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Over the next decade, the decisions Colorado and other states make about the number of new roads to be built could have significant consequences on America’s ability to combat climate change. Transport is the country’s largest source of greenhouse gases, producing 29 percent of emissions, and cleaning it up has been stubbornly difficult.

new $1 trillion infrastructure law It invests billions of dollars in climate-friendly programs such as electric vehicle chargers and public transportation. But it also gives states $273 billion over five years for highways, subject to a number of conditions. A Analysis from the Georgetown Climate Center substantial amount of this money. increase emissions if states continue to add highway lanes.

Even states with ambitious climate goals already Washington, Illinois and Nevada We hope to use federal funds to expand roads, such as adding lanes to a congested section of Eisenhower Highway near Chicago. In 2019, states spent a third of their highway dollars on new road capacity, roughly $19.3 billionthe rest was spent on repairs.

“This is a big blind spot for politicians who say they care about climate change,” said Kevin DeGood, director of infrastructure policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. “Everyone understands that oil pipelines are carbon infrastructure. But new highways are also carbon infrastructure. Both lock 40 to 50 years of emissions in place.”

The fundamental problem, environmentalists say, is a phenomenon known asalerted traffic demand“When states build new roads or add lanes to congested highways, more cars pop up to fill the available space rather than reduce traffic.

Triggered demand explains why there was congestion when Texas expanded Houston’s Katy Highway to 20 lanes in 2011 at a cost of $2.8 billion. returned to previous levels In a few years.

“It’s not always intuitive to humans, but the economic logic is pretty simple: If you make it easier to drive, people will do more,” said Susan Handy, a transportation expert at the University of California, Davis. helped develop a calculator shows how highway expansions can increase emissions in different cities.