Encourage Transit-Oriented Development, increase density along major corridors and in the Infill and Redevelopment Area to support transit ridership, thus reducing vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) refers to communities with high quality public transit services, good walkability, and compact, mixed land use. This type of development allows people to choose the best option for each trip: walking and cycling for local errands, convenient and comfortable public transit for travel along major urban corridors, and automobile travel to more dispersed destinations. People who live and work in such communities tend to own fewer vehicles, drive less, and rely more on alternative modes. TOD provides multiple health and environment benefits:
Reduce congestion & vehicle-related emission:
30-50% reductions in per capita annual congestion delay are typical between transit-oriented cities and comparable size automobile-oriented cities. Reduce impervious surface occupied for roadway & parking facilities: TOD improves stormwater infiltration in a natural setting, rather than via engineering methods. Ultimately, it will also save the cost on roadway / parking infrastructure.
Conserve energy & reduce energy-generating emission:
Residents of transit-oriented communities tend to consume 20-40% less transportation energy than they would in more automobile-dependent communities.
Strengthen transit system:
Neighborhood patterns and transportation go hand in hand. TOD with well-designed land use and alternative infrastructure will encourage residents to use mass transit and stabilize transit ridership, thus reducing transportation cost to families and to the environment.
Support healthy lifestyles:
Transit users are four times as likely to achieve the target of 20 minutes or more of walking per day, as opposed to people who do not use transit on a particular day. Improve safety: Residents of transit-oriented communities have about a quarter of the per-capita traffic fatality rate compared to residents of automobile-dependent sprawl, taking into account all traffic deaths, including pedestrians and transit passengers.
There are also more benefits of TOD in neighborhood, community and economics aspects, which will be explored in the related themes of imagine Lexington. In Lexington, major transit lines are focused along urban corridors and the Infill and Development area. Increased density in these areas will have the similar benefits to those of TOD.