T.A.'s new documentary film, Contested Streets: Breaking NYC Gridlock has now been viewed by thousands of New Yorkers and hundreds of the city's elected officials and policy makers. One of the reasons why Contested Streets is such a hit is that the film features striking footage of Copenhagen, London and Paris streets that have been wholly transformed to favor bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit riders.

More difficult to capture on film, however, is the basic transportation policy shift that preceded these transformations.

Before bus corridors, bike paths and pedestrian streets became a reality, these cities and others made a sea change in how they defined the transportation problem. The fundamental problem, they realized, was not that traffic moved to slowly, but that too many people were driving. The solution to this newly conceptualized problem is not to better accommodate vehicle flow, but to facilitate better people flow by switching car trips to walking, biking and transit trips.

Once the traffic problem was redefined and put into the context of a comprehensive traffic reduction plan, then controversial solutions like congestion pricing, parking reform and pro-pedestrian street makeovers--while still controversial--became more logical to politicians and voters alike.