Roads in the US are getting more crowded and congested, and the total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) hit a record high in 2016 with 3.2 trillion miles. Congestion refers to periods when the volume of traffic exceeds the road’s capacity, think about a traffic jam where cars sit idling. All over the US, congestion is getting worse, especially in urban areas. One study found that from 1980 to 2003 the total VMT increased by 111% in urban areas, while urban lane-miles only increased by 51%, which created a net effect of heavier traffic congestion.
Read moreBuilding Accessible Infrastructure for Everyone
Steve Krug once said “The one argument for accessibility that doesn’t get made nearly often enough is how extraordinarily better it makes some people’s lives. How many opportunities do we have to dramatically improve people’s lives just by doing our job a little better?” Throughout our lives our physical and mental abilities change as we age, making ability more of a spectrum than a binary concept as we once thought. By keeping this in mind as we build infrastructure, we can make infrastructure more accessible to all people regardless of where they are on the ability-spectrum.
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