I agree. So much can be done to make cities more desirable. One of the most important is to improve the public schools. The poor quality of public schools in American cities is one of the biggest reasons why people choose to live elsewhere. Improving public education doesn’t just benefit the children it benefits the entire community.

That’s a great thought, but people can’t always live right next to where they work, especially in two-income families. Also, it’s not always financially possible to live in an area near where you work. In the past, the companies for which my husband and I worked were about 35 miles apart. Factoring in which neighborhoods were affordable for us and somewhat diverse (as we are an interracial couple), the best we could find was someplace about 30 miles from where he worked and 5 miles from where I worked. Now we work at the same place, but again with the same requirements for a neighborhood–affordable for us, somewhat diverse, and adding in the requirement of having a good school system–we are still living about 15 miles from where we work. I’d love living within walking distance, but our company is surrounded by other businesses, a university, and 2 VERY EXPENSIVE, all-white residential areas. Just outside of that are lower-income, higher-crime areas with failing school systems. So, we moved to the closest neighborhood we could find that met our requirements, and even it is a bit of stretch for our budget. There’s a lot more that needs fixing in addition to transportation options to get people to move back into the cities in all areas, including the school systems, segregation (whether self-imposed or otherwise), etc.

I just saw this segment and got frustated because everyone is assuming that we need to spend all this money and rebuild everything. We could spend considerably less money and create more durable and efficient transportation systems by creating incentives to use transit and live in cities. The report only spoke about rebuilding the interstate system; it didn’t mention building and upgrading regional and inter-city rail. The European system of transportation has to be pursued.

In the end, as the portion about the need to raise tolls suggested, we need to use interstates in a more limited fashion. They should be for trucking and taking vacations, not for people’s daily 30-mile commutes. People simply need to move less in their daily life. Try living within walking distance of work or school. It’s a surprisingly affordable, efficient, and simple way to live.