TRB Special Report 298: Driving and the Built Environment: Effects of Compact Development on Motorized Travel, Energy Use, and CO2 Emissions examines the relationship between land development patterns and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the United States to assess whether petroleum use, and by extension greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, could be reduced by changes in the design of development patterns. The report estimates the contributions that changes in residential and mixed-use development patterns and transit investments could make in reducing VMT by 2030 and 2050, and the impact this could have in meeting future transportation-related GHG reduction goals.

This report describes how an advanced integrated land use and transportation model (the Sacramento MEPLAN) was used to evaluate transit and supportive land use and pricing policies. The model represents the effect that the transportation system has on land use. The interaction of land use and transportation needs to be represented. Otherwise, there may be a biased analysis of transit and highway alternatives. The Sacramento MEPLAN features a more comprehensive representation of induced travel effects, thus increasing sensitivity to policies such as transit, land use measures and pricing policies.

This collection contains 77 papers exploring transportation, land use, and air quality presented at a specialty conference, held in Portland, Oregon, May 17-20, 1998.

"For more than 50 years, the Transportation Research Record has been internationally recognized as one of the preeminent peer-reviewed journals for transportation research papers from authors in the United States and from around the world. One of the most cited transportation journals, the TRR offers unparalleled depth and breadth in the coverage of transportation topics from both academic and practitioner perspectives. All modes of passenger and freight transportation are addressed in papers covering a wide array of disciplines, including policy, planning, administration, economics and financing, operations, construction, design, maintenance, safety, and more."--Publisher's website