Car-dependent sprawl development is inefficient and more costly to taxpayers, and has led to longer commutes that negatively impact our health and historic, cultural, and natural resources. More highways and lane expansions lead to more traffic congestion. Transportation infrastructure designed to accommodate individual car ownership is simply too inefficient and can’t compete with the cost-benefit of high performance intra- and inter-city mass transit.
When it rains, our highways, roads, rooftops and parking lots push harmful pollutants like fertilizer, pet waste, litter, and chemical contaminants into local waterways. Instead of absorbing water, our stormwater management system channels it into pipes and outflows, producing fast-moving runoff that erodes stream banks, fuel algae blooms, and increase sedimentation and neighborhood flooding.
More focused transportation and infrastructure investments in our cities, counties, and towns that give people needed alternatives to driving create efficient, walkable, and mixed-use communities that are more stimulating, increase connections between Virginia’s economic and population centers, and less costly to the environment, health, and taxpayers.
Clean Water works with our allies to better link land-use and transportation policies and direct revenue to projects that directly benefit Virginians, such as energy efficiency, flooding resilience, clean transportation, and economic development.
