More and more sustainable transportation choices are being implemented in BC.  This trend is already starting to bend BC’s GHG trajectory in the right direction. The multiple benefits of taking action include:

• Reduced Infrastructure Costs
• Reduced Energy Costs
• Health Protection
• Environmental Protection

Reduced Infrastructure Costs

A community with fewer new roads will have a lower capital budget and spend less on roads operations and maintenance.  This frees up funds for other community needs. 

• Compact development in a community requires significantly less new road infrastructure than servicing a sprawling pattern.  US research suggests savings of around 11% on capital outlays for road infrastructure and annual savings of about 4% on operations and maintenance by "shifting to a modestly more compact development pattern." [1]
• Fewer new arterial roads are needed when growth is concentrated in existing areas, rather than extending to undeveloped land. This may reduce the need for Development Cost Charges to fund roads infrastructure or provide an opportunity to waive or reduce Development Cost Charges in the area of compact new growth. The authority to do this is found in Section 559.1 [1] of the Local Government Act.
• It costs as much as twenty times more to support a passenger kilometre of automobile traffic compared to one of bicycle traffic. [3]

Reduced Energy Costs

It costs less to live in a place that has convenient transportation choices. Rising energy costs will increase the popularity of places that offer and encourage low-energy transportation options, a compact community layout, good transit, and active transportation routes.

• One study found that households in more automobile dependent communities devote over 20% of household expenditures to ground transportation (over $8,500 annually), while those in communities with more diverse transportation systems spend less than 17% (less than $5,500 annually). [4]

• Canadian consumer spending on gasoline is rising rapidly.  In the first quarter of 2008, Canadians spent 3.8% of their disposable income on gasoline, up from 2.9% in 2002. This compares with the previous record highs of 3.3% in the early 1980s, when gas prices spiked. [5]

• Compact urban areas – with less energy intensive transportation choices – are more resilient to the mounting costs of rapidly rising gas prices.

Health Protection

• By some estimates, as many British Columbians die from air pollution each year as from traffic accidents. Reducing greenhouse gases from transportation sources reduces air pollution and has a positive impact on population health. [2]
• Even moderate physical activity can reduce the risk of premature death, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, adult-onset diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, depression and colon cancer.  So having alternatives to the car to get around is also good for health.[8]
• Walking trips can increase to 20% in mixed use neighbourhoods, even if high-quality transit service is not available. [7]

Environmental Protection

• Adding one mile of additional highway lane increases carbon emissions by more than 100,000 tonnes over 50 years, and greatly outweighs the temporary benefit of congestion relief. [6] TDM strategies and compact development have better results.
• Paved areas absorb solar energy, create heat islands, exacerbate smog, and increase energy requirements for air-conditioning.  Given these impacts, it makes sense to minimize paved areas like roads and parking.
• People drive 30% less when they live in places with twice the density of low-density sprawl areas, a diversity of uses, accessible destinations, and interconnected streets.  Five to ten times more of their trips have zero emissions (walking and cycling), than auto-dependent communities. [9]
• Five to ten percent of urban automobile trips, most of them short distance, can reasonably be shifted to non-motorized transport. This is significant for GHG reduction because short trips have proportionately higher emission and fuel usage per kilometre. [9]

[Use the tabs above to learn HOW you can reduce emissions in transportation.]

[1] Munro and Puentes, (2004).  Investing in a Better Future: A review of the Fiscal and Competitive Advantages of Smarter Growth Development Patterns [2], Brookings Institution and Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, pp. 24-26   

[2] As reported in Gage and Saha, (2006).  The Clean Air Bylaws Guide, West Coast Environmental Law,

[3] Sorensen, 2008. Fact Sheet: The Bicycle, from Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet, Sierra Club Books, 

[4] Victoria Transportation Policy Institute, Online TDM Encyclopedia, http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm66.htm [3]

[5] Cross and Ghanem.  August 2008.  Over a Barrel? Canada and the Rising Cost of Energy, in Canadian Economic Observer.  Statistics Canada.

[6] Williams-Dery, (October 2007).  Increases in Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Highway Widening Projects, Sightlines Institute 

[7] Ewing, Bartholomew, Winkelman, Walters, and Chen. 2008. Growing Cooler: the Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change.  Urban Land Institute

[8] Go for Green Fact Sheets:  Making the Case for Active Transportation (2000), at Built Environment and Active Transportation, Resources & Useful Links  http://www.physicalactivitystrategy.ca/index.php/beat/links/ [4]

[9] 2007 Natural Capitalism Solutions, Local Action Plan Best Bets in Chapter 5, Climate Protection Manual for Cities, http://www.climatemanual.org/Cities/downloads/CPM_Chapter5_LocalActionPl... [5]