Despite this unequivocal Constitutional provision, the promise of “life and liberty” unconstrained except by the “due course of law” is often merely legislative hyperbole for Texans without regular access to a car. As a consequence of the state’s current transportation planning priorities, decision-making processes, and investment of public funds, these citizens - primarily persons with disabilities, seniors, and low-income Texans - are often isolated and excluded from participating meaningfully in their communities. Constitutional protection notwithstanding, the democratic intent and lofty language of the state’s founders offers little comfort or tangible assistance to these citizens as they struggle to pick up groceries and prescriptions, access opportunities for economic advancement, education, training, medical or social services, and remain engaged in the life of their communities, churches, and families.

Lost in the reams of paper, that document the state’s ambitious “transportation” plan to meet the needs of drivers and the perennial pleas for additional dollars as congestion builds, is a key “truth: No one is simply a motorist or driver. Instead, everyone who is a motorist sometimes is also sometimes a pedestrian, or a parent, or a person who uses a wheelchair and simultaneously lives in a community. The negative impacts of the state’s transportation strategies are not restricted simply to those who cannot or do not drive. For those living in Texas communities where parents are unwilling to allow their children to walk to school or bicycle for fear of injury, where public transportation does not provide a viable network, thereby requiring the nearly inevitable investment in a second car, where the quality of the air comprises a formidable public health hazard, and where scarce “free time” is increasingly eaten by the time spent in the commute, public priority is being given to the traffic itself, not to protecting and improving the communities through which traffic moves. In short, for even the intended audience - the so-called “driving public”- transportation planning and investment are not yielding an appropriate rate of return or benefit, relative to its extraordinary cost.

Without a purposeful, strategic, and broad-based effort to change this system, Texans and the communities in which they live, work, and play will continue to struggle with access and mobility. Determined that the public’s money should be wisely invested in an integrated transportation system that meets the needs of all Texans, that minimizes the disproportionate burden of costs without reciprocal benefits, and which serves communities, not simply cars, Texas Citizen Fund is developing a Statewide Alliance of organizations and individuals to advocate for equitable transportation and therefore, pursue an agenda for change.