Highway deaths are plummeting — can we make the drop permanent?
April 7, 2009By Andrew Bielak
 |
| Aftermath of a fatal collision on Interstate 540 in Arkansas. Deaths from crashes like these were down nine percent in 2008 over the previous year. Photo by Steve Davis |
You’ve probably heard that Americans are looking to save money and fuel by leaving their cars behind in order to walk, bike and use public transportation in historic numbers. What you might not know about is one of the most important byproducts of this shift in travel demand and decline in miles driven — much safer roads, and far fewer highway deaths.
A new release from the Federal Highway Administration shows that in 2008, a total of 37,313 people died in vehicles crashes, a nine percent decrease from the previous year and the lowest overall level in nearly 50 years. That means that almost 4,000 fewer people died in car crashes last year than in 2007 — something that comes as a rare piece of good news in a tough economic environment.
Though certain states may be making concerted efforts to ramp up safety, no one can deny that the continued drop in driving, which is due to both the economic crisis and fluctuating gas prices, has a profound effect on the safety of our roads.
While these numbers are certainly something to celebrate, they should give us no reason to think that we don’t have much more work to do. One hundred Americans still died each day on our roads last year, and our existing set of local, state and federal policies are doing little to help improve that. That’s like a small commercial airliner full of passengers crashing each day. And it’s hard to imagine that we wouldn’t be shocked into action were that the case with airline travel.
That’s why Transportation for America is pushing Congress and the Obama administration to develop a comprehensive plan for designing safe, complete streets for all users, holding states accountable for reducing fatalities and injuries, and directing targeted efforts to vulnerable groups like seniors and people in rural areas.
Help us out by joining with others to send a message to Congress urging that they support the complete streets bills to make our roads safe, hospitable and accessible for everyone who needs to use them.
Poll results show Americans are ready for a new beginning
March 3, 2009By Andrew Bielak
| Download the press release (.PDF) (.DOC) Download the full poll results (.PDF) (.DOC) |
As President Obama and Congress prepare to take up the renewal of the nation’s transportation investment bill, it’s important to note that that the while legislation may be written here in the nation’s capitol, the decisions made and the policies implemented will truly affect those far outside Washington D.C. For this reason, it’s essential to understand what kind of options Americans want, what changes they’d like to see, and what vision they have for the future of our transportation program.
As a poll released last week by Transportation for American and the National Association of Realtors demonstrates, Americans are ready for major, transformative change — and a majority believe that completing the second half of our transportation system, and repairing our roads and bridges, should take precedence over building new highways. The poll, which was conducted by Hart Research Associates, involved conversations with 1,005 adults living in the U.S. from January 5-7.
The answers to a few key questions from the poll, which are shown after the jump, are particularly revealing.
(Continue Reading)
Transportation numbers emerge on the stimulus
February 12, 2009By Andrew Bielak
UPDATE (2:00 p.m., 02/12/09): Talking Points Memo has acquired a summary of the new bill, which includes a comparison of each spending item to the House and Senate legislation. It looks like the final number for highways is $27.5 billion. The bill to come out of conference also includes $1.3 billion for Amtrak.
—
We now have what appear to be the final numbers for transportation infrastructure in the stimulus. While the totals for transit and highway spending were both in the same ballpark as what they were in the original House and Senate bills, the sum for high-speed has drastically increased from the numbers in the first two versions. Here’s a rundown:
- $27.5 billion for highways and bridges
- $8.4 billion for transit
- $8 billion for high-speed rail
- $1.3 billion for Amtrak
Although it’s too early to know exactly how things played out behind the scenes, the Associated Press reports that President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid helped push up the funding for high-speed rail.
Getting Results on Transportation
November 21, 2008By Andrew Bielak
With the ripple effects of our economic downturn putting state departments of transportation and local transit agencies in serious financial trouble, our federal government needs to make a firm commitment to investing in our crumbling infrastructure and providing Americans with affordable, efficient transportation options.
In an excellent article in this week’s New York Times, writer David Leonhardt reminds us that we can’t simply face these challenges by throwing billions of dollars at new highway construction projects without a coherent set of goals or a system for measuring gains. We need to look at what we’re getting with the money we already spend — and then ask ourselves why the results aren’t better.
A lack of adequate financing is part of the problem, without doubt. But the bigger problem has been an utter lack of seriousness in deciding how that money gets spent. And as long as we’re going to stimulate the economy by spending money on roads, bridges and the like, we may as well do it right.
It’s hard to exaggerate how scattershot the current system is. Government agencies usually don’t even have to do a rigorous analysis of a project or how it would affect traffic and the environment, relative to its cost and to the alternatives — before deciding whether to proceed. In one recent survey of local officials, almost 80 percent said they had based their decisions largely on politics, while fewer than 20 percent cited a project’s potential benefits.
Without accountability at the state, local, or federal level, rigorous data collection to prove results, or coherent national goals that articulate the purpose of our investments, it comes as little surprise that Americans are faced with endless traffic jams, overburdened mass transit systems, and rising costs of transportation.
As Rob Puentes, a transportation expert at Washington D.C. think tank The Brookings Institution, makes clear, the system is broken in part because we don’t think about what benefits our transportation program brings; we just “send a blank check and kind of hope for the best.”
Thinking Anew About a Migratory Barrier: Roads
October 15, 2008By Andrew Bielak
The proliferation of heavily-trafficked highways that cut through tracts of wilderness across the United States has created huge problems for migratory wildlife. (New York Times – Jim Robbins)
Your vote, your crummy highways
October 15, 2008By Andrew Bielak
CNN looks at the presidential candidates’ plans for investing in infrastructure, highlighting John McCain’s focus on cutting back earmarks and Barack Obama’s proposal to create an infrastructure bank. (Tami Luhby)
Freeways Without Futures
September 24, 2008By Andrew Bielak
The Congress for the New Urbanism highlights ten underutilized highways across the nation that would be prime candidates to be torn down and redeveloped.
Transit takes near billion-dolllar budget hit
September 22, 2008By Andrew Bielak
For public transportation in California, the hits keep coming — facing overflowing ridership and record costs, transit agencies must now deal with a $952 million-dollar cut in funding by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The state’s budget for roads and highways does not face a similar cutback. (San Francisco Chronicle — Rachel Gordon)
Paying for Roads
September 15, 2008By Andrew Bielak
The Washington Post editorial board argues that the next administration must think deeply about the transportation challenges facing the nation and come up with new and sustainable methods for funding infrastructure.
Still stuck in the ’50s
September 12, 2008By Andrew Bielak
Maryland PIRG policy associate Kristi Hovarth points to the numerous flaws behind our outdated federal transportation policy — and offers a multitude of suggestions for fixing it. (Baltimore Sun)
-
- U.S. Transportation Department makes good on promise to ensure our streets are made safer
March 16, 2010 - Obama’s livability programs help rural America too
March 16, 2010 - Transit grants out the federal door, but what about the cuts?
March 8, 2010 - Transit riders in Atlanta face massive cuts, “wholesale restructuring” of service
March 5, 2010 - Opposition to Senate extension results in looming shutdown of federal transportation programs
February 26, 2010
- U.S. Transportation Department makes good on promise to ensure our streets are made safer
The United States of Transit Cutbacks
Driving is down and transit ridership is at record highs. Yet transit agencies across the country are considering layoffs, service cuts and fare hikes. Find out more and learn what you can do to help at t4america.org/transitcuts
Transportation: In your eyes
Send us your transportation-related photos.
