We are consuming worldwide energy resources at an unprecedented rate. We import a greater percentage of our petroleum today than during the Arab oil embargo that crippled our economy 20 years ago. We spend billions annually to defend energy exporters from hostile neighbors. We have an increasingly asphalt-covered nation. Farmland is being sacrificed at a rate of two acres per minute.
Urban sprawl is exacerbated by new highways.
Our downtowns are imperiled, supplanted by a mall culture. After four decades of intense interstate highway construction, traffic congestion is worse than ever, and the Federal Highway Administration expects it to grow fourfold over the next 20 years. Our traffic woes come not from a supply problem but a demand problem. The argument that truly brings me to despair is that we must use the money the federal government has earmarked for the project or we will lose it. Even the safety benefit is suspect.