Dear Governor Cuomo:
You have a once in a generation opportunity to transform New York’s transportation to make it healthier, more equitable, sustainable, affordable, and accessible by leading on the regional Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) program. Under the proposed TCI “cap-and-invest” program, New York and neighboring states would limit and reduce carbon pollution from transportation fuels and invest in our communities to provide better, cleaner, and safer transportation options. By signing onto an ambitious and equitable regional TCI program with neighboring states, you can accelerate our state’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and help New York build back stronger with good family-sustaining green jobs while protecting the long-term health and well-being of our communities.
Our outdated networks of roads, bridges, sidewalks, transit systems, and other modes of travel are plagued by problems decades in the making. These problems include congestion, delays, underfunding, inaccessibility, high costs, and pollution, that make getting to work, school, medical appointments, recreation, and stores stressful and unsafe.
Communities of color and low-income communities face inequitable pollution burdens exacerbated by vehicle traffic, particularly from diesel-burning vehicles as transit depots and freight hubs tend to be sited in these communities. Many of these same communities as well as people with disabilities, veterans, older residents, rural residents, and others too often face transportation barriers to healthcare, social services, and jobs.
COVID-19, which has disproportionately impacted residents in the same communities most overburdened by air pollution, further underscores the connection between air quality and poor health outcomes, as well as the need to act swiftly.
