The consequences of this approach are crystal-clear even outside of climate change, with 6,850 pedestrians and cyclists being killed by motorists each year, a number that increases over time². The result of this kind of dangerous sprawl is a nation gridlocked by its roads, full of consumers who see no better alternative than using a car to get everywhere they need to go. Faced with this dilemma of a dangerous sprawl, what does the climate-conscious American consumer do to reduce their emissions? They opt to buy a cleaner car. According to a Pew Research Center study, 38 percent of Americans intend to buy an EV for their next personal vehicle, and EVs currently make up 8.5 percent of the total share of US auto sales³. While environmentalism plays a factor in these purchases, the same Pew Center study confirms that nearly ¾ of EV purchases are motivated by saving money on fuel. EVs, especially fully electric cars when compared to gas-electric hybrids, do not require costly fill-ups at the gas pump. Given the inherently volatile nature of oil prices, the cost of fueling a car becomes unpredictable for consumers. Moreover, EVs tend to be cheaper to maintain⁴. This means that if a consumer can afford the sometimes prohibitively expensive upfront cost of an EV, they will ultimately save money on maintenance throughout the vehicle’s lifespan. 

A factor that's harder to measure than commute times or fuel costs is the clear influence of American culture, which highly values individualism. Cars offer freedom from rigid schedules, operate round the clock, and can be customized to suit the preferences of their owners. Rather than planning a routine around when a bus or train will arrive, drivers simply need to plan their journey from the moment they decide to embark until they reach their destination. Alongside this individualist mentality is the American fear of government overreach, a trademark of the GOP which makes up a substantial part of the US voting population. Numerous examples underscore the prevalence of this fear in the US. Gun control laws, for instance, are deliberated at a sluggish pace despite the country ranking seventh in firearm homicides among high-income nations⁵. Gun advocates express concerns that their firearms are crucial for safeguarding against a potentially tyrannical American government.   

Another indicator is the abnormally low tax rates in the US, with a 21 percent corporate tax rate and an average 11.5 percent sales tax, both of which are paltry figures when compared to other nations of the global north⁶.  The rationale behind these low tax rates is evident: higher taxes equate to increased government interference in citizens' lives. All of these different cultural factors come together to create an environment ripe for the solution EVs offer. For any American consumer who wishes to reduce their climate impact, EVs represent an option that works within the existing structures of their communities, saves them money in the long term, doesn’t heavily rely on government investments⁷, and allows day-to-day life to continue relatively unchanged.

Transporting one person in one vehicle will never be as efficient as transporting a group of people in one vehicle. No matter how low the emissions of an EV trip are, the resources required to build that EV, transport it, fuel it, repair it, and park it will always outweigh any potential benefits it may present when compared to public transportation or walking/cycling. Commuter vehicles create highly specific and extensive demands on infrastructure, which drive their environmental impact even higher.  

Parking lots require carbon-intensive concrete and create enormous dead zones in the areas that contain them, artificially expanding the space between points of interest and residences. On-street parking in cities creates another issue, demanding that all city streets dedicate enormous swaths of usable roads to the storage of cars. Common complaints about the installation of bike lanes on busy roads typically revolve around a loss of parking, and increasing difficulty of navigating traffic for motorists⁸. These complaints ignore the most basic concepts of induced demand surrounding the decisions to make one method of transit more accessible at the cost of another. The sheer abundance of resistance from drivers to many car-reduction transit strategies speaks to the hold car culture has in the US. 

A less-discussed but no less valid reason EVs may lead to more problems than they solve is the issue of weight. EV batteries are tremendously heavy, causing EVs to outweigh their gas-powered counterparts by thousands of pounds, depending on the size of the battery⁹. Heavier cars lead to more dangerous and deadly accidents and exact a greater toll on roads, bridges, and parking areas. The increase in costly and carbon-intensive repairs resulting from this erosion in US transportation infrastructure has the potential to offset any emission reductions facilitated by EVs.  

Despite the negatives, EVs aren’t a useless investment. Public transit should heavily invest in electrifying bus fleets, while services such as emergency responders and utility companies, which always require some form of vehicle fleet, should also invest in EVs. Ultimately, if every American were to switch to an EV and abandon their gas-powered car forever, we would see a reduction in emissions.

Significant reduction of the emissions US transportation causes will require tremendous infrastructure overhauls, and those overhauls will need to be sold to the American public as a cheaper and more convenient way of operating. 

