Greening Our Infrastructure

• Reduce funding of sprawl-inducing bypasses, new highways through rural land, and other highway projects that reinforce automobile-based development.

• Dramatically increase funding for public transit, including light rail, inter-city rail, low-emission buses, and bus rapid transit. Bus rapid transit was pioneered in Curitiba, Brazil and operates more like a subway system with riders paying in advance and entering from raised platforms.

• Support bicycle pathways and bicycle lanes on roadways to make bicycle commuting and bicycle travel more viable. Bicycle access should be considered with all roadway projects.

• Support pedestrian-friendly, urban and suburban development with access to dependable public transit.

• Provide incentives that influence driving behavior, including greater use of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on highways, congestion pricing, downtown access tolls, employee-provided transit passes, and elimination of employee parking subsidies.

• Manage stormwater using such features as porous pavement and curbless shoulders with infiltration swales—so that rainwater can infiltrate the ground rather than being collected in storm sewers.

• Enhance ecological health and biodiversity by restoring native habitats along highways and rails.

• Create wildlife passages across roadways. Wildlife underpasses and overpasses can reduce roadkill as well as habitat fragmentation.

After the Economic Stimulus Act in early 2008 (which gave us shopping money) and the huge bank bailout later in the year failed to turn around a tanking economy, attention has turned to another massive stimulus bill—one that would fix the nation’s crumbling roads and bridges.

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