Front and Center
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A New Direction: Transportation
Policy in an Era of Less Driving

The Driving Boom - a six decade-long period of steady growth in per-capita driving in the United States - is now over. We don't yet know what will replace it. Will members of the Millennial generation continue to drive less than previous generations as they age? Will they revert to the driving patterns of their parents? Or will advances in technology and changes in transportation and housing preferences lead to further declines in driving in the years to come? A New Direction: Our Changing Relationship with Driving and the Implications for America's Future explores these different possible futures and their high-stakes ramifications for transportation policy in the United States.

See New York Times coverage of the report release here. Please see U.S. PIRG's infographic summarizing the findings of the report.

(Photos: clockwise from top left: Tim Roberts Photography, shutterstock.com;Tim McCraig, istockphoto.com; Daniel Deitschel, istockphoto.com; Luis Alvarez, istockphoto.com.)

 

Recent News
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Latest Highlights

Our research with WISPIRG Foundation on changing driving trends and over-optimistic traffic projections helps shape the debate over road expansion in Milwaukee according to this story in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ... Governing magazine spotlights our Following the Money report ranking state spending transparency websites ... Frontier Group's Winter 2013 Update reviews our work over the last few months on global warming, offshore tax havens, clean energy, government transparency and accountability, and more.

New on the Blog

Elizabeth Ridlington calls attention to new national data on variations in prices for hospital treatment, echoing the finding of our 2012 report on hospital price variations in California. Ben Davis reflects on the close-to-home impacts of global warming, while Tony Dutzik reviews some of the on-the-ground changesin development and transportation patterns that are contributing to the recent decline in driving.
 

New Report: Solar Works for Washington

Washington’s strong clean energy policies have made it a national leader in wind energy and in energy efficiency. However, the state’s potential for solar power remains virtually untapped. Solar Works for Washington documents how the state can start taking advantage of its full potential for solar energy by developing its capacity for rooftop solar power. (4/11/13)
 

New Report: Road Overkill

Wisconsin’s transportation system is at a crossroads. The state’s roads and bridges are aging and maintenance needs are increasing. Funding for transit service has been slashed . Yet, the state continues to increase spending on highway expansion projects, despite the fact that driving in Wisconsin is on the decline. Road Overkill looks at seven recent highway expansion projects in Wisconsin and finds that traffic has failed on those highways has failed to materialize as transportation planners expected. (5/23/13) (Photo: The Journal Times)