Transportation for America (T4A) is a growing, national coalition of elected officials, business leaders, local advocates, national organizations and citizens committed to creating a new national transportation program that will take America into the 21st Century by building a modernized infrastructure and healthy communities where people can live, work and play.
The PedNet Coalition strongly supports the T4A platform, which states that as Congress develops the next transportation authorization, these six priorities should guide them:
- Establish Accountability for Responsible Investment
- Invest to Compete in the 21st Century
- Invest for Multiple Payoffs in Solving our Energy, Air Quality, and Climate Challenges
- Reward and Support Smart Local Land Use Planning
- Invest for Public Health and Safety
- Find New ways to Pay for What We Need
T4A then lays out how to achieve the goals of the platform in The Route to Reform: Blueprint for a 21st Century Federal Transportation Program
. The backbone of the blueprint is spelled out in six objectives and 10 measurable targets.
The objectives are to:
- Improve Economic Competitiveness, Transportation System Efficiency and Workforce
- Development Opportunities
- Improve Transportation System Conditions and Connectivity
- Promote Energy Efficiency and Achieve Energy Security
- Ensure Environmental Protection, Restore Climate Stability and Resolve Persistent Environmental Justice Issues
- Ensure Safety for All Transportation Users and Improve Public Health Outcomes
- Provide Equal and Equitable Access to Transportation Options in Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities.
The performance targets, which all have of a goal of being achieved in 20 years, include:
- Reduce vehicles miles traveled by 16 percent.
- Triple walking, biking, and public transit use.
- Reduce transportation-generated carbon dioxide levels by 40 percent.
- Reduce delays by 10 percent.
- Increase the proportion of freight transportation provided by railroad and intermodal services by 20 percent.
- Achieve zero percent population exposure to at-risk levels of air pollution.
- Improve public safety and lower congestion cost by reducing traffic crashes by 50 percent.
- Increase share of major highways, regional transit fleets and facilities, and bicycling/pedestrian infrastructure in good state of repair condition by 20 percent.
- Reduce average household combined housing plus transportation costs by 25 percent, using 2000 as a base year.
- Increase by 50 percent the number of essential destinations accessible within 30 minutes by public transportation or 15 minutes by walking, for low-income, senior, and disabled populations.
T4A is current backing the National Transportation Objectives Act of 2009 that was introduced in June by three members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rush Holt (D-NJ), and Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Missouri’s Russ Carnahan (D-MO). “…It’s important to develop a long-term transportation strategy when it comes to our economy and environment. We must rebuild our aging infrastructure in a smart way that addresses our economic and energy challenges,” said Carnahan. The act spells out goals and performance targets that are exactly in line with the T4A platform. This bill is currently been assigned to committee, which is the first step in the legislative process.
T4A hopes to convince the President and Congress to put America on the right path by committing to a bold plan that guarantees good transportation investments to produce the best returns for our economy, our finances, our communities, and our environment.
Learn more by visiting www.t4america.org.
