Sustainable transportation concerns systems, policies, and technologies. It aims for the efficient transit of goods and serivces, and sustainable freight and delivery systems. 

According to the University of California Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies, "Sustainable transportation meets the access needs of the current population while protecting the environment and accommodating future growth. It is closely tied to land use policies that promote transportation modes other than private automobiles. Planning for sustainable transportation involves developing policies that are appropriate for a given area, whether it is an urban area with good public transit or a rural area dependent on motor vehicles."  So where does this state stand on sustainable transportation?

"Mission Statement
It is the mission of the West Virginia Department of Transportation to create and maintain for the people of West Virginia, the United States and the world a multi-modal and inter-modal transportation system that supports the safe, effective and efficient movement of people, information and goods that enhances the opportunity for people and communities to enjoy environmentally sensitive and economically sound development."

WV GreenWorks plans to sponsor a statewide forum on sustainable transportation and land-use planning to discuss and other envirnmental issues related to smart growth and sustainablity.

Excerpts we found interesting and useful on sustainable transportation:

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has acknowledged the need to change current transport planning practices to incorporate sustainability objectives, as discussed in the report Transportation: Invest in Our Future. It states, “America’s transportation system has served us well, but now faces the challenges of congestion, energy supply, environmental impacts, climate change, and sprawl that threaten to undermine the economic, social, and environmental future of the nation. With 140 million more people expected over the next 50 years, past practices and current trends are not sustainable. To meet the transportation needs of the present and pass on a better world to our children and grandchildren, it is necessary to expand the transportation network’s capacity while simultaneously reducing the environmental footprint of the system,”

The report urged transportation decision makers to adopt the so-called “triple bottom line” approach to sustainability by evaluating performance on the basis of economic, social, and environmental impacts and allocating equal consideration to these driving forces. The specific elements of the triple bottom line approach and the steps required to achieve them can be summarized as follows:

• Robust economic growth: Deliver a sustainable, high-performance transportation system in support of a robust economy by first optimizing existing infrastructure, then reshaping demand, and lastly expanding judiciously.

• Improved quality of life for all citizens: Enhance quality of life by integrating transportation with the built environment by using the full tool kit, including context sensitive solutions, land use policy, and diversified mode choice.

• Better-than-before health of the environment: Embrace environmental stewardship as a preeminent approach to delivering transportation services that result in a zero carbon footprint and a “better-than-before” environment.

 Seattle Climate Action Plan (www.ci.seattle.wa.us/climate/report.htm)

In 2005 Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels established a Green Ribbon Commission that included a wide variety of stakeholders and experts to recommend climate protection actions for the Seattle community to meet or beat the Kyoto target. In 2006 the Commission released a report and recommendations, which include the following strategies to reduce automobile use (plus other strategies to reduce emissions in other ways):

• Increase the Supply of Frequent, Reliable and Convenient Public Transportation
  
• Significantly Expand Bicycling and Pedestrian Infrastructure
  
•  Lead a Regional Partnership to Develop and Implement a Road Pricing System
  
• Implement a New Commercial Parking Tax
  
• Expand Efforts to Create Compact, Green, Urban Neighborhoods

Along with their recommendations the Commission offered these observations:

•  Success will require a deliberate, sustained, community-wide effort. And, since cars and other transportation sources are the largest source of climate pollution in our area, we will need strong regional collaboration as well.
   
•  The actions and investments needed to rein in Seattle’s climate pollution will, at the same time, make our community healthier and more livable, for example, by reducing traffic congestion and toxic air pollution from diesel emissions. 

• In addition, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels increases our energy independence, keeps more money circulating in the local economy and supports local and regional economic development.
  
•  The road to a more climate-friendly community is paved with economic opportunities, including cost-savings from energy efficiency measures for our families and businesses—especially in light of rising and volatile energy prices—and new business prospects for our companies and entrepreneurs.
  
•  Implementing these recommendations requires a significant investment of time and money by the community. But we believe the price tag is dwarfed by the cost to our community of not taking additional action.
  
•  Finally, meeting the Kyoto target here—and, more important, transforming Seattle into the nation’s most climate-friendly city—is an extraordinary challenge. But our community has rallied to meet such challenges in the past. With Seattle’s unique mix of eco-intelligence and entrepreneurial zeal, we will meet and exceed the goal.

Post-Oil Planning (Perl, 2007)

A special issue of the Journal of Urban Technology (Perl, 2007) examines the paradigm shifts needed in urban transportation and land use planning to prepare for riding energy costs and to achieve sustainability objectives. The analysis indicates that sustainability objectives can be achieved through a combination of transportation and land use policy changes that reduce per capita transportation energy consumption, and create cities that better meet human needs, but that this requires fundamental changes in policy analysis and planning practices.

Integrated Planning (European Commission, 2002)

Leading experts recommend the following general principles to create more integrated and efficient local decision-making in the European Union:

1. Establish and enforce strategic (integration and with a long term perspective) visions, planning ability, capacity to use a wider and more innovative range of tools.

2. Promote management skills to develop participatory and proactive processes, involving all relevant stakeholders, and to implement local strategic planning, influencing and promoting the adoption of self – regulated behaviour from all the partners.

3. Consider and reflect upon national/local specificity and differences, being aware of new urban dynamics and of recent and relevant trends (such as increasing liberalisation of the environmental markets, globalisation of pressures, the need for urban renewal, etc.).

Evaluating Urban Sustainability (Barker, 2005)

A study evaluated the sustainability of transportation trends in San Antonio, Texas, including per capita vehicle travel, consumer costs, traffic fatalities, energy consumption and pollution emissions (Barker, 2005). Compared with other cities, San Antonio is found to be less sustainable. The study identifies factors that contribute to high levels of per capita vehicle travel, including development patterns, road density, jobs/housing balance and transit supply. The author identifies various strategies that could be applied to increase sustainability.

 Be Informed About:

• Effects of a warming climate on the transportation infrastructure
• Transportation impacts on the environment
• Current research on carbon emissions
• Importance of land use planning for the environment
• Updates on NJDOT-sponsored ecological research
• Air quality issues that affect transportation