Aspen VMT Model and GHG Emissions Study
The City of Aspen’s Canary Initiative, a city program that promotes environmental stewardship and reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions, released the 2014 Aspen Community-wide Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Report. The report utilizes data from the City’s first comprehensive vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) study conducted by Charlier Associates in the spring of 2015.
The VMT study is something the City of Aspen has wanted for 10-15 years. The core component of the study included developing a data-driven VMT model that incorporates numerous local, regional, state and national data sources, including travel surveys, vehicle fleet inventories, fuel economy trends, traffic counts, transit ridership, and lodging studies among others.
The breadth of data outputs available from the VMT model will allow the City to answer numerous metrics-based transportation related questions, not traditionally available in rural areas without travel modeling capabilities. VMT data can be sorted by travel group (resident, visitor, commuter, etc.), by vehicle type (car, passenger truck, commercial truck, bus, motorcycle, etc.), by fuel type (gasoline, diesel, CNG, etc.), by season (winter, summer, shoulder) by internal or external traffic attributable to Aspen, or by any combination of these. Not only has the City been able to more accurately estimate GHG emissions, but with this tool the City can more precisely identify the sources of traffic and related trends, which will aide in effectively targeting transportation planning and transportation demand management programs to achieve the community’s goals.
The model can be updated annually by City staff and recalibrated as new data sources become available.
Links:
Report: 2014 Aspen Community-wide Greenhouse Gas Inventory
Press Release: 2014 Aspen Community-wide Greenhouse Gas Inventory
Related Article: Aspen traffic sees steady increase over last 5 years | Aspen_VMT_2014_Summary-Results.pdf | 276.64 KB |