12 Current and Future Fixes for Transportation Woes

In July, the Texas Transportation Institute's Urban Mobility Report came to an unsurprising conclusion—traffic is a major problem. The study found that Americans waste a total of 4.16 billion hours stuck in traffic every year, the equivalent of one full work week per person. Congestion's cost in 2007 reached $87.2 billion in lost productivity and wasted gas. Today, policy makers are focusing on alternative transportation options to alleviate traffic, borrowing from international models and developing new technologies in order to modernize how we get from point A to point B. Here's a look at what they're working on now, and at some pretty outlandish innovations we might see in the future.

Politicians, advocates and researchers are looking to improve American transportation conditions. "Traffic isn't like the weather," says Noah Budnick, the senior policy advisor for Transportation Alternatives, a New York City-based advocacy group. "There is something you can do about it." The problem, he says, is that the American transportation system has been designed around the automobile for too long "at the exclusion of everything else." Biking, walking and public transportation systems suffer as a result.

1. BikingThe Problem: Nonexistent and poorly designed bicycle lanes discourage commuters from riding their bikes, and drivers from sharing the road. "What people are looking for is protected space," Budnick says. Because many people do not feel comfortable riding along roads, biking to work is still relatively rare

Current Fix: Several European countries, most notably the Netherlands and Denmark, have shown that with the right infrastructure in place, bikes can take over. Amsterdam residents use bicycles for 40% of their travel; similarly, in Copenhagen, 32% of commuters bike to work. Fiets Beraad, the center for bike policy in the Netherlands, has complied an "example bank" of innovative bike lanes. Different bike lanes help cyclists turn left, get up steep inclines and navigate tricky intersections. Another bike lane design currently gaining traction in New York City physically separates riders from moving traffic by putting a lane of car parking between them.

Idea for the Future: Various groups have proposed creating networks of elevated high-speed bicycle lanes. The lanes would be enclosed tubes, which would protect riders from poor weather conditions and also allow them to travel more efficiently. Air would be sent through the tubes in the same direction as the bicyclists, lowering air resistance and increasing bicycle speed. Two similar proposals, one from a Toronto architect called Velo-city and another from Bicycle Transport Systems called TransGlide2000 claim that this kind of futuristic lane will increase cycling efficiency by 90% and allow for speeds up to 25mph (assuming commuting riders are comfortable traveling that quickly).

2. Walking The Problem: For years, engineers have designed streets with only cars in mind. Often pedestrians do not have enough space or time to cross roads. At some intersections, drivers can't see pedestrians. "Street design needs to prioritize pedestrian safety and move away from the primacy of the automobile," Budnick says.

Current Fix: We need more livable streets—ones that give pedestrians as much consideration as the cars. One street design is called the Woonerf, a Dutch word loosely translated as "living street." In a Woonerf, walkers and bicyclists have access to the entire street, and there are no lanes, curbs or traffic signals. Because pedestrians have the right-of-way (and because there's sometimes furniture in the streets) cars must proceed slowly.

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