This factsheet addresses the effects of transportation policy on biodiversity. Transportation and the sprawling development it encourages has been recognized as a primary cause of habitat loss and a subsequent decline in biodiversity. This factsheet addresses the issues of roadkill, habitat fragmentation and climate change.

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The transportation system in communities affects health and safety, often engineering out opportunities for physical activity while increasing exposure to hazardous high-speed traffic and automobile pollution.  Car-oriented design and lack of transportation choice forces car-dependency, increasing traffic congestion and the amount of sedentary time people spend behind the wheel. The health of children and people of color is disproportionately affected.

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The impact of transportation on quality of life is perhaps most easily seen in environmental degradation.  America’s auto-oriented transportation system dirties the air, contaminates oceans and rivers, consumes open space and wildlife habitat, hastens climate change, and guzzles energy. This factsheet examines the effects of transportation on air pollution, water pollution, climate change, and habitats.

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Inefficiencies dominate the transportation system because it is not planned or improved as a system. Intermodal connections must be made seamless – for people as well as freight. Better management is the key. Business leaders have the experience and knowledge of such systems to give invaluable input into the decision-making process – locally, at the state level, and at the federal level of transportation planning.

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The transportation system should alleviate poverty and support wealth creation.  Poor people and low income communities should have reliable and affordable access to good jobs, education and job training, affordable housing, childcare and other services and opportunities throughout metropolitan areas.  Unlike past transportation decisions that have left whole segments of our population behind, modern transportation investments must pull together the communities and opportunities within a region rather than driving them further apart.

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Our transportation decisions systematically undermine the basic rights of one-third of all Americans who are too young, old, poor, or infirm to drive.  Elevated highways and transit maintenance facilities are over-represented in low income neighborhoods and communities of color.  At the same time, distressed communities experience a shortage of transportation investments that support community development like street maintenance, transit systems that are well integrated into regional destinations, and other amenities like safe sidewalks and transit-oriented development. 

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America’s reliance on the automobile has adversely affected our climate and influenced our foreign policy. If other nations follow the lead of the U.S. and model their transportation systems and land uses on automobiles, climate change will rapidly accelerate. This will also accelerate economic inequity as affluent car-owners drive non-motorized and transit modes off limited public roads and streets. Overall mobility will be reduced and the entire transportation system will be less stable.

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Transportation policy has a strong, positive relationship with job creation and access. The transportation system should support job creation and grant all people access to good jobs. Unlike past transportation decisions that have focused on short-term solutions and have ignored large sections of the population, modern transportation investments must expand opportunities and improve quality of life.

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The transportation infrastructure in the United States, planned around automobile use, has both fostered a reliance on the automobile and encouraged sprawling development.  This, in turn, has made automobile ownership unavoidable for many households, where it becomes an economic burden, standing in the way of wealth creation and home ownership for many low- and middle-income households.

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