President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan has ignited a long overdue national conversation about how to modernize the nation’s roads, public transit, bridges, airports, and ports. It’s also spawned a host of Pavlovian critics, who are using cherry-picked facts to advance the misguided notion that the U.S. transportation network is just fine and doesn’t need federal intervention.

The facts show otherwise. The overall performance of America’s transportation system, by three distinct, data-driven measurements, is declining.