The vast majority of funding disbursed under the 2021 infrastructure law has gone to car-dominant transportation at the expense of other less-dangerous, climate-friendly forms of transportation, a new analysis finds.
“We’re seeing investments that are not too conscious of the climate across the board from states,” Corrigan Salerno, a policy associate at Transportation for America, which released the report, told The Guardian.
More than half of funds disbursed to states have gone to highway expansion and resurfacing (about $70 billion) with just one-fifth of the funds ($25.6 billion) going to public transit. The expansion of highways — often sited intentionally to harm Black and Brown communities — has been shown to only increase congestion.
“This much money going into highway expansion is, for one, a liability into the future, and two, it just doesn’t work,” Salerno added. “We’ve been expanding highways for decades on decades, and everyone consistently finds themselves stuck in traffic.” The Department of Transportation on Wednesday, the same day the Transportation for American analysis was released, announced $9.9 billion in new funding for state and local transit programs. (TFA Analysis: The Guardian; New DOT funds: E&E $)