00486288

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Transportation professionals sometimes view environmental protection and enhancement as inconsistent with mobility and economic development objectives. In this paper the authors contend that the treatment of environmental concerns as constraints, restrictions, and problems is itself a problem, and one that will have to be overcome if any 2020 transportation program is to succeed. They believe that a much more positive view of environmental protection is in order, that sustained economic growth and prosperity are not possible without simultaneously achieving environmental quality. In this view, the natural, built, social, and economic environments must be protected and enhanced by transportation projects, so that those projects are cost-effective in the long run as well as in the short term and do the best possible job of delivering the mobility, economic development, and quality-of-life benefits the American public demands and deserves. Thus, rather than treating environmental considerations as barriers to be overcome, restrictions on transportation professionals' ability to do their jobs, or simply one more set of externally imposed procedural requirements to be satisfied, it is argued that it is time to treat environmental protection and enhancement as major objectives and expected outcomes of transportation planning and project development. Accordingly, in examining the environmental issues and their implications for a 2020 transportation program, it will be necessary to consider the ways in which transportation planning and decision making will be carried out and the circumstances in which transportation providers will be operating. In this paper, the broad view is presented first, followed by a few topics of special concern.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Board Special Report 220, A Look Ahead: Year 2020, Proceedings of the Conference on Long-Range Trends and Requirements for the Nation's Highway and Public Transit Systems, June 22-24, 1988, Washington, D.C.

00486281

HS-040 656

pp 232-259

1988

Transportation Research Board Special Report

Conference on Long-Range Trends and Requirements for the Nation's Highway and Public Transit Systems

0-309-04702-1

Print

Figures (3) ; References (9)

Conferences; Cost effectiveness; Decision making; Economic growth; Environmental protection; Mobility; Project management; Time duration; Transportation planning

Transportation 2020

Long term; Projects

Administration and Management; Economics; Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Aug 31 1990 12:00AM

• A LOOK AHEAD: YEAR 2020. OBSERVERS' COMMENTS
• ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES: VEHICLE AND AUTOMOBILE GUIDANCE
• BEYOND THE MILLENNIUM--TRANSPORTATION AND THE ECONOMY
• FLORIDA'S CHALLENGE: MANAGING EXPLOSIVE GROWTH
• LIFE-STYLE AND TRAVEL DEMAND
• ORGANIZING AND FUNDING TRANSPORTATION FOR 2020
• PERSONAL MOBILITY IN THE UNITED STATES
• PLANNING FOR URBAN SPRAWL
• POPULATION AND EMPLOYMENT CHANGE IN THE UNITED STATES: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
• TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF TRANSPORTATION: AN INDUSTRIAL VIEW
• THE OUTLOOK FOR COMMERCIAL FREIGHT
• THE ROLE OF PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
• TRANSPORTATION ENERGY TO THE YEAR 2020
• TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTIONS IN THE YEAR 2020