Target: Sean Duffy, Secretary of U.S. Department of Transportation
Goal: Do not tie transit funds to regional birth and marriage rates.
An exploding highway and a flying pickup truck became highly dramatic symbols of the nation’s growing infrastructure problem. When a heat wave caused a section of a major Texas highway to expand and buckle, it created a hazardous makeshift ramp that tossed a passing pickup truck into the air: eyebrow-raising footage that was caught on video. But it wasn’t an isolated incident. Similar issues resulting from intense heat pressure on asphalt and road surfaces have been documented in Maryland, Wisconsin, Colorado, and New Jersey, to name a few. Railways are similarly vulnerable to heat, which can cause dangerous bending of transit rails. Efforts to take into account climate effects on transportation infrastructure and engineering have been made, but such initiatives require committed investments. Much of this national investment comes in the form of federal grants provided to states by the U.S. Department of Transportation. A controversial new proposal could cut sizeable portions of the country – including communities that could benefit most – from this essential funding.
The National Transit Administration has unveiled a plan to cover roughly ten percent of a project’s costs. But there is a big catch. The region requesting the funding must have a marriage and birth rate that meets or exceeds the average of the nation. The Secretary of Transportation has strangely linked marriage and kids to overall transportation priorities across the country…a move critics call “bizarre and dystopian.” Regions with lower numbers of so-called “traditional families” could find themselves locked out of badly needed railways, bus lines, and other key transportation infrastructure.
Sign the petition below to demand transportation leaders redirect their focus to the urgent real problems facing a strained infrastructure system.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Secretary Duffy,
Roads, buses, and trains do not care if the people riding on them are married with children. These factors matter not when this infrastructure falls into disrepair or under the crushing burden of heat and other damaging environmental stressors. Perhaps federal investments would be better spent addressing predictive climate tools for infrastructure engineering, glaring deficiencies in transportation for lower-income communities, and any of a host of other urgent should-be priorities in infrastructure funding.
Cultural debates have no place on America’s highways and transit systems.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Anuar Gresati
