In its report “Transportation for Tomorrow,” the National
Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission
called for a “renewed commitment to serving the American
people’s need for a system that ensures unparalleled mobility,
access, and safety.”(6) But the Commission tried to construct the
puzzle for achieving this worthy goal with critical pieces missing.
Bicycling and walking were overlooked in the otherwise exhaustive
report despite their importance to any comprehensive transportation
policy that addresses traffic congestion, relief from high gas prices,
and the growing challenges of climate change, expanding waistlines
and shrinking budgets.
Relatively small investments in bicycling and walking help to
address all these transportation related problems. By making
bicycling and walking—or “active transportation”—viable options
for everyday travel, we can cost-effectively improve our mobility,
protect our climate, enhance energy security and improve public
health. Active transportation requires no technological breakthroughs—
just federal investment at levels befitting its potential
contribution to America’s well-being.
That potential is surprisingly substantial. This report broadly
quantifies, for the first time, the benefits America can expect if
bicycling and walking play more significant roles in our transportation
system. It concludes that increases in federal investments to
improve the convenience and safety of active transportation
represent a highly cost-efficient use of public funds, producing a
wide variety of benefits for all Americans.
There could not be a more a critical time for such a shift in federal
transportation funding. For the past half-century, America has
spent the overwhelming majority of its transportation resources
building an extensive road system to facilitate travel by automobile.
The resulting transportation system is so one-dimensional that it
fails to meet all our mobility needs and creates major inefficiencies,
such as an over-reliance on the automobile for even the shortest
trips. Just as an ecosystem thrives on the interactions of a diverse
web of life and a financial manager seeks a balanced portfolio
of investments, transportation systems work best when there
are multiple ways—or modes of transportation—to reach our
destinations.
The unintended consequences of an automotive ‘monoculture’—
such as global climate change, oil dependence, and an unprecedented
obesity epidemic—are now far too serious to ignore when developing
national transportation policy.
A more diverse transportation system that provides viable choices
to walk, bike and use public transportation, in addition to driving,
will lead to a far more efficient use of transportation resources. By
providing people with safe, convenient and affordable options, we
enable all Americans to choose the means of transportation that
best meets their needs and abilities for any given trip. As a result,
more people will choose biking or walking for short trips, and in
combination with public transportation for longer trips.
Americans want and need these choices. When asked how they
would allocate transportation spending, Americans indicated that
they would spend 22 percent of transportation funding on biking
and walking infrastructure—about 15 times what is currently
spent (see page 18). The time for reevaluating our nation’s
transportation system to support people’s needs and desires is now.
Provided there are viable alternatives to driving, Americans are
willing to change their travel habits, as the dramatic increases in
gas prices in 2008 have shown. Every day, more commuters switch
to public transportation, bicycling and walking in places where
prior infrastructure investments have made these options safe
and convenient. In a 2006 survey, the federal Non-motorized
Transportation Pilot Program found that 28 percent of trips in
Minneapolis, Minn., involve bicycling or walking.(23) Prior
investment in urban trails and public transportation created the
conditions to make this impressive use of active transportation
possible. The Nonmotorized Transportation Pilot Program and
high gas prices have combined to build on this success. In the
summer of 2008, automatic counts of bicyclists on the Minneapolis
Midtown Greenway showed a 30 percent increase over the same
months in the previous year.(2)