01556564

Component

Across the nation, the debate over metropolitan sprawl and its impacts continues decade after decade. To elevate the debate, a decade ago, researchers developed compactness/sprawl indices for metropolitan areas and counties which have been widely used in health and other research. In this study the authors develop refined compactness/sprawl indices based on definitions and procedures in previous studies by Ewing et al. (2002. 2003). The indices are being made available to researchers who wish to study the causes, costs and benefits, and solutions to sprawl, and to practitioners who wish to check their community’s success in containing sprawl. Finally, the study validates the compactness index and its component factors against transportation outcomes for 2010, specifically walk mode share, transit mode share, and average drive time on the journey to work. If sprawl has any widely accepted outcome, it is automobile dependence and heavy automobile use. Consistent with this characterization of sprawl, the authors find that the overall compactness index bears a strong relationship to transportation outcomes.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADA20 Metropolitan Policy, Planning, and Processes. Alternate title: Measuring Sprawl and Its Transportation Impacts: An Update.

01550057

15-2264

English

19p

2015

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Automobile travel; Modal split; Public transit; Urban sprawl; Walking

Compact cities; Compactness

United States

Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-2264

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 12:48PM