The future of US transportation policy demands new ways to pursue long-standing goals

Economic Development Infrastructure Municipal Government Transportation

经济发展 基础设施 市政府 交通

Brookings is leading a multiyear project to study how states, regions, and localities can better partner to solve the country’s most pressing surface transportation challenges.

布鲁金斯学会正在领导一个多年期项目，研究各州、地区和地方如何更好地合作，解决该国最紧迫的地面交通挑战。

This piece introduces the project.

本文介绍了该项目。

America’s surface transportation system is the workhorse of our economy.

美国的地面交通系统是我们经济的主力。

Every mile of road, rail, sidewalk, and trail keeps the country moving each day.

每一英里的公路、铁路、人行道和小径都让这个国家每天都在前进。

These assets make sure our stores can stay stocked and packages reach our front door.

这些资产确保我们的商店能够保持库存并确保包裹到达我们的前门。

Simply put, surface transportation keeps our economy functional.

简而言之，地面交通使我们的经济保持运转。

Yet this foundational infrastructure system is showing serious signs of distress.

然而，这一基础设施系统正显示出严重的困境迹象。

The signs are there for every driver, passenger, and runner to see: Sudden shifts between high- and low-quality roads, especially when getting on and off urban highways; a real sense of danger when biking or walking along the country’s major commercial corridors; being caught between the high costs of owning a car and transit rides that take too long.

每个驾驶员、乘客和跑步者都可以看到以下标志： 高质量和低质量道路之间的突然转换，尤其是在上下城市高速公路时；沿着该国主要商业走廊骑自行车或步行时真正的危险感；陷入拥有汽车的高昂成本和耗时过长的交通之间的困境。

Contrast those challenges with what’s working well.

将这些挑战与有效的方法进行对比。

Driving on highways outside of town—the proverbial “open road”—is usually a smooth and dependable experience for a family on a quick road trip or a trucker driving goods between markets.

对于快速公路旅行的家庭或在市场之间驾驶货物的卡车司机来说，在城外的高速公路上行驶（即众所周知的“开放道路”）通常是一种平稳可靠的体验。

America’s freight rail network functions similarly well for trains running far outside of built-up places.

对于远离建筑区的火车来说，美国的货运铁路网络也同样运转良好。

These successes and failures didn’t happen by accident.

这些成功和失败并非偶然发生。

It’s the job of government officials to balance larger end goals—including economic growth, household prosperity, and public health—when deciding where transportation assets are built, how they’re designed, and the rules for how they’re used.

政府官员的职责是在决定交通资产的建设地点、设计方式以及使用规则时平衡更大的最终目标，包括经济增长、家庭繁荣和公共卫生。

Today, we’re living in a country defined by a transportation policy paradigm focused overwhelmingly on two big priorities: accelerating interstate commerce and promoting large-lot housing.

今天，我们生活在一个交通政策范式所定义的国家，该政策范式主要关注两大优先事项：加速州际贸易和促进大面积住房。

But pursuing those goals came with consequences: We built metropolitan transportation systems that fail to keep users safe, demand excessive amounts of personal spending, reduce consumer choice, and are overly expensive to maintain.

但追求这些目标会带来后果：我们建立的大都市交通系统无法保证用户的安全，需要过多的个人支出，减少消费者的选择，而且维护成本过高。

Transportation governance has to evolve.

交通治理必须不断发展。

The country needs a new paradigm—one that rebalances big-picture priorities and recognizes the shortcomings that have developed in built-up places.

该国需要一种新的范式——重新平衡大局优先事项并认识到建成区所存在的缺点。

Of course, it’s easier to call for a new paradigm than to achieve one.

当然，呼唤新范式比实现新范式更容易。

States, regional entities, and municipalities all claim different authorities over long-range planning, design decisions, project selection, permitting, and revenue collections—and those authorities vary across every state.

各州、地区实体和市政府在长期规划、设计决策、项目选择、许可和税收方面都拥有不同的权力，而且每个州的权力各不相同。

Such a broad range of responsibilities makes it relatively easy for governments to work at cross-purposes and toward conflicting goals.

如此广泛的责任使得政府相对容易实现相互矛盾的目标。

The good news is that U.S. policymakers have achieved a grand realignment before.

好消息是，美国政策制定者此前已经实现了重大调整。

When motor vehicles promised to supercharge goods trade, labor productivity, and a new suburban housing model, lawmakers and their partners seized the opportunity.

当机动车辆承诺促进货物贸易、劳动生产率和新的郊区住房模式时，立法者及其合作伙伴抓住了机会。

Enough states, regions, and municipalities adopted a policy paradigm that could deliver new kinds of high-speed roads to tap that potential.