At this stage of the Sixth Extinction¹⁰, human life will need to shift dramatically if we, as a species, are to have any hope of lessening our impact on the planet and surviving the worsening changes to our environment. Climate action is moving at a glacial pace, particularly in the US. Accelerating every available method of decarbonization is essential. The urgency of realizing we're playing catch-up on emissions reduction should extend to sustainable transit as well. In light of this crucial urgency, the largest failing of the EV solution becomes clear: it is far too little, far too late. Taking half-steps towards reducing emissions from vehicles rather than striving to eliminate those emissions altogether will not be enough to minimize the effects on the climate.  

Moreover, it is important to discuss two specific plans for updating US transportation: overhauling the nation’s rail network and drastically reducing car traffic in cities. Both are inherently disruptive processes, and both can be packaged in a way that makes the benefits to the average American utterly clear.  

Reducing City Car Use via Bicycle Infrastructure 

Strong reactions are elicited by road projects that don't prioritize cars. Motorists perceive bike lanes, expanded sidewalks, and car-free streets as an attack on their day-to-day way of doing things, and object accordingly. So how can these fears be put to rest?  A strong place to start is people’s wallets. Despite gut reactions from business owners, bike lanes have proven to be economically beneficial to the communities they’re installed in, driving up the number of monthly visitors a given store can expect to receive, and even introducing new consumers to areas they previously did not visit due to newfound accessibility¹¹. 

Consider an outing to a shop about a mile away, taken via two different methods of transit; a car and a bike. In a car, the driver is shut off from the outside world. Even in warm weather with their windows down, the noise of their engine and the other engines around them serve to drown out street noise. Exhaust fumes dilute smells from the environment, and the driver reaches their destination with no meaningful interaction with their surroundings during the journey. They must then hunt for parking, a task in itself, before finally arriving at the store. If the store is directly adjacent to other points of interest, a driver may peruse the surrounding area within the time limits of their parking meter before returning to their vehicle and heading home.  

In contrast, a cyclist is directly exposed to their environment as they travel to a destination. A lively patio full of talking people, a band playing at a local bar, and the smell of food from a restaurant or street cart, are all compelling factors for a cyclist to take a detour in their journey and invest in more businesses along the way.

Cyclists tend to buy less per store, but end up visiting more stores per trip, diversifying their economic impact. During peak COVID, businesses were forced to adapt to indoor dining restrictions by building more outdoor seating for their customers, a change which has endured even after the pandemic “ended” because of how popular it was. These outdoor spaces benefit tremendously from having less car traffic in their vicinity, reducing noise and air pollution.  

A NYC Department of Transportation study from 2014 confirms that local businesses in areas with bike infrastructure saw increases in sales compared to parts of the city that lacked bike infrastructure¹². Any business owner who weathered COVID and experienced the continued success of their pandemic-installed outdoor spaces already possess the blueprint for how bike and pedestrian infrastructure will improve their profits and customer satisfaction. When people are given options to get around that go beyond sitting in car traffic, the areas they travel within will benefit. 

In addition to the benefits bike infrastructure has on the larger economy, there are more tangible impacts on the quality of an individual’s life that come packaged with increased bike transit. The first and most obvious is cost. Bikes are inexpensive, especially when compared to cars. Bikes are immune to the cost of gas, needing to be fueled only with calories. Bike lockups are space-efficient, much cheaper than parking passes, and even a modest apartment can have the space to store a bike inside one’s dwelling for free. Cycling and walking to destinations promotes community health, with the biggest danger present coming from motorists, a danger that can be mitigated if infrastructure projects are handled correctly.  

Cycling is also an independent activity, and can appeal to the American preference for independence from the crowd and the ability to do things “your own way.” Bikes don’t require licenses or classes to operate, just time. People who may balk at the idea of crowded buses or trains still have a carbon-neutral way of getting around available to them in the form of a bike. Even maintaining a bike can be an individual’s undertaking if they choose; it would be difficult to argue that the knowledge and tools required to get into fixing one’s own car are more easily accessible than those required for bike repair. Learning how to repair gears, chains, and bolts is less mechanically demanding than maintaining an internal combustion engine. Thus, cycling infrastructure is significantly easier, despite the inherent complexities of proper bike infrastructure. However, the much larger and more impactful avenue of investment available to the US can also be packaged in a way that appeals to Americans. Rail served as the backbone of the nation's development, and it can propel us into the future just the same. 

Reducing Domestic Air Travel via Investment in Rail 

There are promising indications that the federal government is ready to finance railroad projects, potentially transforming Amtrak into a nationwide service benefiting Americans across the country. 

