Assessment of Influence of Land Use–Transportation System on Travel Behavior

Abstract

An empirical assessment of the interaction between the land use–transportation system and travel behavior is presented. A methodology for identifying a range of land use–transportation systems by a clustering technique with network and land use inputs was developed. Twenty neighborhoods from Orange County, California, were considered in this process. Three groups, or themes, were found to best represent the neighborhoods in the sample area: one each associated with the conventional definition of traditional and neotraditional neighborhood design (TND) and planned unit development (PUD) neighborhoods and one representing neighborhoods that blend characteristics of TND and PUD. Conventional measures of individual travel behavior were compared with an analysis of variance between the themes to identify significant differences, controlling for socioeconomic characteristics. Research results include the development of (a) a systematic methodology to identify a more explicit land use–transportation dimension, (b) an estimate of the potential effectiveness of design-oriented solutions to reduce automobile congestion by using the developed themes, and (c) a preliminary assessment of the extent to which development themes can be used to improve the current modeling framework.