I was in the woods for most of last week’s “ban cars” dust-up on here, but two observations and a very long THREAD:

1)Path dependence is a hell of a thing.
2)“Urbanism’s” listening problem is real and has consequences. 1/ It’s important, I think, to start this conversation with a reminder of the horrors of the status quo. Cars and trucks kill tens of thousands of Americans each year … 2/

Americans owe 75% more in auto debt than we did at the depth of the recession in 2009. That matters for the economy and households’ financial health. But it also matters for our transportation system. [THREAD] 1/ frontiergroup.org/reports/fg/dri… The rise in auto sales over the last several years has, unsurprisingly, tracked with an increase in the number of registered vehicles, which increased by 18.8 million between 2010 and 2016. 2/

A few post-election takes …

1) Fossil fuel interests and utilities spent an absolutely insane amount of money to defeat clean energy initiatives in WA, AZ and CO. But here’s the thing … 1/ That’s not going to change. The fossil fuel industry and utilities see these fights as existential for them. Which they often are. And strong campaign spending limits aren’t walking through that door tomorrow. 2/

OK, here’s the answer: Between 2005 and 2015, highway spending by all levels of government in the U.S. increased by 54% while vehicle travel increased by 3.3%. 1/

https://twitter.com/FrontierTony/status/1050708664133308416

Now ask yourself: Why do we so often see comparisons of growth in transit spending and ridership (as in the WSJ story) and almost never comparisons of growth in highway spending and vehicle travel? 2/