In 2023 the Biden administration passed a multi-billion dollar Federal Railroad Administration funding package to make significant infrastructure improvements to Amtrak’s northeast corridor lines, arguably the most heavily used routes that the company provides¹³. This project tragically falls short of constructing new lines, a crucial aspect of updating US rail infrastructure. The absence of rail routes connecting major US cities outside the Northeast renders rail travel prohibitively time-consuming and complicated for most Americans. Nonetheless, it serves as an indicator of potential political will for such an undertaking. 

The problems Amtrak currently faces are numerous, but the two biggest factors preventing the service from being a nationally adopted, preferred way to travel are the limitations of current rail lines and the emphasis placed on freight trains over passenger trains. Both issues can be fixed at the same time by constructing new rail lines meant specifically for Amtrak, including sections of track designed to handle high-speed travel between key cities.  

As it stands, any given Amtrak trip will run many hours longer than a flight to the same destination, while still costing roughly the same amount per ticket. A flight between Washington, DC, and Buffalo, NY costs $235 round-trip for early June, with the direct flight taking an hour and a half. In comparison, an Amtrak ticket for the same dates, between the same cities, costs $205 and takes over 12 hours to complete one-way. A major factor in this enormous travel time for such a short trip is that Amtrak routes are incomplete, and lack direct connections between most cities. The straight line between DC and Buffalo takes 7 hours by car, but an Amtrak train’s most direct route is to follow tracks northeastward into NYC, then head north through Albany before finally heading directly west into Buffalo. This also doesn’t account for additional delays caused by crossing paths with freight trains.  

When Amtrak was created in 1970, its primary function was to relieve freight rail companies of their obligation to serve as passenger lines, freeing these companies up to focus solely on freight. Part of this agreement stipulated that Amtrak trains always be given priority over freight trains to ensure on-time trips for consumers¹⁴. This stipulation has largely gone ignored by freight companies, and in Amtrak’s own words: “For over 50 years, freight railroads have been required by law to provide Amtrak with ‘preference’ to run passenger trains ahead of freight trains. However, many freight railroads ignore the law because it is extremely difficult for Amtrak to enforce it, and as a result, people and the American economy suffer¹⁵.” No Amtrak line in the nation runs trains on-time for over 80 percent of their yearly service, and on average Amtrak trains run on-time for 56 percent of all completed trips. 

While high-speed rail might seem like a pipedream for a nation that has so far failed to keep its old train services running properly, there are sections of American terrain that are perfectly suited for it. Viewing a topographical map of the US shows large swathes of land from Texas to the Carolinas that are mostly flat, as well as connected stretches of level terrain from Illinois to Florida. High-speed trains require a different track design than conventional trains; high-speed tracks must typically be straight and include extremely long turns to avoid derailing fast-moving trains. Vast, flat expanses of the US currently occupied by industrial farmland or unused real estate are the perfect locations for such sections of track. 

As these rail projects are planned, funded, and implemented, it's crucial to actively promote the benefits rail travel will offer to the American public. Broadcasting these advantages concurrently is essential to gaining support throughout their completion. In many respects, promoting rail infrastructure may be more straightforward than advocating for bike infrastructure. First, one of the primary aims of a functional rail network is to disrupt the aviation industry. Americans have no particular fondness for airlines, as shown by American Customer Satisfaction Index ratings, which places airlines as some of the most reviled companies in the country alongside healthcare companies and internet service providers¹⁶ . Because of the noise and safety requirements of aircrafts, airports need to be built in marginal areas of the cities they serve, introducing additional travel time in the form of simply making it to the airport. Post-9/11 security at airports creates inconvenience and further delays, with passengers being subjected to invasive screenings and long lines. Airplanes are at the mercy of local weather and must be grounded indefinitely in the case of severe storms. There are also severe weight limits on aircraft to save fuel, meaning passenger space is limited and the amount of luggage one can bring aboard a flight is restricted and can rapidly incur costs. Thus, trains serve as a better alternative to planes when framed against the backdrop of the stresses and complications of air travel. 

Second, the benefits of train travel relate to previously discussed American cultural cornerstones. Trains are quieter and travel along grounded rail lines rather than complex and shifting flight paths, meaning train stations can be built directly within the cities they serve. Conveniently placed train stations reduce the commute time a traveler accumulates before they have boarded the train itself.  Trains do not require TSA checkpoints, eliminating hassle and delays for train travelers. Both aspects of the "pre-travel" process for train travel are more convenient and less intrusive compared to their equivalents at airports. The removal of security screenings, in particular, can appeal to the American aversion to governmental overreach; passengers are not required to pass through a TSA checkpoint to board their train.  

