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One of the main problems in the transportation space is the disconnect in Blue states between elected officials climate goals and State DOT's interstate plans. 1/x https://twitter.com/KostelecPlan/status/1300442055534018561
US Senate Democrats, including MA Senators, just released a climate plan that calls for a mode shift from roads to transit. And here MASSDOT is saying, nope they won't consider reducing the number of interstate lanes even though the community is specifically asking them too. 2/x
Likewise in New Jersey, NJDOT wants to spend billions of dollars further widening the NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway, which will exacerbate GHG's from transportation, even though Governor Murphy and Senators Booker and Menendez have called for addressing climate change 3/x
Environmental Groups like the NJ Sierra Club specifically asked Governor Murphy to veto NJDOT's plan since its inconsistent with the Governor's climate plans and he refused. 4/x
It's not any better in Connecticut where Governors Malloy/Lemont want to spend billions widening the Connecticut Turnpike (I-95) and I-84, money the State doesn't have, instead of going all in on rail and transit. 5/x
And in Oregon, ODOT has ignored repeated pleas from the Portland community not to widen I-5 even though Governor Kate Brown has long talked about addressed climate change and the State Legislature Democrats made a cap and trade system one of their priorities. 6/x
Point is, highway widening projects is a huge disconnect right now in the climate/transportation space. We need to rebrand highway widening projects as the new "coal plant" so elected officials understand the climate consequences of spending billions on new highway capacity. 7/7
