Preparing Transportation Systems for the ‘Silver Tsunami’

More Americans than ever will age beyond their safe ability to drive. How will they meet their mobility needs in a car-centric society?

1 minute read

May 7, 2025, 10:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Senior couple driving car.

Syda Productions / Adobe Stock

As more Americans age beyond their “driving life expectancy,” is our transportation system ready to handle their needs? In a piece for Streetsblog USA, Kea Wilson outlines the challenges highlighted by professor Greg Shill in an upcoming anthology, “Law and the 100 Year Life” for aging Americans as they navigate their environments after it is no longer safe for them to drive.

Shill calls on policymakers and planners to consider the needs of older adults with more tools than the “‘important’ but ‘incomplete’ strategy of re-designing streets and vehicles, which can all too easily get mired in years of NIMBY gridlock or take decades to ripple across the fleet.” For Shill, other interventions like stronger seat belt laws, more speeding stops, and rewards for good drivers would make an impact in the shorter term. 

For Shill, the key is options. “Critically, Shill argues that many kinds of communities can evolve to serve the needs of a graying population as they lose the ability to drive, whether with walkable main streets in intergenerational small towns, bustling big-city bus systems, or even micotransit vehicles in gated communities built for seniors alone.”

Wednesday, May 7, 2025 in Streetsblog USA

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Use Code 25for25 at checkout for 25% off an annual plan!

Redlining map of Oakland and Berkeley.

Rethinking Redlining

For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

May 15, 2025 - Alan Mallach

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

May 14, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Front of Walmart store with sign.

Walmart Announces Nationwide EV Charging Network

The company plans to install electric car chargers at most of its stores by 2030.

May 7, 2025 - Inc.

Regeneration of contaminated industrial land used for waste dumping, West Midlands, UK, 2006 .

EPA Awards $267 Million to Clean Up and Reuse Contaminated Sites

The EPA is investing the funds to clean up and redevelop contaminated sites nationwide, supporting economic growth, community revitalization, and environmental restoration.

May 18 - Environmental Protection

Archway made of bikes in Knoxville, Tennessee over Tennessee River.

Knoxville Dedicates $1M to New Greenway

The proposed greenway would run along North Broadway and connect to 125 miles of existing trails.

May 18 - WATE

25mph speed limit sign with digital "Your Speed" sign below it.

Philadelphia Launches ‘Speed Slots’ Traffic Calming Pilot

The project focuses on a 1.4-mile stretch of Lincoln Drive where cars frequently drive above the posted speed limit.

May 18 - WHYY