The role of transportation in sustainable development

Abstract

There is now broad agreement that present trends in world transportation system are not sustainable. Many have concluded that fundamental changes in technology, operation, design, and financing are needed. In all societies, including developed and developing, regardless of their development in various fields, New technologies will have different negative consequences in long term. Concerns about environmental quality, social equity, economic vitality, and treatment of climate change due to increasing CO<inf>2</inf> have converged to produce a growing interest in the alternative approach to sustainable development. Development of sustainable is very important in every pattern especially in this century, so in the discussion of sustainable development is very important. Sustainable development at the transportation sector can be divided into three major sections: society, economy, and environment. Transportation sustainable development requires balancing to achieve the minimum expectations in these three sectors. For increasing the role of transportation in sustainable development, we need to use some strategies for increasing sustainability. These strategies include promoting public transportation, demand management, improving road management, pricing policies, vehicle technology improvement, using clean fuels, cultural enhancement, and transportation planning. This paper evaluates the role of transportation and the effect of using these strategies in sustainable development. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.