Brookings Mountain West presents “America Moves: Transportation and Public Policy in the United States” a talk by Adie Tomer, senior research associate and associate fellow, Metropolitan Policy Program. 

The United States is in a perpetual state of motion. Every day, Americans drive over 8 billion miles, board over 20,000 flights, and ship over 45 million tons of freight. But what drives all of this physical movement? And what is the relationship to public policy? This presentation will begin to answer those questions, utilizing a combination of quantitative metrics and policy analysis to explain how, where, and why Americans move. It will outline driving habits, and the disruptive moment every metropolitan area and state faces due to federal gridlock. It will map aviation patterns, and the emerging presence of global connections in our congested skies. It will expose the oft-hidden transportation category—freight—and how it is the secret ingredient to make modern life possible. Using the major Mountain West metropolitan areas as examples, the presentation aims to give attendees a new understanding and appreciation for America’s enormous transportation network and its inseparable connection to public policy.