Promoting the Concept of Sustainable Transportation within the Federal System - The Need to Reinvent the U.S. DOT

Abstract

This paper argues that a major obstacle to progress towards sustainable development/transportation is the lack of an integrated approach to decision-making within the U.S. federal system. To address this problem, the concept of sustainable transportation is first broadened to include the transportation sector’s interconnections with other sectors. This revised notion of sustainable transportation is then used to help visualize the need for horizontal integration and co-optimization of policies/regulations/initiatives across federal agencies. From the assumption that a national strategy for sustainable development will remain illusive in the short-term, a ‘U.S. DOT reinvention model’ is endorsed as a useful mechanism to promote sustainable development/transportation policy in the U.S.