Taking western China as the research object, based on provincial panel data from 2013 to 2022, this study employs the "top−down" method to estimate transportation carbon emissions. Using the natural breaks method, standard deviational ellipse, and global Moran’s index, the evolution characteristics of transportation carbon emissions in western China are systematically analyzed from three dimensions: spatiotemporal distribution, center−of−gravity migration, and spatial correlation. The results show that transportation carbon emissions in western China generally exhibit a slow growth trend, with a spatially uneven distribution pattern characterized by "high in the north and south, low in the middle". The center of carbon emissions has shifted from the northwest to the southwest, demonstrating a clear centripetal aggregation trend. The findings provide a scientific basis for formulating differentiated and coordinated transportation carbon reduction policies in western China.