America is approaching its 250th year and a new turning point. At each turning point, new mobility – and a federal policy to match – reshaped the country: canals and steamboats for an agrarian republic; transcontinental rail for industrialization; the Interstate System and commercial aviation for a knowledge economy. While past investments boosted national security, economic growth, and travel safety by connecting rural and urban areas, they came with drawbacks. Railroads and interstates displaced Indigenous communities, exploited labor, and caused uneven prosperity, exclusionary zoning, reinforced biases, pollution, and a car-dominated system that deterred more affordable choices.

High housing and transportation costs burden American families, especially renters and low-income households.[1] Congestion also impacts employers, costing $108.8 billion in trucking delays and 54 lost commuter hours in 2022, hindering return-to-office efforts.[2]

To ensure America’s future success, we must unite rural, suburban, and urban areas, along with employers and civic partners, to build safe, resilient, thriving communities where costs are lower within one generation.

The problem we built – and the vision to fix it

Decades of growth have pushed homes away from jobs and services, leading to increased transportation costs and time, making true affordability rare. Federal rules that separate land use and transportation funding exacerbate this, forcing competition and raising costs.

Our needs are changing, while assets age. Climate shocks, maintenance backlogs, and a shift to an ideas and experience economy demand adaptable, multimodal connectivity. New mobility options and digital infrastructure are emerging, and demographics are shifting. Distorted housing markets push families to climate-risk, low-opportunity areas.[3] This is the challenge a modern federal solution must address.

The fix is practical: build for proximity. Grow homes, jobs, and services in and between activity centers – town centers, job hubs, and neighborhood main streets – so essential trips are shorter and safer, businesses thrive, and freight moves more reliably. Brookings research shows that regions that concentrate growth this way create mobility choice, save families money, and give people time back.[4]

Within 25 years, success will be measured by reduced deaths and serious injuries, lower combined housing and transportation costs, state of good repair, decreased emissions, and the restoration of historically harmed areas. This “freedom-of-movement agenda” aims for safe, reliable, and affordable movement of people and goods, regardless of mode or ZIP code.

Sustained investment is crucial for this solution. While IIJA established a new funding baseline, tangible results from long-standing policy are still lacking. There is increasing federal skepticism when funding isn’t linked to visible and tangible outcomes. However, voters are not against new revenues; they approve local and regional taxes when projects enhance daily life and foster wealth-building opportunities such as job creation and contracting. The solution lies in a bottom-up, vision and a delivery system that demonstrates results, attracts private and local investment, and then scales successful initiatives.

Restructure Washington for outcomes

Surface reauthorization is typically a USDOT bill, but transportation, land use, housing, and economic development responsibilities also fall under HUD, EPA, Commerce, and USDA. The upcoming reauthorization offers an opportunity to simplify and streamline planning and funding across these agencies to meet today’s affordability demands through “One Plan, One Application, One Builder, and One Scoreboard.”

1) One Plan – plan once, fund many. Require a regional Place Investment Plan (PIP) used by all federal agencies. A cross-agency Investment Council certifies PIPs, allowing one approved plan to be funded by many programs disbursed by the US Treasury. States/MPOs adopt PIPs and  score projects on safety, access, emissions, and H+T affordability, aligning zoning with activity center priorities and anti-displacement tools.”

2) One Application – a common NOFO. Use a single Notice of Funding Opportunity tied to an approved PIP for coordinated awards across HUD, USDOT, EDA, and USDA. This streamlines reporting and reduces burdens on small communities, rewarding collaboration with incentives for pro-location-efficient housing and commercial development.

3) One Builder – delivery at speed.  Establish a five-year pilot Housing & Infrastructure Delivery Agency to streamline federal project delivery. This “One Builder” approach accelerates decisions, offers direct capacity, and embeds a national Delivery Corps to unblock project barriers. It centralizes approvals and offers optional NEPA assignment for proven local government and transit agencies with federal oversight.

4) One Scoreboard – trust, transparency, and management. If we can’t measure it, we can’t manage it.  As the economy shifts and new mobility scales, the federal government must build a public dashboard tracking benefits and harms (safety, access, affordability, reliability, resilience, emissions, displacement risk, cumulative impacts) at both program and project levels. This scoreboard requires open data standards, privacy protection, before/after scorecards for projects, direct local data support, and reconnection metrics to ensure Reconnecting Communities is standard practice.

What this delivers

Families will benefit from homes closer to work and school, safer commutes, and daily time savings through resilient systems. Developing activity centers cuts housing and transportation costs, shortens trips, and lowers emissions. Reliable service with on-time trips and less variability will emerge, and networks will recover faster from disruptions. Truckers, rail, parcel carriers, cargo bikes, autonomous delivery, and advanced air mobility will experience fewer bottlenecks. Rural roads and bridges will be climate-ready. Businesses will gain predictable timelines, clearer permitting, and investment-ready project pipelines.

Ultimately, transportation built America. To ensure affordability and opportunity, Congress should reauthorize with “one plan, one application, one builder, one scoreboard.” Reform first, then leverage private/local funds and scale what works, so all 340 million people live in safe, resilient, thriving communities within one generation.

[1] Center for Neighborhood Technology, Housing + Transportation (H+T) Index: https://htaindex.cnt.org/ and National Low Income Housing Coalition, Out of Reach: https://nlihc.org/oor

[2] American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), Cost of Congestion to the Trucking Industry (2022): https://truckingresearch.org/atri-research/bottlenecks-congestion-infrastructure-funding/ and Texas A&M Transportation Institute, Urban Mobility Report (2023): https://tti.tamu.edu/2024/06/tti-publishes-2023-urban-mobility-report/ and  Gallup, Why the Commute Drives Resistance to Return-to-Office (2023): https://www.gallup.com/workplace/474482/why-commute.aspx

[3]  Brookings Metro, The Great Real Estate Reset (2021): https://www.brookings.edu/essay/the-great-real-estate-reset/

[4] Brookings Institution, Activity Centers: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/activity-centers/ and Brookings Institution, Building for Proximity: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/building-for-proximity-the-role-of-activity-centers-in-reducing-total-miles-traveled/