<
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/headway/highways-colorado-transportation.html>
"When Interstate 25 was constructed through Denver, highway engineers moved a
river.
It was the 1950s, and nothing was going to get in the way of building a
national highway system. Colorado’s governor and other dignitaries, including
the chief engineer of the state highway department, acknowledged the moment by
posing for a photo standing on bulldozer tracks, next to the trench that would
become Interstate 25.
Today, state highway departments have rebranded as transportation agencies, but
building, fixing and expanding highways is still mostly what they do.
So it was notable when, in 2022, the head of Colorado’s Department of
Transportation called off a long planned widening of Interstate 25. The
decision to do nothing was arguably more consequential than the alternative. By
not expanding the highway, the agency offered a new vision for the future of
transportation planning.
In Colorado, that new vision was catalyzed by climate change. In 2019, Gov.
Jared Polis signed a law that required the state to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by 90 percent within 30 years. As the state tried to figure out how
it would get there, it zeroed in on drivers. Transportation is the largest
single contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, accounting
for about 30 percent of the total; 60 percent of that comes from cars and
trucks. To reduce emissions, Coloradans would have to drive less.
An effective bit of bureaucracy drove that message home. After sustained
lobbying from climate and environmental justice activists, the Transportation
Commission of Colorado adopted a formal rule that makes the state
transportation agency, along with Colorado’s five metropolitan planning
organizations, demonstrate how new projects, including highways, reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. If they don’t, they could lose funding."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-wildlife-bridge-car-free-streets/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
