In keeping with this week’s transportation theme, we’ve spent a lot of time discussing automobile dependence and ways to break the habit. Many people own a car or truck because of convenience, but none of us like the side effects - traffic, increased travel time, increased emissions, and smog. In today’s post we analyzed a few of the ways to reduce automobile dependence. Note that not every idea works in every situation, but certainly a combination of ideas can help us all in someway.
Automobile dependence is a result of the segmentation of residential, commercial and industrial zoning. Naturally, one way to fight that is to change zoning laws and traditional methods of planning. Two types of development / land plans that come to our minds are the TND (Traditional Neighborhood Development) and the TOD (Transit Oriented Development.)