New DOT Beautification Council Will Guide the Aesthetics of Transportation Infrastructure

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s new Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Council could dramatically reshape the look and design of American transportation infrastructure, writes Nate Berg in Fast Company.

According to Berg:

Though the council was created to serve an advisory role with no decision-making or funding authority, it currently has two major agenda items that could form the basis of a widespread makeover of American transportation infrastructure.

The council’s first task is a national design competition “seeking innovative thinking around transportation infrastructure design.” The second is creating a design guidebook with aesthetic recommendations for federal transportation projects tentatively titled “Beauty and Transportation.”

The announcement of the council states that its preferences will align with those laid out in President Trump’s “Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again” executive order, which “defines the traditional and classical architecture of ancient Athens and Rome as the basis of a preferred architectural style for federal buildings.”

According to council chair and president of the National Civic Art Society Justin Shubow, USDOT has outlined design principles including that “transportation infrastructure should be designed to uplift and inspire the human spirit and lend prestige to the nation,” and that it “should foster a sense of place and inspire national and community pride in a way that builds upon the past.”