Public transportation infrastructure was hard hit byHurricane Ida .- Investment in transportation has decreased despite more demand and lower carbon emissions.
- Political partisanship threatens the approval of the federal infrastructure plan.
Last week, Hurricane Ida tore through parts of the US with its Category 4 winds and record-setting rainfall days after it made landfall in Louisiana. In the Northeast, flash flooding destroyed homes, transformed highways into lakes, and halted Amtrak routes. At least 50 people died, many of them trapped in illegal basement apartments.
The flooding from Hurricane Ida demonstrated how the poorest people in America suffer the most when governments don't act quickly enough to deal with worsening weather events and the
The effect of Hurricane Ida has helped supporters of President Joe Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure bill, with its focus on
Transportation is the largest source of carbon emissions in the US because of its high consumption of petroleum-based fuel. Decades of growth in car sales and decreases in funding to public transportation systems have also contributed to air pollution and warming temperatures. Scientific research, including the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on
One of the immediate actions governments can take in response to Hurricane Ida's extensive damages is fund more green
"The road to recovery is paved with investments in our infrastructure, because public transportation is more than just a way to move people around - it's a vehicle for opportunity, equity, and a better quality of life," said Eric Garcetti, C40's chair and the mayor of Los Angeles, in a statement.
The C40 report, titled "The Future of Public Transport," estimated that for every $1 invested in public transportation, there could be $5 in economic returns generated, while every $1 billion invested could create 50,000 jobs. The report also highlighted how action in cities is particularly important because they generate three-quarters of the world's carbon emissions.
But while the infrastructure bill has been passed by the US House and Senate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has delayed a final vote in order to maintain support from centrists and liberal Democrats for a much larger $3.5 trillion domestic infrastructure bill. The much larger bill would expand social services and healthcare for the elderly, but Sen. Joe Manchin has called for a "strategic pause" on it in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, citing concerns about inflation and debt.
Pelosi and Manchin are now among an economic class of people who no longer have to take public transportation daily. Low-income citizens deeply depend on it and are most affected by the lack of action on the climate crisis. It's worth remembering how many more people could die because of concerns about inflation or debt.