Transportation for America, an advocacy organization comprising local, regional and state leaders, recently released six recommendations to help the Biden Administration provide rural Americans with reliable and convenient transportation options.
“Time and time again, federal policymakers have operated under the assumption that living in a rural area inevitably means spending a lot of time driving long distances to accomplish daily needs — and that rural residents have great enthusiasm for this,” the organization said. “But this belief is out of touch with the reality of rural life, where more than 1 million households don’t have access to a car, and for the most part, life is still arranged around small downtowns or town centers.”
Households were driving significantly farther per trip in 2017 compared to 2001 to accomplish their commutes and daily tasks, according to Transportation for America and Third Way.
The recommendations are investing in transit to ensure that people can access the resources they need; prioritizing access, because an increase in trip length in rural areas is caused by the consolidation or closure of places such as hospitals; prioritizing safety over speed on town main streets; prioritizing the repair of road and bridge connections; increasing broadband access in rural and Tribal communities; and restructuring federal agency policies and grant programs to better support rural town centers.