Will pending federal transportation rule double down on outdated view of congestion? | Transportation For America

Headlines are quick hits from media outlets from Missouri and around the world. Follow the headline link for the full story. The source of this headline says:

USDOT is on the cusp of releasing crucial directions for how states and metro areas will have to measure traffic congestion. The new rule could push local communities to try in vain to build their way out of congestion, or mark a shift toward smarter approaches like shortening trip times, rewarding communities that provide more options or better accounting for other travel modes and telecommuting.

Thanks to new requirements in the 2012 transportation law (MAP-21), USDOT is working to establish a new system of performance measures to help govern how federal dollars are spent and hold states and metro areas accountable for making progress on important goals. For two years, USDOT has been slowly developing, releasing and then refining new metrics for safety and state of good repair for highways and bridges. And any day now, they’re expected to release the final highway rule that will cover traffic congestion, air emissions, freight movement and system performance.

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Will pending federal transportation rule double down on outdated view of congestion? | Transportation For America

MoBikeFed comment: This is a wonky and very technical issue--but the sort of thing that will make a huge difference in the way billions of dollars of federal transportation money is spent. And so will have a major impact in the way our cities and communities develop over the coming years.

Please take a moment to read and understand this important issue.