Environmentally sustainable urban transportation-comparative analysis of local emission mitigation strategies vis-Ã -vis GHG mitigation strategies

The total cost of transportation is found to be in a similar and smaller band across all strategies (both GEMS and LEMS). The HC mitigation strategy resulted in the least cost followed by the CO2 and TSP strategies. TSP strategy of emission reduction while planning the transportation system for a longer period was found more effective than GHG mitigation strategy. Therefore, employing local pollutant mitigation strategies in transportation planning would also cater for the needs of GHG mitigation, which is a key factor in attracting international funding organizations to invest in transport infrastructure development in developing countries. It would also provide equal consensus from local policy makers, environmental activist and also global actors. This presents a base for the argument that the transportation projects need to be looked at in pollution mitigation approach rather than the GHG mitigation approach.