4.1: Public Transportation Access-6 Points

4.2: Bicycle Storage and Changing Rooms-1 Point

4.3: Low-Emitting and Fuel-Efficient Vehicles-3 Points

4.4: Parking Capacity-2 Points

Intent: To reduce pollution and land development impacts from automobile use.

This week we are looking at Site Selection Credits 4.1 through 4.2 which address ways to facilitate and encourage Alternative Transportation. This issue has wide ranging implications and addresses not only environmental impacts but health care issues as well. In May 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hosted a workshop to develop a scientific research agenda that would investigate how the design of a community’s built environment influences the health of its residents. A growing body of literature is showing that the design of cities, neighborhoods, and individual buildings can affect levels of physical activity, which is an important factor in the prevention of obesity and its associated adverse health consequences. Community design influences the amount to which its residents are dependent on automobiles, whose use contributes to air pollution, motor vehicle crashes, and pedestrian injuries.

Click Here to read more about the CDC’s Healthy Community Design

To help address these issues the USGBC recommends that developers and business owners implement design strategies and operational standards that encourage and enable employees to utilize healthier, greener commuting options. First is Public Transportation Access, worth 6 out of 12 possible points. This option has the greatest potential to reduce environmental impact because it allows employees to leave their cars at home. Utilizing bus and rail lines substantially reduces auto emissions produced during commute and also encourages a healthy walking habit. For the new Academic Center, this credit is achieved by using Option 2-Bus Stop Proximity. This option requires that a project be located within ¼ mile of a bus stop usable by the building occupants. The Academic Center provides convenient access to the local bus line operated by PanTran-Eastern Panhandle Transit Authority. Along with convenient pedestrian access, APUS has campus transportation services which run during the most frequent commuting hours and connect to public transportation.

In addition to public transportation access, the LEED design system also recommends the installation of bicycle racks and changing rooms to provide local employees the option to ride their bike to work. Credit 4.2 is achieved by providing bicycle racks within 200 yards of building entrance for 5% of building users and shower/changing facilities in the building for 0.5% of full time equivalent occupants. For the site in Charles Town, APUS is installing rolling racks that will facilitate up to nine bikes and changing facilities on each floor to accommodate their employees. The potential impact of bicycle commuting is gaining in popularity. All over the country, developers, city planners and employers are recognizing the potential impacts, not just for individual buildings, for whole cities as well. On December 11, 2009, a new bike access law took effect in New York City, stipulating that buildings with freight elevators must allow employees to use those elevators to take their bikes upstairs. The law aims to encourage bicycle commuting by eliminating worries about the security of street parking.

Click Here to read New York Times Article on 2009 Bike Law

For those employees who do not have access to public transportation and do not live close enough for bicycle travel, Alternative Transportation Credits 4.3 and 4.4 outline operational opportunities to address automobile travel and parking issues. Credit 4.3 Alternative Transportation-Low-Emitting and Fuel Efficient Vehicles (3 pts) to achieve these points APUS has elected to pursue Option 1 within this credit, providing preferred parking for 5% of parking capacity for fuel efficient vehicles (FEV). At the site of the Academic Center that amounts to six premium parking spaces located near the entrance of the building. While that may seem a small number of spaces, it is only because it reflects APUS pursuance of Credit 4.4 Alt Transportation-Parking Capacity (2 pts). The new Academic Center will provide parking for less than 5% of the total building occupants. This reduces the landscape footprint of the project and reduces the amount of impervious cover which aides in the control of stormwater runoff. Of the spaces available APUS has also elected to provide preferred parking for 5% of parking capacity for carpool vehicles.

The top two of Ten Simple Steps to Reducing Climate Change outlined by the Federal Highway Administration are #1 Buy a fuel efficient vehicle and #2 leave your car at home. By encouraging and incentivizing employees to make more ecologically sound travel choices APUS is able to make a significant impact on the local environment by reducing emissions and the impervious cover of their parking areas. The alternative transportation options provided by the buildings proximity to services allows employees to save a little money on gas and encourage healthy activity such as biking and/or walking to work. With these ecologic benefits comes health and economic benefits for the employees of APUS and the rest of the Charles Town Community

Studies Cited

Dannenberg, A., Jackson, R., Frumkin, H., Schieber, R., Pratt, M., Kochtitzky, C., et al. (2003). The Impact of Community Design and Land-Use Choices on Public Health: A Scientific Research Agenda. American Journal of Public Health, 93(9), 1500-1508. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Tags: Alternative Transportation, Biking to work, Healthy Community Design

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