Geoanalysis of park-and-ride facilities for future laboratory-wide commuting program

There is a growing interest in reducing the amount of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to reduce overall carbon emissions and energy usage. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has more than 4500 employees, most of which live in and around Knoxville, Tennessee. ORNL is currently developing a pilot commuting program for all employees, which incorporates the use of park-and-ride facilities. This study outlines the methodology behind the preliminary geoanalysis and routing used in developing a lab-wide commuting program. The data used for the study included numbers of employee residences per zip code. Commuting configurations by clustered zip code area and vehicle type were developed. Satellite imagery was used to locate actual, suitable parking facilities to accommodate the specified number of residents involved in each commuting configuration. Routing and estimations of travel times were performed using TransCAD. Energy estimates in kilowatt-hours (kwh) and gallons of gasoline, and gallons of gasoline equivalent, were all determined based on the resulting scenarios. Standard petroleum-fuelled vehicles were used in the initial estimates. Standard electric vehicles were also used in alternative scenarios to estimate potential additional energy and fuel savings. The initial findings from this work will be used to develop a pilot program for ORNL.