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160 <br /> transportation options while generating a variety of corresponding benefits. We are encouraged <br /> that a light rail system will finally be constructed within the Triangle, and we hope that the <br /> system will continue to expand as its promised benefits become a reality. In particular, we wish <br /> to highlight the environmental, human health, economic, and community benefits a light rail <br /> system will bring to the D-O Corridor and the greater Triangle area. <br /> A. Light Rail Yields Significant Environmental Benefits <br /> The environmental benefits of light rail are myriad. Most obvious, light rail reduces the <br /> number of vehicle trips that are made each day and correspondingly reduces tail pipe pollution. <br /> Pollutants from cars contain a variety of toxic and carcinogenic compounds.' Such pollution <br /> includes harmful carbon monoxide ("CO"), nitrogen oxides ("NOX"), and volatile organic <br /> compounds ("VOCs").2 NOX and VOCs emissions are precursors to ozone, which is associated <br /> with a variety of detrimental human health and ecological effects.3 Car emissions also contain <br /> greenhouse gases ("GHGs") like carbon dioxide ("CO2"), which contribute to global climate <br /> change. <br /> In addition, urban light rail systems such as this one encourage concentrated growth in <br /> already disturbed environments, rather than the sprawling development into undeveloped, natural <br /> areas that is often enabled by new-location highway projects.4 Light rail facilitates these <br /> concentrated growth patterns primarily because it is a"fixed-guideway" system. Once the light <br /> rail line is constructed and its various stations are fixed in place, the D-OLRT project will allow <br /> investors and developers to confidently invest in an area that will thrive due to the transportation <br /> options in place. Light rail will effectively anchor development within a predictable corridor <br /> along the light rail route. <br /> Such guided,planned land use with built-in public transportation options is <br /> environmentally beneficial on many levels. By containing development within a specific, <br /> planned, high-density area, the light rail system will help stall sprawling, unplanned growth <br /> patterns into suburban and exurban areas. This type of unplanned growth can lead to long <br /> commute times and an associated increase in vehicle miles travelled("VMT"). With more cars <br /> on the road driving for longer periods there is an associated increase in local air pollution and <br /> greenhouse gas emissions, as discussed above. Likewise, as growth sprawls out of urban areas <br /> E.g. HEALTH EFFECTS INST.,SPECIAL REPORT 17:A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON EMISSIONS, <br /> EXPOSURE,AND HEALTH EFFECTS OF TRAFFIC-RELATED AIR POLLUTION 2-17-2-18 (2010),available at <br /> http://pubs healtheffects.org/getfile.php?u=553 <br /> 2E.g. id.;EPA,AUTOMOBILE EMISSIONS:AN OVERVIEW 2 (1994),available at <br /> http://www3.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/05-autos.pdf; Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Transportation Sector Emissions, <br /> EPA,http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/sources/transportation.html(last updated September 11, <br /> 2015). <br /> 3 Ground-Level Ozone, EPA,http://www3.epa.gov/ozonepollution/(last updated October 1,2015). <br /> 4 DEIS at 4-291 (noting that"[t]he proposed D-O LRT Project and associated land use policies are expected to <br /> encourage more compact development,which has a smaller footprint than the auto-oriented development likely to <br /> occur without the transit investment"). <br /> 2 <br />