Please join us to hear directly from the Clean RIDES Network about various transportation policy efforts happening across the country, including right here in New York, and their impact on emissions.
With an incoming federal government likely to be friendly to the fossil fuel industry, the focus of climate action turns once again to the states. One front on which significant progress is possible is transportation: states across the U.S. are enacting new rules that require transportation agencies to demonstrate how their projects, including highways, will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution in order to receive funding. This initiative began in Colorado in 2019, when Governor Jared Polis signed a law aimed at a 90% reduction in greenhouse emissions over the next 30 years.Recognizing that transportation is the largest source of emissions in the U.S.—accounting for about 30% of total emissions, with 60% coming from cars and trucks—Colorado took significant steps. The state canceled two major highway expansions and redirected $1 billion from highways to transit and multimodal projects.
In 2023, Minnesota followed suit with a $7.8 billion transportation package that mandates road capacity projects to show how they will contribute to statewide emissions reduction goals. Maryland and New York are also exploring similar legislation. Meanwhile, California is moving forward with a nearly half-billion-dollar project to add toll lanes to Interstate 80, which could have serious long-term implications for greenhouse gas emissions.