Student Corner: The State of American Transportation and Complete Streets

Overlake Village Complete Streets Plan Redmond, Washington  <p>Throughout the United States, transportation infrastructure is dominated by automobile-oriented streets. They connect our neighborhoods and our communities, our urban centers and our rural peripheries, our regions and our states. They facilitate not only commerce and economic development but also the free movement of people across the country, and whether good or bad, road infrastructure has become an indelible part of the American experience.</p> <p>From the advent of the mass-produced automobile in the early twentieth century, streets, roads, and freeways have radically transformed both the mode and concept of transportation. More than ever, Americans rely on personal vehicles and the roads on which they travel to commute to work and move around their physical environments. According to data from the American Community Survey, across North Carolina over 81% of workers commuted alone by personal vehicle in 2017, representing share growth of two percentage points since 2007.</p> <p>While local governments across the state continue to invest in public transportation and advocate for more multi-modal means of travel, the use of personal automobiles continues to increase. One potential reason this trend continues is that while advocates push for reform, planners and policy makers conceptualize infrastructure improvements from the perspective of the automobile.</p> <p>Transportation models, which influence final policy and funding decisions, are framed around commute trip demand, while roads and highways are designed and built for the sole purpose of alleviating traffic and reducing commute times. With an annual budget of $4.8 billon, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, for example, allocates over [...]</p>