Modeling the land-use correlates of vehicle-trip lengths for assessing the transportation impacts of land developments

Abstract

This study developed models that relate trip lengths to the land-use characteristics at the trip ends (both production and attraction ends). Separate models were developed by trip purpose. The results indicate several statistically significant and intuitively reasonable effects of land-use patterns. High residential densities and a good mix of complementary land uses are associated with shorter trips. Larger establishments attract longer trips, and the lengths of home-based other trips decrease with an increase in the number of convenient commercial land- use parcels in the neighborhood. The connectivity provided by the roadway network and the urban form of the area (measured in terms of number of intersections and cul-de-sacs) affect trip lengths. In addition to the local land-use characteristics, trip lengths also vary significantly by the location of the neighborhood within the region. All these results hold even after controlling for several trip and traveler characteristics. The models have been implemented in a spreadsheet program for use in assessing the transportation impacts of new land developments.