The Biden administration’s ambitious American Jobs Act proposes to spend $2 trillion in infrastructure improvements — including many transportation investments. But before the federal government starts awarding grant money, we must guarantee that our tax dollars achieve their intended goal of fostering equity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
How do we do that? By applying comprehensive transportation data to measure actual before-and-after results.
Two simple requirements can make this happen:
- Assess all project grant applications by their stated predicted impact on climate and equity (and anything else the agency cares about)
- Create incentives for agencies that continually measure if they achieved their goal, and adapt if they don’t
StreetLight Data remains a strong advocate for gathering the most comprehensive data possible to measure, monitor, and update transportation projects. That philosophy is what our company was founded on, and we urge the current administration to put it into practice to ensure the Infrastructure Bill benefits all Americans.
