Making State and Local Policy Work for the New Wave of Transportation Innovation

The policy world loves to talk about infrastructure. Support for infrastructure policy is often bipartisan, and it’s almost assumed now that candidates running for office will use the phrase “crumbling roads and bridges” at some point during their campaigns.

But there’s another side to infrastructure that might be more interesting than those roads, bridges, and airports, and that’s the infrastructure innovation that often happens at the state and local level as a result of disruptive new technologies. Given promising new transit options like dockless scooters or bicycles and driverless cars, it’s easy to forget that ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft are still relatively new parts of how people get around.

So today, the podcast features three experts to talk about this new world of infrastructure needs, sometimes called “Transportation 3.0.” Specifically, this episode will cover how state and local policy interacts with these new issues:

• Alex Baca, Engagement Director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, where she works to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities in the Washington, DC area
• Emily Hamilton, research fellow here at Mercatus where she focuses on urban economics and land-use policy
• Jennifer Huddleston Skees, research fellow at Mercatus, whose work covers the interactions between technology and the administrative state

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Questions, comments, episode ideas? Email Chad at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @ChadMReese.

Need beverage ideas to serve with Thanksgiving dinner? Check out today's What's on Tap beer from Bell's Brewery, Best Brown Ale.

Photo credit: Getty Images Europe