足够多的州、地区和市政府采用了可以提供新型高速道路来挖掘这一潜力的政策范式。

Today’s stakeholders will need to put similar effort into developing a new intergovernmental paradigm to address our most stubborn challenges.

今天的利益相关者需要付出类似的努力来制定新的政府间范式，以应对我们最顽固的挑战。

In other words, rebalancing any place’s priorities will require reconfiguring how governments work together.

换句话说，重新平衡任何地方的优先事项都需要重新配置政府的合作方式。

Surface transportation infrastructure takes decades to realize its full effects.

地面交通基础设施需要数十年才能充分发挥作用。

The back-end work to draft plans and predevelop projects takes considerable time.

起草计划和预开发项目的后端工作需要相当长的时间。

Most construction projects are relatively small and quick to complete, but it’s not uncommon for the largest projects—such as major highway modernizations or new transit lines—to take years.

大多数建设项目相对较小且完成速度较快，但大型项目（例如主要高速公路现代化改造或新交通线路）需要数年时间的情况并不少见。

The real magic only happens after construction is greenlit or complete.

真正的魔力只有在施工获准或完成后才会发生。

Households and businesses respond to the new infrastructure—moving or building new homes, commercial districts, and factories.

家庭和企业对新的基础设施做出反应——搬迁或建造新住宅、商业区和工厂。

Travel patterns shift, and new plans and projects develop.

旅行模式发生变化，新的计划和项目不断涌现。

It’s a complex, never-ending cycle.

这是一个复杂的、永无休止的循环。

This slow-moving timeline is why stakeholders should revisit the overarching goals for their surface transportation networks.

这种缓慢的时间表是利益相关者应该重新审视其地面交通网络的总体目标的原因。

When people working in the same places can agree on common goals, it gets a whole lot easier for them to figure out where the network is falling short and diagnose why.

当在同一地方工作的人们能够就共同的目标达成一致时，他们就可以更容易地找出网络的不足之处并诊断原因。

One of our tasks during this multiyear project was to map out some common goals any state, region, or municipality would want to achieve.

在这个多年项目中，我们的任务之一是制定任何州、地区或市政府都希望实现的一些共同目标。

Fortunately, there are reference points.

幸运的是，有一些参考点。

Every state and metropolitan planning organization includes larger goals within their long-range plans.

每个州和大都市的规划组织都在其长期计划中包含了更大的目标。

The U.S. Department of Transportation also includes goals in its strategic plan , which has gone through multiple recent updates.

美国交通部也在其战略计划中纳入了目标，该计划最近经过多次更新。

Using those reference points and our opinions from the literature, we came up with seven goals across three categories.

利用这些参考点和我们从文献中获得的观点，我们提出了三个类别的七个目标。

We believe these goals are ones that every jurisdiction—from the municipal to state level—can agree on.

我们相信这些目标是每个司法管辖区（从市级到州级）都能达成一致的目标。

Help industries grow.

助力产业发展。

Enable every household to flourish.

让每家每户都蒸蒸日上。

Protect human life, the natural world, and the transportation assets the community already owns.

保护人类生命、自然世界和社区已有的交通资产。

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It’s tantalizing for transportation professionals to treat operations as a goal.

对于运输专业人士来说，将运营作为一个目标是很诱人的。

For example, deploying an exciting new technology 2 or building our way out of congestion.

例如，部署一项令人兴奋的新技术 2 或开辟摆脱拥堵的道路。

3 But when professionals lose sight of higher-order goals, operational progress is often mistaken for an actual improvement in people’s lives.

3 但当专业人士忽视更高层次的目标时，运营进展往往会被误认为是人们生活的实际改善。

Using those goals as a starting point, it becomes easier to see where our current surface transportation networks are falling short—and where those shortfalls most frequently occur.

以这些目标为起点，可以更容易地发现我们当前的地面交通网络的不足之处以及这些不足最常发生的地方。

Existing transportation networks stifle industrial competitiveness.

现有的交通网络抑制了产业竞争力。

Businesses face real accessibility challenges in metro areas.

企业在都市区面临着真正的可达性挑战。

There are concentrated trucking delays on highways within and surrounding metro areas.

都市区及其周边的高速公路上出现了集中的卡车运输延误。

Connectors to ports, airports, and intermodal terminals are especially congested, with past studies showing urban speeds to be about one-third slower than rural counterparts.

港口、机场和多式联运码头的连接处尤其拥挤，过去的研究显示城市速度比农村慢约三分之一。

Truck parking can be difficult, whether along highways (typically, parking where drivers can sleep) or for deliveries .

