National Transportation: Trends and Choices (To the Year 2000): Part D

US Transportation Collection1977PDFResearch PaperUnited States. Department of TransportationUnited States. Department of TransportationUnited StatesEnvironmentFederal lawsLocal transportationPublic transitStatesPublic policyPolicy, legislation and regulationAir transportationTrend (Statistics)Mass TransitState TransportationA projection of the form and direction that the U.S. transportation system will take over the next 25 years has been made as a foundation for the development of a national transportation policy, but the report is not itself written as a plan of action. Detailed are the choices faced by Americans in dealing with their dominant taxpayer-financed highway system. Transport modes are working at cross purposes, in terms of a healthy economy and of survival of the cities. Airlines and railroads face money shortages needed to maintain existing facilities and to expand. No decline is seen in demands for transport services for the remainder of the century and this will impose additional costs on society. Petroleum products account for more than 95 per cent of energy used to operate transportation and transportation accounts for more than half the annual petroleum consumption. Planning efforts may have to be redirected because of petroleum shortages, even with development of more costly substitute liquid fuels. Among the questions raised: How should a democratic society allocate current resources between today's needs and long-term problems? When should the public intervene in free-enterprise marketplace decisions? How can government best institute orderly procedures to make necessary changes in public policy, given the near-term impact on persons and institutions? This record is Part D of a larger report. Please search on National Transportation: Trends and Choices (To the Year 2000) for the other parts.111