European Union: Transport

http://europa.eu/pol/trans/index_en.htm
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/transport/intermodality_transeuropean_networks/index_en.htm
Summary: ...to be cont'd.

Prof/Tom's comments;

If you go to the first link above, and go to the tab for "more info" you will find the 2011 White Paper report from the EU at http://ec.europa.eu/transport/strategies/2011_white_paper_en.htm 
In 2001, the EU issued a White Paper that set out its goals for alternative transportation for the next ten years.  In 2006 there was an interim report on the progress and, now, there is the new report which gives the EUs goals to 2050.

Since the EU is the premier location for a coherent, progressive policy to go to alternative transportation, I think it would be very useful to study this history.  They have spent 100's of billions of Euros on this effort.
What was the basic analysis, the basic plan, the implementation of the plan ...Why has it or hasn't it succeeded?  What is their plan for the next period?

I think you could learn a great deal from studying this experience and these plans in some detail.  Then, you might think about what a similar level of committment would look like for the U.S. .... how close or far are we from anything similar?   Tom O'D.