While travel decisions can be deeply personal, decades of (often racist) land use and transportation policies and practices help determine them.

Exhibit A is policies and practices that have prioritized car-centric designs that among other harms escalate greenhouse gas emissions and traffic fatalities. Worse, our road networks have destroyed the social, cultural, and economic fabric of communities and have disproportionately affected the health of marginalized groups, especially those in low-income and minority communities. While transportation can connect us to opportunity, it is often a divider in so many communities.

We commonly evaluate transportation systems using metrics like average daily traffic, bike lane miles, or public transit ridership numbers. But the numbers overlook a critical aspect to evaluating our systems’ success: the lived experiences of individuals using them.

We need to incorporate lived experiences into our data to fully understand, for example, why the bus may not be a viable or safe option for someone or why students need a raised crosswalk at their school, even though local standards say the existing infrastructure meets compliance.

I am an advocate for residents as planners, recognizing that they are experts in their own experiences, and I have a responsibility to ensure that their voices are centered in policy, planning, and design decisions shaping their communities. I’m honored to join the CNT team that shares these values, and to collaborate with our partners to support multi-modal transportation networks that are inclusive, sustainable, and accessible to people from all walks of life.