Location and Transportation
Where you build matters most
Location and Transportation rewards projects sited where the need to drive is low and existing infrastructure is used. Key credits include LEED for Neighborhood Development location, High Priority Site, Surrounding Density and Diverse Uses, Access to Quality Transit, Bicycle Facilities, Reduced Parking Footprint, and Green Vehicles.
Surrounding Density and Diverse Uses has two paths. The density path uses dwelling units per acre or floor-area ratio of the surrounding neighborhood. The diverse-uses path counts distinct use types - grocery, pharmacy, bank, school, library, park, restaurant - within a 1/2-mile (800 m) walking distance of a main entrance. The project's own uses do not count, and uses are counted by type, not by number of storefronts.
Access to Quality Transit uses walking distance to stops: 1/2 mile (800 m) to rail, light rail, subway, or ferry, and 1/4 mile (400 m) to bus or bus rapid transit stops, with minimum weekday and weekend trip counts.
Traps
- Distances are always walking distance along safe, accessible routes, never straight-line distance.
- Bus and rail have different radii - mixing them up is the most common error.
- Sensitive Land Protection is a Sustainable Sites credit, not a Location and Transportation credit.
- Reduced Parking Footprint rewards less parking; it is not about adding spaces for carpools, which falls under Green Vehicles.
Rule of thumb
Half a mile is about a ten-minute walk; a quarter mile is about five. Worked example: a site 600 m (0.37 mi) on foot from a light rail station qualifies under Access to Quality Transit, while a site 600 m from a bus stop does not.