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Abstract

For the last fifty years, the development of the U.S. transportation system has focused on providing for travel by private motor vehicle. Today, many people have no choice but to use a car for even the shortest trips. This transportation monoculture is the product of very deliberate policies, reflecting the special interests of the agencies and businesses directly connected to transportation. Serious problems are just around the curve, however, as we approach the limits of space, resources, and the carrying capacity of our environment. If we shift our view of transportation from a commodity to a cost, we will adopt different performance objectives, which will help lead us in the development of a more efficient, sustainable transportation system. This new system would feature greater attention to compact land use to make trips shorter and would make it both possible and likely that many people would choose to walk or bicycle.

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References

1. Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation , Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (Harrisburg, PA: Department of Transportation, 1996).

2. Tom Larsen , speech presented at the Pro Bike/Pro Walk 90 Conference, Arlington, VA, Sept. 1990.

3. Surface Transportation Policy Project , Crying Wolf: The False “Crisis” of America's Crumbling Roads and Bridges—and Why Special Interest Highway Lobbyists Like It That Way (Washington, DC: Surface Transportation Policy Project, 1996).

4. U.S., Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration , Traffic Safety Facts 1995 (Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 1996), p. 15.

American LIVES, Inc. in cooperation with InterCommunications, Inc. , 1994 Shoppers and Homeowners Study: Community Features Home Buyers Pay For (San Francisco: American LIVES, 1994).

6. U.S., Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration , The National Bicycling and Walking Study: Transportation Choices for a Changing America (final report), pub. no. FHWA-PD-94-023, [1994].

7. Marsha Lowe , The Bicycle: Vehicle for a Small Planet, Worldwatch Paper 90 (Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, 1989), pp. 10, 32.

8. U.S., Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration , 1990 NPTS Databook, 1993, 1:4-68.

Nonmotorized Transportation: The Forgotten Modes

Abstract

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