Overview:

Chapter 19 outlines a plan to reshape transportation policy by prioritizing private vehicles and highways, shrinking the role of the Department of Transportation (DOT), rolling back environmental regulations, and undermining efforts to promote public transportation and address climate change.

Key Takeaways:

  • “Affordable and Abundant Transportation”: The chapter uses this rhetoric to advocate for policies that would benefit private vehicle owners, such as lower fuel economy standards and reduced investment in public transportation, potentially making transportation more expensive and less accessible for those who rely on public transit.
  • Shrinking the DOT: It argues that the DOT has become too large and bureaucratic and calls for reducing its role in funding and regulating transportation projects, shifting responsibility to states and local governments.
  • Privatization and User Fees: It advocates for greater reliance on privatization and user fees, such as tolls, to fund transportation infrastructure, potentially leading to higher costs for consumers and making transportation less accessible for low-income communities.
  • Rolling Back Fuel Economy Standards: It criticizes the Biden administration’s fuel economy standards for automobiles, arguing that they are too stringent and are driving up the cost of cars, ignoring the benefits of fuel efficiency and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Challenging California’s Waiver: It calls for revoking California’s waiver under the Clean Air Act, which allows the state to set its own stricter emissions standards for vehicles, undermining state efforts to address air pollution and climate change.

Critical Quote:

“America needs transportation that is more abundant and affordable as well as dignified, accessible, and family friendly.” (p. 652) - This quote uses appealing language to mask the chapter’s true agenda of prioritizing private vehicles and highways over public transportation and other modes of transportation.

Why It Matters:

This chapter reveals a plan to reshape transportation policy in a way that prioritizes cars and highways over public transit, deregulation over environmental protection, and corporate interests over the needs of communities and the planet.

Red Flags:

  • Cuts to Public Transportation: Reducing the DOT’s role and promoting privatization and user fees could lead to cuts in funding for public transportation, making it harder for people who rely on public transit to get around.
  • Higher Transportation Costs: Rolling back fuel economy standards and increasing reliance on user fees could lead to higher transportation costs for consumers, particularly those who cannot afford to purchase new, more fuel-efficient vehicles.
  • Increased Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The lack of emphasis on promoting alternative modes of transportation and the rollback of fuel economy standards would lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, exacerbating climate change.

Bottom Line:

Chapter 19 outlines a short-sighted and unsustainable transportation agenda that prioritizes individual car ownership over collective solutions, deregulation over environmental protection, and corporate interests over the needs of communities and the planet. This approach would likely lead to a more expensive, less efficient, and more polluting transportation system, harming both our economy and our environment.