required to relieve congestion?

➢ Can we bear the economic, health, and environmental

costs of increased personal transportation?

➢ Can building new roads, bridges, tunnels,……only solve

the problem?
about urban transport:

It does not matter what is done,

traffic jams will become worse;
unless a radically new model
is adopted
Unsustainable transportation: The
magnitude
of the problem
❖ BAU in transportation planning has meant that more roads have
been built and expanded, which has not led to less traffic
congestion. It has led to more driving, longer trips for people and
freight, more sprawl, and more land and energy consumption

After: (Newman and Kenworthy, 1989, pp94–110; Whitelegg, 1997).

❖The magnitude of personal and freight movement has been

characterized by John Adams as ‘hypermobility’.
 We still live in a

World Crude Oil Production

➢ 100
hydrocarbon 90
society! 80
70

(M bbl/day)
60

➢ Why is consumption 50

of fossil fuels an 40
environmental 30
problem? 20
10
0
➢ How can we reduce 1900 1950 2000 2050 2100
our dependence of Proven Reserves Double Proven Reserves
fossil fuels?
We Presume Oil at Great Risk
 Human actions are causing global warming!

➢ What measures would be most effective in halting global change?

➢ What calculations or data are needed to assess the effectiveness of these

measures?
Source: IPCC, 2007
Extensive highway infrastructure creates:

• huge amounts of water runoff, which can cause flooding as well

as polluted water from the oil and brake residues that build up
on the pavement.

• Los Angeles is a prime example of this, where in some areas up

to 70 per cent of the land area is covered with roads and
parking; the remainder comprises Buildings.
❑ More dispersion of society

Community Severance
“a physical or psychological barrier
separating one built-up area from another
built-up area or open space”

❑ more sprawl and destruction of natural areas

More land use and
longer distances to destinations.

Highways gutted American cities.

So why did they build them? – Vox Newsl
https://www.vox.com/2015/5/14/8605917/highways
-interstate-cities-history
 • Since the automobile began to dominate urban transport systems, neighbourhoods have
been carved into two by large freeways and roads have been widened, making it
impossible for neighbors to maintain contact across their own streets.

• The US Federal Highway Program, which saw thousands of miles of freeways carved into
the urban fabric, destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes across the country and
resulted in the fragmentation of intact well functioning urban neighbourhoods, especially
working-class ones, built on easy contact among neighbors.

• The public realm has suffered immeasurably as streetscapes have become dominated by
parking, roads and the other paraphernalia of auto dependence, including high levels of
visual intrusion from auto-scale advertising signs, or ‘100 km/hr architecture’ as Jan Gehl,
the famous urban designer, calls it (Whitelegg, 1993; Newman and Kenworthy, 1999).
❖ more societal polarization and inequity between the highly mobile and
those denied the benefits of mobility and accessibility.
❖ more danger for those not in cars, especially children and other
vulnerable persons.
❖ less social and cultural diversity and variety; less participation
(Adams, 1999, 2000).
A sustainable transportation system
is one that:
✓ Allows the basic access needs of individuals and societies to be
met safely and in a manner consistent with human and ecosystem
health, and with equity within and between generations.
✓ Is affordable, operates efficiently, offers choice of transport
mode, and supports a vibrant economy.
✓ Limits emissions and waste within the planet’s ability to absorb
them, minimizes consumption of non-renewable resources, limits
consumption of renewable resources to the sustainable yield
level, reuses and recycles its components, and minimizes the use
of land and the production of noise.
Source: Centre for Sustainable Transport, 2005, widely cited
The transportation decision-makers of the future should adopt the
triple bottom line as a yardstick to evaluate the sustainability of
surface transportation system policies and performance in order to
ensure that transportation strategies and investments will result in
✓ Robust economic growth;
✓ Better-than-before health of the environment; and
✓ Improved quality of life for all citizens.

Source: Invest in Our Future, A New vision for the 21st Century, AASHTO, 2007
 Equity, Access, and Auto dependence!!

“Effective access ‘access for all’ to amenities and services

without discrimination as to income, physical ability, housing
location, mode of travel or any other factor in cities is a key
measure of the performance of the urban transportation system”
(Schaeffer and Sclar, 1975).
What does it all mean?
 Mobility-Planning
Demand-oriented Environment-oriented Goal-oriented
Planning Planning Planning

Covering the Optimum Use of Sustainable Development

Transport Demand Transport Infrastructure of Mobility

The 3S Planning
New Traffic Traffic Calming Process
Infrastructure Creation of Pedestrian Areas
....

