(Click on the image to read Beth Osborne's Smart Growth America report)
- It’s nearly impossible to square the priority of speed with most other state goals. This assumption of “the cars need to always move fast and never slow down” is at the root of most of the big problems that they face.
- States expend a lot of effort trying to squeeze square pegs into round holes, rather than using round pegs. State DOTs created to build the autobahn in the US, that got so good at building this one product that they now try to build it everywhere.
- State DOTs are reluctant to believe that they can or should dictate behavior. States design roads to indicate to drivers that they should go fast (with wide, straight lanes and infrequent signals or crossings), and then are surprised when drivers respond logically to that design, acting as if there is nothing they can do to change that or slow them down.
- A singular focus on reducing delay leads state DOTs to overbuild roads, waste money, and generate more traffic, as well as many other frequent problems.