Travel Behavior

Assessing the Environmental, Economic and Social Benefits of Well-Located Workforce Housing

Rohe, W
Cowan, S
Rodriguez, Daniel
1012

The jobs-housing imbalance in many metropolitan areas contributes to long work commutes and the related problems of air pollution, traffic congestion, and loss of both discretionary income and time that could be spent in more productive and meaningful ways. This is a particular problem for low- and moderate-income workers who may have to travel long distances from their places of work to find affordable housing. This article presents a methodology for assessing the potential environmental, economic, and social benefits of constructing new affordable housing close to major employment...

Are Traffic Safety Rules and Experience Sufficient to Make Children Safe Pedestrians?

Rouse, J
Smith, R
Sessions, M
Combs, T
Rodriguez, Daniel
Sisiopiku, V
Schwebel, DC
2015

Pedestrian injury is among the top causes of death in North American children ages 5-12 (NCIPC, 2014). Research documents a wide range of factors that contribute to child pedestrian injury risk, but many contributing factors remain unknown and unevaluated. This study considered two such factors: institution of safety rules by parents and children’s experience crossing streets. We hypothesized both presence of parental rules about traffic safety and greater child pedestrian experience would be associated with safer pedestrian behavior in children.

Are Perceptions about Worksite Neighborhoods and Policies Associated with Walking?

Schwartz, MA
Aytur, SA
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, Daniel
2009
To examine associations of the built environment surrounding worksites and of work policies with walking behaviors. Cross-sectional convenience sample survey. Workplace. Employed adults residing in Montgomery County, Maryland. Four different step measures taken at or near work as recorded using an accelerometer and a fifth measure indicated self-reported walking from work. Participants reported on eight built environment characteristics surrounding the worksite...

An Evaluation of the Accessibility Benefits of Commuter Rail in Eastern Massachusetts Using Spatial Hedonic Price Functions

Armstrong, RJ
Rodriguez, Daniel
2006

We estimate spatial hedonic price functions to examine local and regional accessibility benefits of commuter rail service in Eastern Massachusetts, while controlling for proximity-related negative externalities and other confounding influences. The data include 1,860 single-family residential properties from four municipalities with commuter rail service, and three municipalities without commuter rail service. We find some evidence of the capitalization of accessibility to commuter rail stations. Two model specifications suggest that properties located in municipalities with commuter...

Air Pollution, Social Disadvantage, and Walking in Six United States Cities: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Chen, YH
Adar, S
Marshall, J
Hirsch, J
Rodriguez, Daniel
Evenson, K
Sampson, P
Magzamen, S
Kaufman, J
Roux, A
2016
Physical activity may be influenced by walking opportunities, which can differ substantially across neighborhoods. Air pollution similarly varies by location. It remains unclear whether more walking occurs in highly polluted neighborhoods and whether socially disadvantaged populations are less likely to experience walkable neighborhoods with clean air. We studied the spatial distributions and associations of neighborhood level air pollution, walkability, and social factors with self-reported walking. Overall walking was reported between 2010-2012 by 3,661 Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis...

Advanced Modeling System for Forecasting Regional Development, Travel Behavior, and Spatial Pattern of Emissions

Rodriguez, Daniel
Song, Y
Morton, B
Rouphail, N
Frey, C
Khattak, A
2010

Can regional development patterns, over 50 years, influence quantity and spatial pattern of emissions from transportation in the Charlotte (NC) area?

Active Travel, Public Transportation Use, and Daily Transport Among Older Adults: The Association of Built Environment

Yang, Y
Xu, Y
Rodriguez, Daniel
Michael, Y
Zhang, H
2018
To examine active travel and public transportation use among U.S. older adults and the built environment characteristics associated with them. Total active travel, public transportation trips, travel purpose diversity, total and maximum distance traveled for older adults (>= 65 years) relative to middle age adults (45–64 years) as reported in the 2009 National...

A Comparative Case Study on Active Transport to and from School

Fesperman, CE
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, Daniel
Salvesen, D
2008

This study investigates active-transport-to-school initiatives through the Active Living by Design Community Action Model framework. The framework outlines five strategies that influence physical activity: preparation, promotion, programs, policies, and physical projects. A comparative case study was conducted to investigate active-transport-to-school initiatives at two North Carolina schools. A group of key stakeholders from each site was interviewed (N = 16), including principals, physical education teachers, public safety officers, city planners, regional transportation planners, city...

A Comparison of GPS and Travel Diaries to Characterize Walking Behavior

Cho, G
Rodriguez, Daniel
Clifton, KJ
Evenson, K
2008

While travel diaries are widely used to investigate walking behavior, the emergence of portable GPS units provides an innovative approach to characterizing walking behavior. This study compares the number and duration of daily walking trips reported in travel diaries with data extracted from a portable GPS unit and identified as the same walking trips. The study had two phases: (1) We used 35 person-days of travel data to determine the best algorithm for identifying walking trips from GPS data. The best algorithm had high Pearson (0.89) and Spearman correlation (0.85).

Leveraging Commuting Patterns and Workplace Charging to Advance Equitable EV Charger Access

Wang, Ruiting
Kwon, Ha-Kyung
Jordan, Katherine H.
Moura, Scott
Boloor, Madhur
Machala, Michael L.
2026

This study introduces a framework for improving accessibility to and quantifying social equity priorities in electric vehicle charging infrastructure through strategic workplace charger placement. We develop a customizable equity evaluation model that quantifies access disparities across demographic groups. This model is used to construct an optimization framework that informs charging infrastructure deployment decisions. Leveraging commuting patterns, we demonstrate in the case study of Oakland, California that strategically placing workplace charging can achieve, on average, a 1.8-fold...