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TRANSPORTATION FOR AMERICA
Access to jobs, schools, shopping, and critical community services is vital for Americans living in small cities and towns, and rural communities. But all too often there aren’t options for getting around, forcing families to drive long distances on poorly maintained roads to reach everyday destinations. By failing to preserve our existing transportation network and harness the power of new technologies, we are leaving millions of Americans isolated from economic opportunity.

Rural areas and small towns have higher concentrations of elderly and low-income citizens, who can greatly benefit from access to a variety of transportation options. In addition, children in rural areas are 25 percent more likely to be overweight or obese than those in urban areas1 and face unique barriers to being active and maintaining a healthy weight2. Our current pattern of dispersed growth in many rural areas makes adequate transportation critical to give students access to opportunities for physical activity.

Our nation’s transportation infrastructure should provide access for all Americans, regardless of their geographic location, age, income, or disability status. We need to care for our existing transportation network, while ensuring that we build a 21st century system that will allow residents of rural communities, small cities, and small towns to thrive...

Download complete brief (PDF): Transportation, Small Towns, and Rural Communities

About Transportation for America
www.t4america.org
“Transportation for America is a growing and diverse coalition focused on creating a national transportation program that will take America into the 21st century by building a modernized infrastructure and healthy communities where people can live, work and play.
We have formed a broad coalition of real estate, housing, environmental, public health, equity, business, transportation and other organizations that seek to align our national, state, and local transportation policies with an array of issues: economic opportunity, climate change, energy security, health, housing and community development. We believe a new national vision will play a key role in strengthening the foundation of our nation.”

Tags: Rural, Small Towns, Transportation for America

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 2:58 pm and is filed under Competitiveness, Equity, Highway, Infra Views, National, Public Transportation, Roads, Transit, Urban Planning . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.