Yes infrastructure changes are all about driving less. Traffic calming, dedicated bus and rail ROW, higher FARs for denser environments, raised crosswalks, dedicated bike ROW, etc. Unless you know a better way to get Americans to start driving less then infrastructure, zoning, and traffic calming is all we know. It's what worked in Europe and Asia at least.
The current American built environment designs for and around the car in almost every way. Low-income Americans that can afford cars will choose a car over any other mode in most American cities because of this. Changing that is hard work and there's an increasing number of advocates for these changes, but auto companies can churn out cars faster than these laws and the subsequent construction can finish. In the meantime, I encourage you to get involved in your local city planning meetings and advocate for infrastructure to decrease VMT. It's all we can do.
Not at all. The US creates its built environment for cars and only cars. The MUTCD which standardizes a lot of traffic engineering in the US actually requires a traffic study to slow traffic down in any way, so adding any signs, lights, or speed bumps must need a traffic study. There are no guidelines in the MUTCD to design sidewalks or bike paths, which is why parts of the US have no sidewalks. Roads measure capacity in volumes of motor vehicles and not pedestrians, cyclists, or any other mode. Recently a set of standards in the US named NACTO are trying to change this and imagine a street as a modeshared ROW, but only a handful of Americans cities are using NACTO.
This is a stark contrast from how street design works in lots of Europe and some of Asia. Very little about our built environment is decided by individual choice. Almost all road and lot widths are set by regulations which mandate car-scaled widths.
The current American built environment designs for and around the car in almost every way. Low-income Americans that can afford cars will choose a car over any other mode in most American cities because of this. Changing that is hard work and there's an increasing number of advocates for these changes, but auto companies can churn out cars faster than these laws and the subsequent construction can finish. In the meantime, I encourage you to get involved in your local city planning meetings and advocate for infrastructure to decrease VMT. It's all we can do.