Bioeconomy & transportation advisory group

Related Policies/Programs in Place

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Related Policies/Programs in Place

Washington State has set statewide targets for VMT reduction and are reviewing a host of implementation strategies produced by a stakeholder commission.
California has adopted rules that set VMT targets at the local level and give a state agency the power to review plans for conformity to those goals.
Many states have adopted forms of complete streets and fix-it-first rules, though they vary in effectiveness. Illinois’ recently enacted a complete streets law that is considered a model for the region.
Many local governments and MPOs are pursuing demand-reduction policies by allowing for compact, mixed-use development, reducing parking requirements, prioritizing non-auto projects, and expanding transit options. Some of these initiatives resulted from state requirements or incentives, such as Wisconsin’s traditional neighborhood design requirement.

Type(s) of GHG Reductions

Primarily CO₂.

Estimated GHG Reductions and Net Costs or Cost Savings

The GHG reduction from this policy will depend on the progress of parallel polices, such as those aimed at reducing the carbon content of fuels and rationalizing the cost of driving. Absent these policies, a 50 percent reduction in VMT would mean a 50 percent reduction in emissions from motor vehicle use, or more than 10 percent of the region’s total GHG emissions from all sources. If LCFS and pricing mechanisms are successful, the effects of this policy will be less but still extremely significant.

Two state climate task forces, Minnesota and Wisconsin, have evaluated policies similar to those described here and have found that the net costs would be negative, due to lower household cost of driving and lower social costs of providing and maintaining roadway infrastructure.

Data Sources:

Federal Highway Administration.
U.S. Census Bureau.
U.S. Energy Information Administration
Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming, “Wisconsin’s Strategy for Reducing Global Warming: Final report to Governor Jim Doyle”
“Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group Final Report: A report to the Minnesota Legislature”

Quantification Methods and Key Assumptions:

Reducing VMT by 50 percent would reduce emissions from the affected fleet by 50 percent, absent other changes (described above). Costs will vary by implementation strategy but will net as negative, as incentives would be created by redirecting exiting funding, and the lower need for highway capacity would create major savings.

Key Uncertainties

While it is clear that policy can have an important effect, VMT is a determined by many factors, so it is difficult to ascribe precise effects to individual strategies, which themselves may vary in terms of stringency. For this reason, states should set ambitious but achievable goals, along with a suite of policies such as those listed above, and perform annual reviews to ensure they are making adequate progress.

Additional Benefits and Costs

Reduced cost of construction and maintenance of highways.
Reduced criteria air pollutants, non-point-source water pollutants, heat island effects, and other environmental effects.
Reduced danger and cost from highway crashes.
Better access to jobs and other destinations for those who cannot or choose not to drive.
Reduced cost of travel to households and businesses.
Roadways that are better maintained and safer.

Feasibility Issues

None cited.

Status of Group Approval

Pending

Level of Group Support

TBD

Barriers to Consensus

TBD

BT-2.4: Freight Transportation

Policy Description

The freight sector is at or near capacity for every mode of transportation. Better truck technology, electrification of truck stops, vehicle efficiency improvements to trucks, mode switches, rail technology upgrades, elimination of chokepoints, and rail infrastructure improvements, and shift freight movements from truck to rail wherever possible, are all needed to address the capacity constraints in the freight transportation sector.
This policy prioritizes infrastructure improvements to be made in the near-term while suggesting longer-term strategies to improve the freight transportation sector. Near-term infrastructure improvements will provide support in the long-term for the freight and passenger rail transportation sectors.

Policy Design

Goals:

Reduce the GHG intensity per ton mile by 20% by 2025.
Remove bottlenecks that impede mode-shifting such as the CREATE project, shortages of dock space, and technological improvement to increase utilization.

Rail

The use of rail to move freight is a much more efficient method from an energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission perspective. According to the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program:

Moving freight by rail is four times more fuel efficient than other over-the-road alternatives;
One gallon of fuel moves one ton of freight 436 miles by rail;
Hauling one ton of freight coast to coast consumes 7 gallons of fuel by train versus 27 gallons of fuel by truck;
A single intermodal train can take 280 trucks off the highways, the equivalent of 1,100 cars; and
500 trucks would be required to move as much freight as a single bulk commodity train.

Reducing rail congestion and delays in the freight sector will directly improve passenger rail movements and encourage passenger rail travel in the long-term. A major barrier to increased passenger rail travel currently is lack of reliability in passenger rail schedules. Once necessary rail infrastructure improvements are made allowing freight and passenger trains to move more seamlessly throughout the region, reliability will improve, encouraging the use of passenger rail travel.
National freight forecasts by the U.S. Department of Transportation estimate an 89% increase in tons of freight by 2035. Infrastructure improvements are required to increase the amount of freight that can be hauled by rail and to drastically improve congestion and reduce locomotive idling.
Work has been done in the region to determine the most efficient methods for improving the freight transportation system, most notably the CREATE Program. The following freight rail policy recommendations build upon the work already underway by state and regional freight improvement initiatives.

Supply Chain Efficiencies

There are several opportunities all along the supply chain of shipped goods in the region that offer opportunity to implement efficiencies, reduce fuel use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. State and local units of government should strive to identify efficiency opportunities and emission reduction strategies for government goods and services purchased by 2013.

Longer-term strategies for the region

Implement intermodal infrastructure efficiencies to improve the speed of freight shipping across the region, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the freight transportation sector by 2020.
Improvements in freight transportation need to be considered against improvements in all modes of transportation to determine the most efficient method for transporting goods across the region. Create more effective freight transition between modes at intermodal yards, ports, and airports by 2020.
Strategic improvements in freight rail transportation can improve passenger rail efficiencies thus reducing emissions from freight rail while decreasing passenger VMT.

Timing:
Parties Involved: U.S. Department of Transportation, MGA State Department’s of Transportation, Association of American Railroads, AMTRAK, regional/metropolitan planning organizations, shippers, developers, regional rail associations, and local units of government.

Other: None cited.

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