Transportation and environmental sustainability go hand in hand. With policies to decrease traffic and streamline transportation, we can and must address the climate crisis.

The federal government plays a vital role in supporting the Metro system and sustainable transportation options in the Washington, DC area. Metro is key to many Virginians’ commutes each morning: four in every ten riders are federal workers. I have worked hard to secure funding for WMATA to keep Metro stations open and trains running. The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which I strongly supported, secured ten years of funding with additional oversight requirements to ensure the service and reliability of this vital artery for years to come.

I have also made it a priority to boost other sustainable transportation options, including bus rapid transit along the Route 1 corridor, HOT lanes, and car-sharing, as well as increases and improvements in bike infrastructure.

During my time in Congress, I have helped secure major investments in surface transportation infrastructure. That includes helping win the funding that renovated Arlington Memorial Bridge, which had been in danger of total closure because of serious structural problems. I have successfully pushed for safety improvements with community input for the southern portion of George Washington Memorial Parkway and a major project to renovate GWP’s northern stretch, which currently has numerous potholes and other structural deficiencies. I also sponsored bipartisan legislation which passed into law, that secured resources necessary for the construction of a new rail bridge across the Potomac, the Long Bridge Project, which recently began construction.

I have also long been vocal about the need to improve aircraft safety in local airports, both before and after the loss of American Airlines Flight 5342. Immediately after the crash, I led the effort that urged the Administration to adopt the National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary recommendations, which it has done. I continue to push the FAA to review the total flight volume at DCA, to determine if capacity levels are being pushed too far, which the FAA has agreed to. I continue to seek improvements that reduce congestion and noise while making the skies above our region safer. For example, I also successfully passed my Cleaner, Quieter Airplanes Act to support research, demonstration, and standards adoption for alternatives to fossil-based jet fuel, more environmentally and economically efficient aircraft, and improvements to address noise pollution.