The Senate DRIVE Act Fails to Address Metropolitan Congestion

On Wednesday, June 24, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works marked up S. 1647, the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy, or DRIVE, Act, which would authorize federal highway programs for the next six years.

While the DRIVE Act would deliver desperately needed infrastructure funding, the bill represents a missed opportunity to provide balanced investment to expand safe, affordable, and efficient alternatives to driving. The bill therefore fails to address the greatest challenge to our transportation system: metropolitan congestion brought on by light-duty passenger vehicles. Providing robust transportation alternatives would improve access to opportunity; reduce roadway congestion; and, by extension, facilitate freight mobility and economic growth.

For more on this idea, please see:

• Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Misses an Opportunity for Reform by Kevin DeGood