Critical Issues in Transportation for 2024 and Beyond

TRB Unveils Critical Issues Report

Critical Issues in Transportation: 2024 and Beyond calls for reassessing the role of transportation in addressing major societal challenges and the research that informs the choices that society will need to make in 2024 and coming years. This reassessment is driven by large-scale environmental, public health, and socioeconomic forces, including:

• a massive shift away from fossil fuels to clean energy that requires a complete turnover of hundreds of millions of motor vehicles by 2050 to help meet national decarbonization goals;

• threats to public transportation caused by COVID-19’s enduring effects on commuting to work in urban areas;

• reversal of the long-term downward trend in annual traffic fatalities that have resulted in 10,000 more motor vehicle deaths than a decade ago; and

• society’s grappling with the nation’s history of racial discrimination and increasing disparities in wealth and incomes.