Writers (including me) spilled a lot of virtual ink last year about the emergence of new urban growth patterns that shifted away from the commuter/suburban sprawl model. People want to renovate their living situations into closer-knit communities that produce lower emissions, and it's becoming clearer that transportation will play an enormous role in the remodel.

Back in May 2008, the highest gas prices in years prompted more talk of - and consumer interest in - increasing light rail systems in the United States. While light rail projects are in the works or plans of several U.S. regions, particularly with the specter of President-elect Barack Obama's proposed stimulus plan that includes a $60 billion infrastructure component, smart growth involves much more than light rail transportation.

Planners, governments, and smart growth advocates around the world are talking about a more comprehensive transportation overhaul, one that includes mass transit between and within cities and bicycle and pedestrian traffic. The key here is less reliance on cars only and stronger relationships between transportation systems and the communities themselves:

"[C]ommunities are beginning to implement new approaches to transportation planning, such as better coordinating land use and transportation; increasing the availability of high quality transit service; creating redundancy, resiliency and connectivity within their road networks; and ensuring connectivity between pedestrian, bike, transit, and road facilities." - SmartGrowth.org

In 2002, The European Commission launched the CIVITAS initiative to help cities coordinate urban transportation solutions with the goals of sustainability, innovation, better energy efficiency, and a melding of policy and technology strategies. In addition to these goals, the 13 different projects throughout the initiative's (so far) six-year history serve as models for transportation reform.

Here's one example:

The Trendsetter project involves five different cities: Graz, Austria; Lille, France; Pecs, Hungary; Prague, Czech Republic; and Stockholm, Sweden. Among multiple other innovations, the cities have completely revamped city bus routes to make them more efficient:

"Dynamic bus priority systems have been implemented in Prague and Stockholm, while Lille has introduced a bus lane with high-level service, the first in a future series of twelve similar bus lanes. New bus lines for special needs have been implemented - one to a hospital area in Prague and one between Graz and its suburbs on weekend nights." -  Trendsetter: Sustainable Urban Transport

Plus, better technology in these cities makes public transportation like subway and bus services easier to use and more accessible. Computers now provide real-time traffic information and up-to-the-minute arrival and departure times, and passengers use smart card fare collection.

Finally, Trendsetter cities implemented non-vehicle transport changes to foster healthier, more community-oriented, and more climate-friendly mobility, too. Pedestrians can take advantage of car-free zones in areas of high congestion within the cities, and bicycle commuters can use new bike-and-ride facilities at mass transit stations.

At their heart, transportation strategies like these focus on reducing the number of individual vehicles on the road by enhancing walkability, bike-ability, and the ability to understand and use public transportation without much hassle. Without those amenities, there may not be enough incentive for people to leave their suburbs and give up their cars.

But renovating and plumping up existing systems is only half the transportation picture. In the companion piece to this article, I'll outline the way communities are also taking cars off the road through sea changes in business, education, and housing.

Related Reading:
Solving Economic Woes and Environmental Conundrums: Get on the Bus
Smart Growth and Wide Open Spaces

Image Credit:
Rail Life