Insufficient Land Space

for New Streets
 SUSTAINABLE
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTOF
DEVELOPMENT OFMOBILITY
MOBILITY
- Planning of compact residential centers
Reduction of Saving along Transportation developing axes
Travel Demand - Multifunctional Land Use planning
Traffic - Balancing the traffic volumes with the available
traffic area

Modal Shift to - Public Transport, Pedestrian Areas

environmentally - Road Pricing/Parking Fees
Shifting - HOV-lanes (High Occupied Vehicles)
more friendly
- Area traffic Calming (Speed Limits,
Transport Modes Traffic Traffic Ban, One-Way Streets)
- Improving The Image of Public Transport

Optimization of - Harmonization of Traffic Flows

- Traffic Management, Area traffic Control
Traffic Flows Smoothing - Better Cooperation between Transport Systems
on the Road
Network Traffic - Introduction of modern Information Systems
and Telecommunication Technologies (Telematic -
Intelligent Streets - Integrated Parking Control)
Traffic Education and Explaining
How much and - Traffic Courses
the Importance of
which Mobility Environment-oriented Mobility
- Information (Media and Seminars)
we need? - Driving Education

The 3-S Planning Process

 Abatement measures for the Reduction of transport-related Energy
Consumption and GHG Emissions

Measures Objectives

Measures for Short distance Transport

M1 Integrated land use/transportation Reduction of travel demand
planning
M2 Upgrading public transport systems Modal shift

M3 Creation of Pedestrian facilities Modal shift

M4 Environment-oriented improvement Reduction of traffic delays, as well as
of road network and the energy consumption and GHG
introduction of automatic traffic emissions
Signalling
M5 Road pricing / road licensing / Reduction of car use in sensitive areas,
parking restrictions / traffic calming modal shift

M6 Traffic priorities for bus and taxi Modal shift

M7 Carpooling strategies Reduction of travel demand
 Abatement measures for the Reduction of transport-related Energy
Consumption and GHG Emissions

Measures Objectives
Measures for Intercity Transport
M8 Electrification of main railway lines Reduction of GHG emissions

M9 Increasing the attractivity of the Modal shift from road to railways for
railway system (high speed, comfort, both passenger and freight transport
safety, schedule, etc.)
M10 Improving inland waterways Modal shift
M11 The introduction of Sea/rail and Sea Modal shift from road to both railways
/water combined freight transport and inland waterways

M12 Highway user fees Modal shift

Abatement measures for the Reduction of transport-related Energy
Consumption and GHG Emissions

Measures Objectives

General Measures
M13 Maintenance of vehicles to the Reduction of fuel consumption and GHG
manufacturer's specifications emissions

M14 Higher registration fees Modal shift

M15 Higher fuel price Modal shift
M16 Monthly fix-rate of fuel per vehicle Modal shift

M17 Public education of vehicle drivers Improving traffic behavior, reduction of

energy consumption and GHG emissions

M18 Effective use of Reduction of travel demand

telecommunications
 Abatement measures for the Reduction of transport-related Energy
Consumption and GHG Emissions

Measures Objectives

Measures for the Future (Fuel Switching)

M19 Road Vehicle with alternative fuels Reduction of GHG-emissions
M20 Electric car / Electric bus Reduction of GHG-emissions
 The Role of Public Transport
Public Transport must have Priority

❑ Green your Streets with Public

Transport.

❑ In Order to improve the living

Quality in a city, Please use Public
Transport.

❑ Where the Public Transport is

moving - City is alive.
What Kind of Public Transport ?
Transit options in today’s developing-nation cities
are often quite poor

Dar
El Salaam

Dhaka

Santo
Domingo

Manila
Types of Rapid
Transit
Light Rail Transit
VEHICLES
The smooth ride
performance of rail-
based systems
makes add-value
activities, such as
reading or studying,
easier to undertake
Bus Transit evolution
Fuel and propulsion system options
VEHICLES
Bus Rapid Transit in Center Lanes of Existing
Roads

Better Use of
Existing Roads
& Highways
Seoul

Taipei
Applications of ITS may help to reach sustainable mobility objectives
The Forgotten
Pedestrian
The quantity and quality of a
pedestrian public space is
one mark of a civilized city.
TOURISM IS PEDESTRIAN
 In terms of transport:
a civilized city is not one with highways
but rather, one where a child with a tricycle can safely go anywhere.
Summary of Reasons for ST Emergence:

Transportation, especially our use of motorized vehicles, contributes

substantially to a:

• wide range of environmental problems, including energy waste, global

warming, degradation of air and water, noise, ecosystem loss and
fragmentation, and desecration of the landscape.

• Congestion and economic costs

• Reduction in transit system development and suppression of

pedestrians rights that affects public health of the community.

Our nation’s environmental quality will be sustainable only if we pursue

transportation in a sustainable way
(Benfield and Replogle 2002, p. 647).
“When you want something, all the universe
conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
- Paulo Coelho, novelist, 1947 -

Thank You