Transportation for America

I just came across the Transportation for America campaign. It's a coalition of some great organizations who recognize the strategic importance of building out a 21st century transportation network for the United States.

In a nutshell, T4A is advocating the following:

• Build a world-class rail and transit network that puts us ahead of the rest of the developed world, not behind.

• Help communities meet the soaring demand for homes in neighborhoods that require less driving and have access to high-quality transportation options;

• Restore, and then keep our existing highways and public transportation networks in tip-top shape.

This is important.

My colleagues in the Smart Globalization program here at New America recently hosted former Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle and CEO Leo Hindery to talk about how our health care crisis is creating a massive competitive disadvantage. Our transportation infrastructure is doing the same thing.

Our current system, especially in terms of passenger travel, is dependent on the automobile. Beyond the pain at the pump this causes, for the daily routine of going to work and school, this is like giving everyone in a hi-rise building their own personal elevator car. I love that analogy because it is so true. The amount of land, energy, and income we waste on personal transportation is incredible. Especially when that system so often results in traffic jams and so much wasted time. No wonder our suburban families are stressed to the breaking point.

I digress. My favorite recent study, the McKinsey Global Institute's report, China's Urban Billion, details how the rural-urban migration of 700 million Chinese from the countryside and into the cities will challenge the world. Energy, transportation and land-use are three of the four dimensions of that challenge and this initiative is the first serious coalition I've seen that is capable of even starting the conversation here in the States.

But it is also popular. As T4A points out, "90% of Americans believe that new communities should be designed so we can walk more and drive less."

Folks, it's time to recycle suburbia.