Transportation: Challenges and Choices

• Author: Trip Pollard
• Pages: 365-379

Chapter 24

Transportation: Challenges and Choices

Trip Pollard

Current transportation patterns and policies in the United States are

not sustainable. Transportation consumes enormous amounts of fossil

fuels and other resources, generates tremendous pollution, and pro-

motes sprawling development. It is a leading contributor to virtually

every serious environmental problem—including air and water pollu-

tion, global warming, and habitat destruction—and to pressing social,

health, national security, and economic problems.

A new transportation paradigm is urgently needed. Positive steps

have been taken since 2002 at the federal, state, and local levels to de-

velop more sustainable transportation policies. These steps, however,

are just a beginning. A host of policy alternatives are available to pro-

mote cleaner modes of transportation, cleaner and more efficient vehi-

cles, more efficient use of the existing transportation network, and

land development patterns that can reduce the length and number of

vehicle trips.

This chapter opens with an overview of transportation trends, and

then examines steps taken in the past five or so years to develop a more

sustainable transportation system. The chapter concludes with recom-

mendations for some of the significant changes that are needed, and

needed soon, to create a sustainable transportation system.

Current Transportation Patterns

Americans are highly mobile and have built the world’smost exten-

sive transportation system. This system underpins the U.S. economy

and has brought many benefits, including economic development,

jobs, trade, and personal mobility.Overall, however, current transpor-

tation patterns are not sustainable.

Americans traveled over 5.4 trillion passenger-miles in 2005,1—a

daily average of about 15 billion miles, which is roughly equivalent to

166 trips to the sun every day. Vehicle miles traveled rose almost 25

percent between 1995 and 2005, more than twice as fast as population

growth during that period.2

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