Integrating Land Use, Transportation, and Air Quality Modeling

(PI: Paul Waddell, CO-PIs: Chandra Bhat and Ram Pendyala)

Objective:

The proposal focuses on one of the key research questions identified in the RFA: “How might models that project changes in land-use and activity locations be improved to better reflect and integrate lifestyle, economic production, and public policy factors that drive vehicle miles traveled?” Our proposal addresses this research topic by building on UrbanSim, an Open Source urban simulation system developed in the last several years at the Center for Urban Simulation and Policy Analysis (CUSPA) at the University of Washington. We propose to integrate into this platform an activity-based travel model component and a network assignment component, and tightly couple this system to air emissions models (Mobile6 and its successor, MOVES).

Approach:

We propose to develop and test this integrated system in the Puget Sound region, working collaboratively with the Puget Sound Regional Council, a partner in CUSPA, which is currently funding the application of UrbanSim to the Puget Sound Region. We also propose to leverage an existing NSF Information Technology Research grant awarded to CUSPA, to develop the software infrastructure required for this platform. We intend to use this integrated model to assess the relative influence of transportation infrastructure, pricing, land use policies including smart growth, and demographic and economic trends, on VMT and emissions over a 30-year horizon.

Expected Results:

A key result of the project will be the development of an integrated, Open Source software platform that integrates for the first time land use, activity-based travel, and network assignment, and couples this to current and emerging emissions modeling software. This platform will provide a new capacity for integrated land use, transportation and air quality modeling to support air quality planning in metropolitan areas throughout the United States. This project will provide cities, counties, metropolitan planning organizations, and states improved tools to improve air quality and coordinate land use and transportation planning in order to promote social and economic wellbeing and reduce environmental harm to air, water, and sensitive habitat.