AASHTO report Unlocking Gridlock

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) issued the first in a series of reports on the need to increase our nation’s Transportation system capacity.  The series is entitled, “Transportation Reboot: Restarting America's Most Essential Operating System.”  The first report is called “Unlocking Gridlock.”  The report outlines a four-pronged approach to “rebooting” our Transportation system to increase mobility.  One of the four prongs is to substantially increase travel by modes other than private automobile.  According to AASHTO, the actions needed to accomplish this mode shift are:

1. Increase public transit and transit ridership
2. Increase bicycle and walking trips
3. Shift freight from trucks to rail
4. Shift trips to intercity passenger rail

Increasing public transit ridership and increasing bicycle and walking trips will require investment in pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure to facilitate those trips, and such investment is supported by AASHTO: “AASHTO supports the continuation of the Transportation Enhancement Program, which supports new bike and pedestrian facilities.”  AASHTO notes in their report that the increased Transportation system funding they propose ($375 billion) would provide between $500 million and $1 billion each year for Transportation Enhancement bicycle and pedestrian projects.