The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, offers U.S. states and cities the chance to invest in transportation systems that modernize infrastructure, expand access and mobility for all people in a community, improve public health and safety, and boost local economies.

Transportation emits more climate-warming greenhouse gases than any other sector in the United States, so cutting carbon from transport is also essential to achieving the ambitious goal of reducing emissions 50 percent to 52 percent by 2030. Recent modeling from America Is All In, a coalition of state and local climate leaders, shows that emissions reductions in the transportation sector can contribute more than one-third of what’s needed to reach the 2030 U.S. climate goal.

The key is to go multi-modal: not just cars, buses, rail, bicycles or walking, but a coordinated system of various modes of transportation. States, tribes, cities, universities and businesses have vital roles to play in developing clean multi-modal transportation systems that work for the entire community while fostering health, safety and economic prosperity.

Now, a new paper from America Is All In shows how communities can benefit from the low-carbon multi-modal approach.

Clean multi-modal systems can provide safe, equitable, comfortable, convenient, accessible transportation, including mass transit, walking, biking, micromobility (such as electric scooters and bikes and shared bicycles) along with car use.

Most U.S. cities depend on cars to get around and design their communities accordingly. But that sidelines and endangers the roughly 20 percent to 40 percent of residents in a given community who either can’t or shouldn’t drive, due to factors such as economic limitations, age constraints and disabilities. America’s underfunded public transit systems are frequently unreliable, time-consuming and unpleasant to ride, making it difficult and inefficient for people to reach jobs or other necessary destinations.

Car dependency imposes serious risk to non-drivers, as needing to walk or bike on roads designed for cars all-too-often causes injuries and deaths. Expanded multi-modal transportation options make roads safer for all travelers and increase access to economic opportunity, getting non-drivers to jobs, businesses and other locations that are virtually out of reach without a car.

Read the full article about multi-modal transportation by Liz Bridgwater, Sujata Rajpurohit, Kevin Kennedy and Matt Herbert at GreenBiz.