New Priorities, Not More Money, Need to Reform Federal Transportation Policy

Transportation for America, one of the leading advocacy organizations for multi-modal funding at the federal level, has announced a drastic change to its agenda.

1 minute read

October 4, 2019, 6:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


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"Transportation for America is no longer asking Congress to provide an increase in money for [the] federal transportation program."

That's the perhaps surprising revelation at the heart of a recent article by Beth Osbourne, who also states the reasoning behind the announcement:

Why in the world would we just pour more money into a program that is “devoid of any broad, ambitious vision for the future, and [in which] more spending has only led to more roads, more traffic, more pollution, more inequality, and a lack of transportation options,” as I wrote in the Washington Post during Infrastructure Week?

What the program should be about is accountability to the American taxpayer—making a few clear, concrete, measurable promises and then delivering on them. The program should focus on what we’re getting for the funds we’re spending—not simply whether or not money gets spent and how much there was.

Osbourne promises more details about the organization's new principles next week.

Thursday, October 3, 2019 in Transportation for America

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