A dozen eastern states and the city of Washington, D.C. are taking a huge step forward in making their communities more prosperous and livable as they outline a plan to transform the region’s beleaguered transportation system, in part by investing potentially $5 billion to $7 billion per year over the next decade to do so. For comparison, that’s seven to nine times more invested each year than what these states received in total to support emissions reductions and clean transportation under the 2016 Volkswagen emissions cheating settlement.
The draft Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) proposal released today is a bold step by Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. to upgrade the region’s transportation system to be more efficient, more affordable, and less polluting.
A year ago, these jurisdictions set out to develop a plan to fix the region’s transportation problems, which include mind-numbing traffic, outdated infrastructure, delayed and insufficient buses and trains, and dirty vehicles that belch clouds of exhaust while collectively emitting more climate-harming pollution than any other sector—even power plants.
Through an innovative framework that cuts pollution and invests in 21st century transportation solutions, the TCI proposal would ensure today’s broken system isn’t also the region’s future.
