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When our transportation system is so reliant on highways and private automobiles, there's almost no way around it because that's the system that we've created.
当我们的交通系统如此依赖公路和私家车时，几乎没有办法绕过它，因为这就是我们打造的系统。
This is Kyle Shelton, an urbanist based in Houston.
我是凯尔·谢尔顿，一个在休斯敦办公的城市规划专家。
The endless reduction of congestion ... should that be ... the driving, honestly the driving policy question for a lot of our transportation funding?
无尽的拥堵……如果是……开车，老实说，我们的交通资金都是开车政策问题？
Big expensive highway infrastructure projects are still the prevailing band-aid to congestion in the US.
昂贵的大型公路基础设施项目仍然是美国交通拥堵的主要帮扶手段。
The transit advocacy group Transportation for America found that between 1993 and 2017, the US added over 30,000 miles of new freeway lanes in 100 metro areas.
美国交通宣传组织发现，1993年至2017年，美国在100个地铁区域增加了超过3万英里的新高速公路车道。
Building more highways may provide some short-term relief.
修建更多的公路可能会提供一些短期的缓解。
And it's easier than most infrastructure projects to get federal funding to do a highway expansion.
而且，比大多数基础设施项目更容易获得联邦资金来进行公路扩张。
But if we want less traffic and fewer drivers, giving flexible commuters better choices is a good place to start.
但是如果我们想要更少的交通拥堵和更少的司机，给灵活的通勤者更好的选择是一个好的开始。
Like by improving public transit by adding more and better bus routes or trains.
比如通过增加越来越多更好的公交线路或火车来改善公共交通。
That alone might not be a silver bullet for congestion relief, for the same reason that adding another lane isn't: new drivers will take the place of transit commuters on the highway.
单凭这一点可能不是缓解交通拥堵的灵丹妙药，这与增加另一条车道并未解决问题是一个道理：新司机将取代公路上的公交通勤者。
And for many people living off highways in sprawling US cities, public transit may never be an adequate solution.
对于许多生活在美国城市公路旁的人来说，公共交通可能永远都不是一个合适的解决方案。
'Cause it's not just about the infrastructure. It's also about individual behaviors. It's about where job opportunities are located.
因为这不仅仅是基础设施的问题，它也与个人行为有关，这是关于工作地点的问题。
And most of our cities have now been constructed in this way where the car is the prime mode.
我们大多数的城市都是这样建造的：汽车是主要的交通工具。
Another option is to enact policies that actively disincentivize people from using the highway.
另一种选择是制定积极抑制人们使用公路的政策。
Like congestion pricing, which charges people who drive on highways during rush hours.
比如拥堵收费：对高峰时间在公路上开车的人收费。
Or remote work programs that deter people from traveling during the highest traffic times - or make it so they don't have to commute at all.
或者远程工作程序：阻止人们在交通最繁忙的时候出行——或者让他们根本不必通勤。
And in the long-term, better land use policies can help as well, like by building communities that put people closer to where they need to go.
从长远来看，更好的土地利用政策也会有所帮助，比如建立社区，让人们更接近他们需要去的地方。
And if building more highways results in more drivers and congestion, then removing them could have the opposite effect.
如果修建更多的公路会导致更多的司机和交通拥堵，那么清除它们可能会产生相反的效果。
For example, the city of Boston removed a freeway in its city center in the 1990s, and replaced it with a boulevard with biking and bus lanes and more space to walk.
例如，波士顿市在20世纪90年代拆除了市中心的一条高速公路，取而代之的是一条林荫道，林荫道上有自行车和公交专用道，步行空间更大。
It reduced congestion by 62%.
它减少了62%的拥堵。
And now the Democratically controlled Senate is considering nearly $10 billion in funding for similar highway-removal projects in other cities.
而现在民主党控制的参议院正在考虑为其他城市的类似公路拆除项目提供近100亿美元的资金。
What we build and invest in in the world of transportation truly changes our behavior.
我们在交通领域的建设和投资的确改变了我们的行为。
If building more roads makes us drive on them more. Then giving people better choices by investing in the right things, will make us drive less.
如果建更多的道路让我们在上面开得更多的话，那么通过投资于正确的事物，让人们有更好的选择，我们就会少开车。
Because, if we build it, they will come.
因为，如果我们建造它，他们就会来的。
