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<br />5C <br />Page 17 <br /> <br />Transportation <br />Why is this important? <br /> <br />Transportation has fundamental and widespread environmental, social, and economic impacts. <br />Within most cities in California and the United States, there are more greenhouse gas emissions <br />associated. with transportation than with any other sector, and greenhouse gas inventories in <br />several Bay Area cities such as El Cerrito, Hercules, and San Mateo have shown transportation <br />accounting for 40-60% of emissions within city limits.6 The u.s. Energy Information <br />Administration reports that transportation accounts for around 300;0 of greenhouse gas <br />emissions in the United States as a whole.? Transportation vehicles are associated with a variety <br />of other air and water pollutants, and streets and highways take up large amounts of land with <br />impermeable pavement, affecting stormwater runoff patterns and the availability of land for <br />other purposes. <br /> <br />From 1980 to 2006, total annual roadway vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the United States <br />roughly dc)ubled, from around 1.S trillion to around 3.0 trillion, indicating a drastic shift in <br />transportation behavior in the United States.s Unless vehicle efficiency is keeping pace with <br />VMT (and it has not been), higher VMT leads to higher levels of C02 and polluting emissions <br />such as particulate matter and nitrous oxide. In contrast to single-occupancy vehicle travel, <br />public transit and car-pooling decrease vehicle miles traveled and emissions per passenger mile <br />traveled, while walking and bicycling create no emissions and require relatively little space for <br />supporting infrastructure. Inaccessibility to transportation can also be a major social and <br />economic barrier, and money spent on transportation, such as on public transit passes or <br />increasingly high~priced gasoline for private vehicles, can be a major economic burden on <br />households. Increasing the accessibility and affordability of transit, and increasing people's <br />ability to walk or bicycle, can decrease these barriers and burdens. <br /> <br />Defining Sustainability <br /> <br />Sustainable transportation meets society's sodal and economic needs for mobility in a way that <br />minimizes or eliminates negative environmental impacts. <br /> <br />6 Cited from the City of Hercules Greenhouse Gas Inventory Administrative Draft, May 1, 2008. <br />7 U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration, "Disrribution of Total U.S. Greenhouse Gas <br />Emissions by End-Use Sector" from Emissions of Greenhouse Gases Report, November 28,2007, accessed 6/25/08 at <br />http://wwv.,T.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/160S/ggrpt. <br />8 U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Table 1-33 from National Transportation <br />Statistics 2008, accessed 6/25/08 at <br />http://www .bts.gov/pu blications/nationat transportation _ statistics/pdf! entire. pdf. <br /> <br />Redwood City <br />Page 13 <br /> <br />Sustainability Indicator Analysis <br />