Highlights We develop econometric models to analyze the impact of air quality control policy on VMT. Hypothesis testing and simultaneous equations methods are Employed. Longitudinal data from 1966 to 2004 are collected at the state and county levels for this Research. VMT in nonattainment areas are 1.80% lower than that in attainment areas in the short run, and 7.61% lower in the long run. Results show strong statistical evidence that efforts in reducing VMT in nonattainment areas have been successful.

    Abstract An important planning and policy question in the transportation, energy, and environment areas is whether or not air quality control and the associated funding preference and mitigation efforts to attain air quality conformity have indeed led to traveler behavior changes such as reduction in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) or VMT growth rates. In this research, we develop statistical models to analyze the relationship between air quality nonattainment designation and VMT between 1966 and 2004 based on observed data. These models employ different statistical methods, including hypothesis testing and simultaneous equations. Findings from these statistical models and datasets are consistent, and suggest there is a statistically significant negative correlation between nonattainment designation and VMT/VMT growth. For instance, the simultaneous equation model in this research, suggests that if a nonattainment area and an attainment area that are similar in all other aspects (population composition, socio-economics, urbanization, fuel price, vehicle stock, etc.) are compared, the VMT in the nonattainment area will be 1.80% less than that in the attainment area in the short run, and 7.61% less in the long run. While these results show strong statistical evidence that efforts in reducing VMT in nonattainment areas have been successful, future research should be conducted to attribute the VMT reduction effects to specific policy instruments for decision-making (e.g. the Congestion Management and Air Quality Improvement program, the conformity regulation in the transportation planning process, etc.).


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    Title :

    Are we successful in reducing vehicle miles traveled in air quality nonattainment areas?


    Contributors:
    Zhang, Lei (author) / He, Xiang (author) / Lu, Yijing (author) / Krause, Cory (author) / Ferrari, Nick (author)


    Publication date :

    2014-05-29


    Size :

    12 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English





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