Many medium-sized metropolitan areas such as Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, or Charlotte, North Carolina, have added light-rail train systems to their public-transit networks. Which of the following best explains the goals of light-rail projects?
1. Reduce highway accident numbers due to unsafe driving and outdated, less-safe vehicles.
2. Reduce the ecological footprint of cities and reduce the air pollution created by vehicle exhaust.
3. Plan for sustainable residential zoning and establish an urban-growth boundary around cities.
4. Protect wetlands and local lakes from water pollution caused by industrial waste discharge. 5. Redevelop urban brownfields and promote farmland protection policies that reduce urban sprawl.

The correct response is reduce the ecological footprint of cities and reduce the air pollution created by vehicle exhaust.

Explanation:

In recent years, light-rail projects have become a strategy that cities are instituting to help with lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Personal vehicles that are common to many working-class and middle-class families in the United States like cars, SUVs, and  pickup trucks are contributing to the high levels of greenhouse gas emissions because they emit carbon dioxide if they are run using conventional fuels.  Cars and SUVs and these kinds of personal private vehicles account for approximately two-thirds of transportation-related emissions. Light-rail solutions would help reduce the circulation of such vehicles, particularly when they are electric rather than combustion-based or conventionally powered themselves.