无论是在高速公路沿线（通常是在司机可以睡觉的地方停车）还是在送货时，卡车停车都可能很困难。

These challenges directly feed into industry’s bottom line ; for example, they necessitate the carrying of extra inventory to compensate for deliveries that may not arrive on time.

这些挑战直接影响行业的利润；例如，他们需要携带额外的库存来弥补可能无法按时到达的交货。

Meanwhile, industries can struggle to attract and retain workers, as many can’t reliably reach job sites.

与此同时，各行业可能难以吸引和留住工人，因为许多人无法可靠地到达工作地点。

It’s hard to keep business running smoothly when too many roads aren’t.

当道路太多时，很难保持业务顺利运行。

Physical quality of surface transportation infrastructure is inconsistent across the country.

全国各地地面交通基础设施的物理质量参差不齐。

America’s rural interstates are in better condition than their urban counterparts.

美国农村州际公路的状况比城市州际公路更好。

Major state-owned roadways similarly outperform their local counterparts, especially in urbanized areas.

主要国有公路的表现同样优于当地同行，特别是在城市化地区。

There’s also a large backlog of investment needs, which the Federal Highway Administration estimated would take $83 billion annually to keep the same size by 2042, plus another $70 billion to eliminate.

还有大量积压的投资需求，联邦公路管理局估计，到 2042 年，每年需要 830 亿美元才能保持同样的规模，另外还需要 700 亿美元来消除。

Transportation also fails to make Americans prosperous.

交通也未能让美国人变得繁荣。

Affordability is a major concern among the public, and t ransportation is getting considerably more expensive.

负担能力是公众关注的一个主要问题，而交通费用也变得越来越昂贵。

For years , transportation has been the second – highest category of household spending ( 17% in 202 4 ) , trailing only housing but ahead of food, health care, and education.

多年来，交通一直是家庭支出的第二大类别（202 年为 17% 4），仅次于住房，但领先于食品、医疗保健和教育。

One explanatory factor is the cost to own and maintai n a vehicle, which surpassed $ 9,500 in 2024 , and where used vehicle prices and maintenance costs are rising especially fast .

一个解释因素是拥有和维护一辆车的成本，到 2024 年，这一成本将超过 9,500 美元，而二手车价格和维护成本的上涨速度尤其快。

4 Of course, the fact that so many Americans own cars— easily one of the highest rates in the world —is a factor unto itself.

4 当然，如此多的美国人拥有汽车这一事实（无疑是世界上拥有汽车的比例最高的国家之一）本身就是一个因素。

Matters are made worse by the household accessibility challenges that transportation costs compound, especially in metro areas.

由于交通成本的增加，家庭可达性面临挑战，情况变得更糟，尤其是在大都市地区。

The average trip distance now exceeds 12 miles, reflecting just how far apart our communities have grown in recent decades and why cars are an essential good to most.

现在，平均出行距离超过 12 英里，这反映了近几十年来我们社区之间的距离越来越远，以及为什么汽车对大多数人来说是必不可少的物品。

Those long distances leave drivers particularly exposed to congestion, which leads to lower effective access to regional job opportunities and other key destinations.

这些长距离使司机特别容易受到拥堵的影响，从而导致他们无法有效地获得区域工作机会和其他主要目的地。

However, in metropolitan neighborhoods that offer competitive access by transit (and presumably biking and walking), households can reduce transportation costs without experiencing an income hit.

然而，在提供有竞争力的交通（大概还有骑自行车和步行）的大都市社区，家庭可以在不影响收入的情况下降低交通成本。

Finally, and certainly most urgently, is public health, because there’s no question that Americans aren’t safe on our country’s roads.

最后，当然也是最紧迫的是公共卫生，因为毫无疑问，美国人在我们国家的道路上并不安全。

In 2025 alone, 36,640 people died on the nation’s roads—and that was an improvement from 2024.

仅 2025 年，就有 36,640 人死于国家道路上，这比 2024 年有所改善。

The U.S. is also trending in the wrong direction while most of our global peers keep making their roads safer.

美国也正朝着错误的方向发展，而我们的大多数全球同行都在不断提高道路安全性。

Roads are especially dangerous for young people, where motor vehicles are one of the top two causes of death for people ages 5 to their mid-20s.

道路对年轻人来说尤其危险，机动车辆是 5 岁至 20 多岁人群的两大死亡原因之一。

5 The overall situation is especially dire for pedestrians: 83% of pedestrian fatalities are in urban areas and associated with design decisions , while tens of millions of people breathe in low-quality air each day, for which surface transportation is a major culprit.

5 对于行人来说，整体情况尤其严峻：83% 的行人死亡发生在城市地区，并与设计决策有关，而数以千万计的人每天呼吸着低质量的空气，地面交通是罪魁祸首。