Finally, trains are much safer than aircraft and can operate in more inclement weather, removing yet another potential delaying factor to a trip. Without fuel-restricted weight limits, trains are more spacious and allow for greater amounts of luggage per passenger, providing a more comfortable travel experience. Thus, rail travel on a properly designed network appeals to the American obsession with convenience while allowing greater personal freedom in how a customer travels. 

The Case for Federal Rail Investments 

Rail projects are gigantic federal investments. The Biden administration’s Amtrak investment provided $10 billion allocated entirely to repairing existing infrastructure and improving train stations¹⁷. The price tag for an Amtrak project aimed at creating entirely new rail lines would be far more expensive. The act of spending billions of tax dollars on any sort of domestic expense is enough to give many US voters, particularly those on the right, cause for concern. As this paper establishes, American reactions to perceived federal overreach are strong. To counter this, the direct economic and community benefits of such an investment must be properly illustrated. Construction work that spans state lines and takes years to complete creates large amounts of blue-collar jobs, jobs which will remain relevant even after the railways are completed as maintenance and updating of design will always be necessary, as shown by the Biden administration’s Amtrak upkeep investment. 

There is an underexplored angle to this kind of project that I believe needs more attention; the flyover states¹⁸. Just as the name implies, there are gigantic swaths of the country that most Americans will only ever see through the window of an airplane as they pass overhead, and these states are some of the poorest and least developed in the nation¹⁹. Isolation breeds stagnation, and flyover states are some of the most isolated populations of Americans²⁰. A fully functional and robust Amtrak system may hold the key to reducing this isolation. As opposed to flight paths, railways are built along the ground and can pass through or near communities by taking slight deviations in the straight line between two intended points.  

Airplanes do not make as many trips to isolated airports because the cost and time investment of landing, refueling, and taking off again is too high. Train stations, however, can be built along an existing route wherever they are needed. Passengers will have the option to dismount their train in a new part of the country, stay for a night, and then board a new train the following day with the same ticket. There is great potential for economic growth in cities and towns that are included in the construction of a new rail network.

Rather than downplaying the potential disruptions to rural communities that a nationwide rail project may create, it's essential to reframe these disruptions, especially regarding their impact on local economies and potential tourist attractions, in a positive light. If done correctly, new jobs, new connections, and new economic opportunities can be the results of a successful Amtrak. 

Conclusion 

I believe that the biggest mistake climate activists can make when it comes to advocating for sustainable infrastructure is to approach the problem as a purely economic one, an issue to be fixed with money and engineering. While the financing and design of a project must be handled deftly and with an abundance of expertise, there is a crucial part of this approach that needs to be highlighted within the current discourse.  

Sustainable transit is a cultural undertaking, and it requires a cultural shift to be implemented properly. American culture is rife with attitudes and beliefs that can be directly appealed to if the messaging is correct. The current car dependence in the US flies in the face of many values one might consider to be inherently American, especially on the right, and the alternatives can appeal to those same values. Cars require licenses, registrations, lots of space, and guzzle down expensive fuel. Cars remove large swathes of public spaces from human use, are loud, and pollute the air. Bikes have no licenses, take up very little space, and require no fuel or costly further investment beyond routine maintenance, which is relatively easy to do oneself rather than relying on a mechanic. Bikes can be incorporated into public spaces unobtrusively and leave their surroundings quiet and clean. Air travel is arguably even worse than driving, with extensive delays, far-removed airports, high costs, and minimal freedom during travel, all while burning carbon-intensive jet fuel²¹. Compare this to trains on a properly constructed network; easy to board, centrally located stations, and much more choice when it comes to comfort and leisure during travel (such as dining cars with full seating as opposed to a rolling trolley with snacks). Travelers would have good reason to choose a train ticket over a plane ticket if both were available in equal abundance.  

Americans have been convinced, largely by automakers and oil lobbies, that they must take a car to get anywhere they need to go, unless the journey is too long, in which case they must hop on board a fuel-guzzling aircraft instead. The current trend of EV adoption by American consumers demonstrates that people are indeed aware of climate change, but have been misled about how best they can reduce its impact. It’s the job of current and future sustainability projects to not only be well-designed and properly implemented, but to change minds. A publicity team shouldn’t be a tangential part of an infrastructure investment, it should be front and center of the recruiting process. Americans simply need to be convinced these enormous changes to their way of life are purely to their benefit. 

