Transportation

On Topic

Highway, rail and aviation systems are vital to the national and global economy. They move our citizens and our products and they allow us to be more productive – but they can also contribute to sprawl, air pollution and global warming. Brookings experts look at how to most productively invest in our transportation infrastructure.

REUTERS/Billy Weeks - Volkswagen employees inspect an 2012 Passat in the assembly finish department in Chattanooga, Tennessee, December 1, 2011.

Blog Post | Advanced Industries Series

Keeping Tennessee Auto and Advanced Industries Competitive

October 4, 2013, Mark Muro

Five years after the Great Recession, a leaner and more intensely competitive auto sector is growing under new conditions. Tennessee's industry has emerged from a tumultuous decade with genuine momentum, and it now confronts continuous disruptive change and will need to recalibrate.

Recent Activity

Refine by: U.S. Metro Areas | Business and Finance | U.S. Economic Performance | Competitiveness

In the News

Typically, we're a nation of mobility. We have one of the highest migration rates in the world, and it's been very important to keep our economy fueled.
August 29, 2013, William H. Frey, MSN Money
In the News

[Amtrak] is not the same organization it was a few years ago, still hoping and relying on federal handouts, limping from appropriation to appropriation. Even though Washington is mired in debt and dysfunction, Amtrak is reinventing itself.
May 13, 2013, Robert Puentes, The Associated Press
In the News

When budget cuts hit high-profile business travelers, you can get Congress to act.
April 30, 2013, Darrell M. West, Bloomberg
In the News

[Ray Lahood] brought a different perspective to Washington. He is a straight shooter, and I think he took transportation from the back of the political discussion to more of the forefront.
April 30, 2013, Robert Puentes, National Public Radio
In the News

As a nation, we've got to figure out better, more long-term ways, more sustainable ways, to fund needed transportation projects without having to rely on this annual uncertainty which seems to be the norm instead of the exception now.
March 14, 2013, Robert Puentes, WAMU
In the News

15 years ago in this country, we thought that [telecommuting] was the death of distance and that it was just going to ruin cities and we didn't see that at all. We see that people really do benefit from face-to-face conversations. Face-to-face conversations are going to be critical for many, many metropolitan jobs. There are many jobs that will require you to be face-to-face. Telecommuting does have a role [but] it's not going to solve all of our problems.
March 10, 2013, Robert Puentes, WTOP Washington
In the News

The places we see Amtrak being competitive, running effective and efficient service, are in those places where the state already has some skin in the game. These are places where Amtrak is treated not as a big federal bureaucracy that's coming in but is actually part and parcel of the transportation plan.
March 1, 2013, Robert Puentes, USA Today
In the News

[Amtrak is] too often considered a big, bloated bureaucracy that depends heavily on federal subsidies and is no longer relevant to the technologically oriented metropolitan economies of today.
March 1, 2013, Robert Puentes, CNN
In the News

In order for metropolitan areas to compete, they have to be able to provide several different options for people in how they get around, for how business leaders are going to connect with other business leaders in different metropolitan areas and then how these regions are going to grow in the future. We are seeing continued congestion on the roadways, perhaps deterioration of the roadways in some cases, frustration with the airlines and looking at Amtrak as a potential alternative to some of the other modes.
March 1, 2013, Robert Puentes, Minnesota Public Radio
In the News

We’re moving from transportation's late 20th century federalism model where the federal government provides resources that rain down unencumbered to the state and metropolitan level.
January 29, 2013, Robert Puentes, The Atlantic