By Clare Secrist

WSHU Public Radio

A new Yale University survey found that 67% of U.S. voters support the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI) to jumpstart the economy.

TCI is a collaboration between states that looks to reduce carbon emissions from the transportation sector.

Anthony Leiserowitz is the director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. He said voters want their states to join the TCI to modernize transportation, reduce climate change and expand the use of electric vehicles.

“I think that's one of the unique things of the TCI initiative is that it's not just an individual state or an individual project, it's multiple intersecting, multiple pronged approach being done at a scale that can be effective given these overlapping systems of transportation and energy,” Leiserowitz said.

Almost three quarters of voters say that if the federal government doesn’t reduce pollution, their state government should.

The poll was conducted after the national election and included more than 3,800 voters in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region, with several hundred in Connecticut.

Lauren Bailey is the director of climate policy at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, which advocates for TCI policies.

“They want our state leaders to do what they must to get away from this air pollution from our transportation sector. They see the need to eliminate dangers from cars and trucks to prevent illnesses and deaths this pollution causes including complications from COVID-19,” Bailey said.

Bailey also said the tri-state region must do everything possible to preempt pandemic-related financial constraints that will impede states’ ability to improve over the next decade.