Footnotes

1. Alana Rone & Michele Ver Ploeg, “U.S. Shopper’s Access to Multiple Food Stores Varies by Region”, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 6/3/2019, https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/june/u-s-shoppers-access-to-multiple-food-stores-varies-by-region/ (12/6/2023)
2. “Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety”, U.S. Department of Transportation, 6/16/2023, https://highways.dot.gov/safety/pedestrian-bicyclist (12/6/2023)
3. Alison Spencer,  Stephanie Ross, & Alec Tyson, “How Americans View Electric Vehicles”, Pew Research Center, 7/13/2023, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/13/how-americans-view-electric-vehicles (12/6/2023)
4. Scott Minos, “Saving Money With Electric Vehicles”, U.S. Department of Energy, 9/28/2022, https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/articles/saving-money-electric-vehicles (12/6/2023)
5. Katherine Leach-Lemon, Rebecca Sirull, & Scott Glenn, “On Gun Violence, the United States is an Outlier”, The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 10/31/2023, https://www.healthdata.org/news-events/insights-blog/acting-data/gun-violence-united-states-outlier (12/6/2023)
6. “Highest Taxed Countries”, World Population Review, 2023, https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/highest-taxed-countries (12/6/2023)
7. Although this is more of a perception than a fact, consumer purchases of EVs are incentivized by federal and sometimes state-level tax credits. “Electric Vehicle (EV) and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) Tax Credit”, U.S. Department of Energy, 8/16/2022, https://afdc.energy.gov/laws/409 (4/15/2024). 
8. Luz Lazo, “D.C. Bike Lane Plan Splits Residents, Businesses as City’s Network Grows”, The Washington Post, 11/4/2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2022/11/04/connecticut-avenue-bike-lanes/ (12/6/2023) 
9. Nathan Bomey, “EVs are Much Heavier Than Gas Vehicles, and That’s Posing Safety Problems”, Axios, 4/28/2023, https://www.axios.com/2023/04/28/evs-weight-safety-problems (12/6/2023)
10. A term coined by journalist Elizabeth Kolbert that refers to the current trend of mass collapse of Earth’s ecosystems under the effects of climate change. Elizabeth, Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (US/UK: Henry Holt and Company, 2014)
11. Jenny Liu & Jennifer Dill, “Understanding Economic and Business Impacts of Street Improvements for Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility – A Multi-City Multi-Approach Exploration”, National Institute for Transportation and Communities, 6/30/2019, https://nitc.trec.pdx.edu/research/project/1031/ (12/6/2023)
12. “The Economic Benefits of Sustainable Streets”, New York City Department of Transportation, 1/13/2014, https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/dot-economic-benefits-of-sustainable-streets.pdf (4/15/2024)
13. W. Kyle Anderson, “Amtrak Awarded Federal Funds for 12 Projects of National Significance Totaling Nearly $10B Across America’s Busiest Rail Corridor”, Amtrak, 11/6/2023, https://media.amtrak.com/2023/11/amtrak-awarded-federal-funds-for-12-projects-of-national-significance-totaling-nearly-10b-across-americas-busiest-rail-corridor/ (12/6/2023)
14. “Amtrak and Freight Railroads: The Public Bargain – White Paper”, Amtrak, 2003, https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/corporate/position-papers/white-paper-amtrak-and-frieght-railroads.pdf (4/15/2024)
15. “Delayed by Freight: Measuring On-Time Performance Across Our Network”, Amtrak, 3/1/2024, https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance (4/15/2024)
16. Blake Morgan, “The Top 5 Industries Most Hated by Customers”, Forbes, 10/16/2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2018/10/16/top-5-most-hated-industries-by-customers/?sh=54dab71590b5 (4/15/2024)
17. W. Kyle Anderson, “Amtrak Awarded Federal Funds for 12 Projects of National Significance Totaling Nearly $10B Across America’s Busiest Rail Corridor”, Amtrak, 11/6/2023, https://media.amtrak.com/2023/11/amtrak-awarded-federal-funds-for-12-projects-of-national-significance-totaling-nearly-10b-across-americas-busiest-rail-corridor/ (12/6/2023)
18. “Flyover States: Flight Data Shows Which States Americans Think Are Boring”, Champion Traveler, 12/1/2020, https://championtraveler.com/news/flyover-states-flight-data-shows-which-states-americans-think-are-boring/ (12/6/2023)
19. “GDP by State 2023”, World Population Review, 2023, https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gdp-by-state (12/6/2023)
20. “Flyover States: Flight Data Shows Which States Americans Think Are Boring”, Champion Traveler, 12/1/2020, https://championtraveler.com/news/flyover-states-flight-data-shows-which-states-americans-think-are-boring/ (12/6/2023)
21. “Carbon Dioxide Coefficients by Fuel”, U.S. Energy Information Administration, 9/7/2023, https://www.eia.gov/environment/emissions/co2_vol_mass.php (4/15/2024)