Earlier this summer, New York Governor Kathy Hochul made headlines around the world when she canceled New York City's long-planned congestion pricing program. A promising model for domination. Her decision was condemned by many New York City political and transportation leaders, including Comptroller Brad Lander, who is part of a coalition that has filed multiple lawsuits challenging the governor.
This conflict is not unique to New York. Nationwide, state and local officials often clash over efforts to make urban transportation less car-centric.
“Some cities do want to do it differently, and some states prohibit it,” said John Bailey, a transportation expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental nonprofit also known as NRDC.
In recent decades, many local governments have made increasingly ambitious commitments to get residents off their cars. Driven by concerns about climate change, urban sprawl and traffic deaths, U.S. cities are trying to make it easier for people to take public transit, walk and bike. Over the past five years, even prominent car-centric cities like Houston and Phoenix have announced goals to significantly reduce driving.
Combined, these efforts could deliver huge climate benefits. Transportation is the largest source of planet-warming gases in the United States, and the everyday vehicles that most Americans rely on are the industry's largest source. According to the think tank RMI, emissions from cars and trucks accounted for nearly 40% of total U.S. emissions in 2019. Car use also needs to go down.
“Even if we hit a home run on electrification, which we should celebrate, if we still increase driving we still won't meet our climate change targets,” Bailey said.
A country that is both a friend and an enemy
Urban traffic conflicts play out in different ways across the country. In Charlotte, North Carolina, the local government announced plans to reinvent its transportation system by 2022, with the goal of having half of all commutes by means other than single-occupant driving within the next 20 years. But state lawmakers refused to approve a sales tax referendum needed to achieve that goal and asked the city to prioritize cars. Earlier this year, local officials halved proposed sales tax revenue for the trains in an attempt to reach a deal with the state, putting ambitious plans to build a light-rail network in jeopardy, Charlotte's National Public Radio affiliate WFAE reports Doubts spread across the city.
In San Antonio, where Bailey lives, the state agreed to turn over Broadway, a city road that passes parks, restaurants and apartment complexes and is technically a state highway, to the city. In an effort to make the area more walkable and bikeable, the city passed a $42 million bond initiative to reduce the number of lanes on Broadway, widen sidewalks and add protected bike lanes. However, “the state later removed the ability to do that and said, 'You absolutely can't do this. Our primary focus is alleviating congestion,'” Bailey said. He noted in an email that the state is essentially applying the same logic to city streets and interstate loops, mandating that cars are not allowed to slow down on either road.
However, not all states are blocking efforts to reduce driving. Some have developed innovative approaches to support this goal. Washington has a long-term plan focused on reducing solo driving commutes, and the Seattle government reported a significant reduction in the number of solo commutes within its borders as a result. Colorado recently passed a bill that would impose fees on oil and gas extraction to help fund local public transportation.
The positions of many countries on these issues are complex. New York is an example. Although Governor Hochul has been widely criticized for ending congestion pricing, she has played an important role in the city's public transportation network, allowing the city to have the lowest car ownership rate in the country. As the state's governor, she (not New York's mayor) appointed the board that leads the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the city's subway and bus and regional train networks.
Alex Sledge, communications director for Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit that advocates against car dependence in New York City, said many New York City residents don't realize how much of an impact Hochul has had on their daily commutes. “People often say, 'Oh, the mayor and the MTA…' — that's completely inaccurate. The governor has complete control over the MTA. It's a state program,” Sledge said.
follow the money
To better understand how states manage these and related issues, Bailey and co-author Dave Grossman compared state transportation policies aimed at reducing climate change and improving equity in a 2023 NRDC report. Analyzing information collected in late 2022 and early 2023, they found that states such as California, Massachusetts and Vermont had taken steps such as setting targets to lower transportation emissions and reduce car use. However, research shows that even state leaders can do more: California is the only state to score above 70 out of 100.
On the other hand, the study found that states like Kentucky, Louisiana and Nebraska have taken virtually no action on climate or equity in their transportation plans. The lowest-scoring state, Kentucky, received just 12.7 points out of 100.
This policy context is critical to understanding urban transportation in the United States. . Historically, much of this money has been used to build and expand roads to make driving more accessible—a pattern that still exists today.
“States control the majority of transportation funding,” said Steven Higashide, director of the Clean Transportation Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit advocacy group. “They could use it to help solve the climate problem and give people more ways to get around. Or they could make things worse — they could keep putting more money into wider highways.” He cited Austin and Houston's highway project as examples of the latter.
Josh Naramore, a transportation policy expert at the nonprofit National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), said there is a general lack of funding in all states to support walking, biking and public transportation. “At the state level, whether it's a blue state or a red state, there's intense competition for the limited funds that can support activities like this and give people more travel options,” he said.
Case in point: Bailey's study found that New York state spends the most per capita in the nation on public transit, at $280, but census data shows the state spent much more on highways in 2021: $609 per capita Dollar. Mississippi, meanwhile, spends less than $1 per capita on public transportation but $633 per capita on highways.
These funding models mean federal efforts to reduce transportation emissions could backfire. One example is the bipartisan Infrastructure Act of 2021, which devotes billions of dollars to climate-friendly infrastructure projects — doubling federal transportation spending in the process. The Georgetown Climate Center, a policy research group, found that even if the law allocated 5 percent of its funding to increasing road capacity, the law would actually increase transportation emissions because adding new lanes results in more driving.
“When we did the analysis, I think perhaps the most illuminating aspect of the results was the relatively high greenhouse gas impact [road] Capacity expansion projects and other transportation investments,” said James Bradbury, director of research and policy analysis at the Georgetown Climate Center.
“Dollar for dollar, it's going to get hit hard in the wrong direction,” he said.
We help millions of people understand climate change and what to do about it. Help us reach more people like you.
