Many communities have reached a crossroads. Citizens will stop calling to complain. When pavement is laid, more vehicles come. With more vehicles, comes more smog.
Autos are a major contributor to global warming.
Their pollution also causes severe health problems for many. Our auto habits have caused increasing dependency on oil imports, much of it coming from unstable parts of the world. Today, we import more than 54 percent of our petroleum needs, and this number is estimated to reach more than 60 percent by 2010. And in addition to the cost of oil imports, the cost of productivity loss, and the cost of congestion, we must add other social costs of transportation, such as traffic deaths and injuries, and pollution Some communities have found a promising new course for handling growth and their transportation problems. By whatever name, these plans focus on people, rather than on cars.