A Study of Sustainable Transportation Planning and Sustainability Indicators

The legislation of ISTEA and CAAA in the early 1990s have significant impacts on the notion of sustainable transportation planning. Their provisions allow local communities to implement planning strategies towards the goals of sustainable development. Meanwhile, there has been increasing recognition of the need to establish instruments to evaluate the progress of the implementation of sustainable development strategies. As a result, sustainability indicators have been developed by public and private agencies and organizations as measurements for the level of sustainability. This paper investigates the impacts of ISTEA and CAAA in relation to sustainable transportation planning. It also examines the categories and effectiveness of sustainability indicators for transportation identified by three different resources: the Interagency Working Group of Sustainability Indicators, Sustainable Seattle and the Hart Environmental Data. Additionally, the paper proposes supplementary indicators as well. Finally, the paper attempts to apply these indicators with reference to the Central City Plan of Portland, Oregon, and the Berkeley Downtown Plan of Berkeley, California, and to identify the role of indicators in the planning process. Thesis Supervisor: Kristma Hill Title: Assistant Professor of Urban Studies and Planning Table of