Evaluating Plan Alternatives for Transportation System Sustainability: Atlanta Metropolitan Region

ABSTRACT A growing number of agencies have begun to define “sustainability” for transportation systems and are attempting to incorporate the concept into the regional transportation planning process. Still, very few metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) capture the comprehensive impact of transportation system and land use changes on the economy, environment, and social quality of life, which are commonly considered the essential three dimensions of sustainable transportation systems. This paper demonstrates an application of the Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach for evaluating selected transportation and land use plans in the Atlanta region using multiple sustainability parameters. A composite sustainability index is introduced as a decision support tool for transportation policymaking, where the sustainability index considers multidimensional conflicting criteria in the transportation planning process. The proposed framework should help decision-makers with incorporating sustainability considerations into transportation planning as well as identifying the most sustainable (or least unsustainable) plan for predetermined objectives.