OFF THE WIRE
US Department of Transportation Calls For End to American Car Culture
Americans are energy hogs, and that has a lot to do with our cars. For years, we've assumed the single-family vehicle's preeminence in both city and country. But now that's all over, according to transportation secretary Ray LaHood.
Take it from his mouth: "This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized," he wrote on his personal blog earlier this week. LaHood apparently meant to announce this "sea change" at the National Bike Summit a week ago, but was drowned out by a raucous crowd.
Of course, there's more than just a blog entry to mark the change. Following are a few abbreviated bullet points from the Department of Transportation's revised bicycle and pedestrian policy statement. These are all top-down directives to both local and Federal transit officials:
Consider walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes… [they] should not be an afterthought in roadway design.
Go beyond minimum design standards. Planning projects for the long-term should anticipate likely future demand for bicycling and walking.
Integrate bicycle and pedestrian accomodations on bridges.
Collect data on walking and biking trips.
Improve nonmotorized facilities during maintenance projects.
To boil all those points down (there's a lot more in the original), the DOT now expects transit workers to add bike and pedestrian lanes during both new construction and regular maintenance — despite their limited budgets.
If the new policies are successful, Americans will drive a less often, and use a lot less oil — a few countries have us beat, but we're still one of the top oil consumers, at almost 70 barrels of oil per thousand people, per day.
The big question is whether anyone who's not directly employed by the DOT will pay attention. "If you build it, they will come," goes the saying. But it's just a saying, and the United States is full of sprawling, difficult to navigate landscapes that usually don't have much in common with biking meccas like Amsterdam. And there's still that deep cultural attachment to cars.
One key to the puzzle is getting companies to encourage their employees to commute on bike. A significant hike to the gas tax would be even more effective. Those aren't areas that LaHood has much control over, so it may be a bit premature to call the end of the car just yet.
