No expressway Great for the planet. Their wide, smooth lanes have made transportation the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, responsible for 29 percent in total. With a boost from the Biden administration, major US auto manufacturers committed that 40% of their sales will be powered by plugs, not gas, by 2030. But even if the country hits that goal, highways will still activate and encourage the spread, and more emissions.
That’s why environmentalists were frustrated when $1.3 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill passed this year. In the end, the law mainly preserves Current Status, allocating 80 percent of transportation funding to highways and 20 percent to transit. A portion of that money will be distributed through competitive grants, which means the US Department of Transportation will play a role—over the years—In deciding which projects to finance. In those cases, the department can choose to prioritize climate-friendly construction where it wants to.
But most of the transportation funding will be distributed over the next five years to the states, based on population. Then state and local officials will decide what to do with it. They can use some of the money to adapt or stop climate change — or not. In other words, the federal government is not always the boss of federal money. If the goal is to reduce climate impacts, “it’s not a strategic approach,” said Beth Osborne, a former DOT official who is now America’s Director of Transportation.
Now, the Biden administration is trying to put a light thumb on the scale, for road and planetary safety. In one memo for staff announced Thursday, Federal Highways Associate Stephanie Pollack directed her staff to encourage state and local governments to consider repairing existing roads before building new ones. . The agency is calling on state officials to consider strengthening non-highway routes, such as service roads or bridges, which are in dire straits. They will also gently remind state and local officials that climate-friendly projects, such as bike lanes and walkways, require less rigorous environmental considerations than those that do. New roads and bridges. The new policy will apply to $350 billion in federal highway funding.
Local officials generally prefer to build new things, to show off at ribbon cuttings, than to maintain old things. Want to cut a ribbon as soon as possible? A bike lane may be your best bet, the federal government says.
The administration must ask, rather than require, local governments to prioritize climate change because Congress has passed up opportunities to do otherwise while coming together. the infrastructure bill. The version of the House act, which lawmakers passed over the summer, includes provisions that force states to accept funding to repair highways before building or widening them. It would require countries that generate more greenhouse gas emissions to spend more money to reduce them. And it will force grant recipients to show how their projects have contributed to climate resilience. The Senate ignored all of that.
