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of local transportation activists, its `grass-

environmental groups.

roots Network,' and provided Network

Most of the organizations do not get any

members and the public at large with the

direct funding from EPA, but some do. For

TransAct electronic information service."2 1

example, the Greenbelt Alliance promotes

urban-growth boundaries around cities in

Although not the largest recipient of

Contra Costa County, California. EPA gave it

grants, the Surface Transportation Policy

a $60,000 grant "for a forum on transporta-

Project is in many ways the super-principal

tion choices."

Transportation Partner. The group has a

The Failed Promise of Planned

Transportation Action Network Web site that

Congestion

strongly promotes smart growth and claims

that the Network is "sponsored in part by

If EPA's goal is to reduce automobile trav-

USEPA's Transportation Partners Program."22

el, there is little evidence that it is succeeding.

Transcripts of EPA's monthly telephone con-

The 1997 Transportation Partners annual

ference calls with transportation partners are

report claims that the program led

at least 50 percent conversations with Surface

Americans to drive 1.25 billion fewer miles in

Transportation Policy Project staff.

1997 than they might have driven without

If EPA's goal is

it.2 4That claim is difficult to believe. With the

STPP is one of the most vigorous and con-

to reduce auto-

sistent critics of new roads and recently

possible exception of the Association of

announced that it is opening regional offices

Commuter Transportation, it is hard to find

mobile travel,

in the West and Southwest to oppose highway

anything that the funded Transportation

there is little evi-

projects in those regions. The STPP Web site

Partners did after September 1996 (when

dence that it is

includes a "Directory of Transportation

most funds were first granted) that would

Reform Resources" that lists the Transporta-

have caused people to drive less in 1997.

succeeding.

tion Partners and the highway projects that

The largest grant, to the Local Environ-

each partner is working to block.23 This and

mental Initiatives Council, was spent encour-

aging cities to resolve to reduce their green-

other project publications and Web pages

house gas emissions by 10 to 20 percent by

focus on and exaggerate the costs of cars and

the year 2010. A resolution is far different

roads, and almost entirely neglect the benefits.

from an actual reduction, and what may hap-

The above EPA grant totals include only

pen in 2010 is far different from what did

those grants dedicated explicitly for trans-

happen in 1997.

portation programs. Many of the above

The 1.25-billion-mile estimate seems to be

groups get additional EPA funding for a vari-

based more on what the unfunded partners

ety of other issues.

did. Here EPA made several dubious esti-

In addition to these large grants, EPA

mates:

promises technical assistance to hundreds of

other Transportation Partners. Any group

· Installing a bicycle facility would

that wants to discourage automobile travel

can become a Transportation Partner, and

reduce driving by 75,000 to 275,000

EPA has so far recruited more than 300 such

miles per year. In fact, bicycling, which

groups located in 44 states and the District of

accounts for less than 0.4 percent of all

Columbia. About a third of the partners are

commuting, is mainly recreational, not

a substitute for driving;2 5

local governments; some are corporations

· Improving a transit system would

such as the Bank of America; but most are

nonprofits with names like Alliance for a

reduce driving by 2.5 to 20.0 million

Paving Moratorium, Citizens for Balanced

miles per year. Yet America's transit sys-

Transportation, and Sensible Transportation

tems are steadily losing market share to

Options for People. Also included are various

automobiles despite billions of dollars

of government spending;26

chapters of the Sierra Club and other major

6