The GREEN Streets Act requires states and local transportation planners to prioritize reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fighting climate change when they plan and build roads and transit systems. Right now, transportation planning focuses mainly on moving cars efficiently, but this bill adds new requirements to consider environmental impact and sustainability.

Here's what changes: When states and cities plan major road projects—especially ones that add new lanes for cars or cost $25 million or more in federal funding—they must first analyze whether the project actually reduces emissions and gets people out of single-occupancy vehicles. They need to show the project is better than alternatives like improving public transit, building bike lanes, or making operational improvements to existing roads. The bill also requires analysis of how projects affect low-income communities and communities of color, which often bear the brunt of pollution from highways.

The bill creates new performance standards for public transit access, including how close people live to bus or train stops, how many jobs and services are reachable by transit in 45 minutes, and what percentage of trips people take on public transportation. States that fail to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets must dedicate a significant portion of their federal road funding—starting at 33 percent—toward projects that reduce emissions, like transit expansion, bike infrastructure, and land-use changes that reduce driving. This percentage increases each year a state misses its targets, creating financial pressure to meet climate goals.

Essentially, the bill shifts transportation funding and planning away from simply building more roads for cars and toward a system that prioritizes climate action, cleaner air in disadvantaged communities, and alternatives to driving.