India has a long path ahead to achieve adequate road capacity. Photo by Bob Witlox.
Welcome to “Research Recap,” our series highlighting recent reports, studies and other findings in sustainable transportation policy and practice, in case you missed it.
India Road Network
The Indian Ministry of Road Transportation released its latest Basic Road Statistics Report, which details the complete state of the road transport network nationwide. In 2011, the latest year for which data is available, India’s motor vehicle population grew by 10 percent, while its road network expanded by one third of that. Only 53.8 percent of the total road network is paved.
Emissions Reductions in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, a city notorious for its car culture and associated air pollution, has rolled back auto emissions to 1960s levels of pollution. In a report released by The Journal of Geophysical Research, car emissions in L.A. are down 98 percent since the 1960s, half of that reduction coming from the period between 2002-2010 alone.
Complete Streets Policy
Smart Growth America, an advocacy group that works to promote multi-purpose neighborhoods and streets, released its annual complete streets policy analysis for 2011, finding a marked increase in complete streets adoption nationwide with 146 local governments adopting new policies in 2011 alone. Its findings show that the states of Minnesota and Michigan have the most localities adding complete streets; Alaska and South Dakota have no complete streets policies to date.
American Walking Habits
The Centers for Disease Control released a report, indicating that Americans are walking 6.3 percent more, on average, for leisure and transportation purposes. The report presents an ironic contrast within the data: though more Americans are walking, the net time spent walking by survey respondents actually decreased.
Elderly Pedestrians
In a report released by the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a nonprofit that seeks to reduce car dependency in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, elderly pedestrians are at an increased risk for fatal car crashes and incur fatal injury at more than twice the rate of younger pedestrians in the region’s most densely populated region, downstate New York.
