Ford Motor : Together, Let’s Take Back the Streets

By Jim Hackett, President and CEO, Ford Motor Company

Over the past century, the automobile turned out to be the ultimate disruptor to human's lives and our civic way of life.

In one of his earliest ads, Henry Ford declared that he wanted to open the highways for all humankind. That idea, in action, gave us extraordinary new freedom - to travel great distances and to get around town like never before. This system at its inception had great attraction. It spawned new industries, thousands of new companies, and drove generations of personal and economic growth.

Yet, over time, as our towns and cities were designed around the automobile, roads overtook the community centers. Where people once gathered in the streets and town squares, there are now highways and multi-lane roads. Perhaps worst of all, time we used to spend with each other is now often wasted in congestion and traffic. Thirty years ago, we spent an average of 16 hours in traffic per year. Now, we spend 38 hours. The price we paid for the freedom to move was the creation of a world where roads were built for cars.

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