http://www.betterroads.com/highway-expansion-and-local-traffic-oil-and-water/
By John Latta, no date
A snapshot of the I-5 Columbia River Crossing toll booths, taken in
March 1965, shows the surrounding community, including pre-eruption
Mount St. Helens.
A
snapshot of the I-5 Columbia River Crossing toll booths, taken in March
1965, shows the surrounding community, including pre-eruption Mount St.
Helens. - See more at:
http://www.betterroads.com/highway-expansion-and-local-traffic-oil-and-water/#sthash.bupzXKWF.dpuf
The highway, that venerable American institution–that core
value, that industry and community building institution–is under assault
again.
Better Institutions,
a blog about transportation and urban planning policy, joins a chorus
of blogs addressing what it calls, “The self-defeating nature of highway
construction and expansion,” and specifically, “Lost in the discussions
of induced demand (focused on the highway itself) and community
displacement and segregation (focused on local residents and businesses)
is the intersection of these two issues, local traffic.”
“The problem here is obvious:
unless 100% of the new highway users are bypass traffic — none of them
using the highway to get into the city itself –local roads have to deal
with a huge influx of additional vehicles. Many of those vehicles aren’t
bypass traffic, of course, so local streets (and their residents) are
burdened with their presence and the congestion they bring.”
“This illustrates two important
facts: first, that increasing capacity doesn’t actually improve the
traffic situation on the highway; second, that it makes local traffic
worse.”
The problem to begin with is a need to move more people.
Highway expansion is one way to do it. More capacity carries more
people. Yes, that is a basic and simple approach because–as this blogger
and others point out–more lane miles have consequential effects in the
communities they pass through and draw from. But those consequences can
be of great value to communities.
There is an increasingly loud clamor that all freeway
expansion is a bad thing. The public hears it because the web delivers
it so efficiently. Much of it comes from anonymous or unqualified
voices, but much of it comes from people interested, involved,
recognized and listened to in their communities. (The blogger in this
case is Shane Phillips, is a research scientist.)
That is troubling because if “down with highways” becomes
some sort of common wisdom, road building is going to have an even
tougher time finding funding. And if that happens, road and bridge
maintenance and repair will be equally short of funds and deterioration,
already so well under way, will increase at a faster pace. Actually,
since we are at that point now, I should probably say it will just get worse.
Some road expansion projects will not be the best solution,
but unless we are careful, the public perception of added capacity may
become so negative that the result will be that almost no expansion
projects–even those that are clearly the superior solution–will get
political backing.
You will have recognized by now that I am atop one of my
favorite soapboxes. There is an oversupply of online sites dedicated to
“transportation solutions” that essentially oppose all road expansion
projects. I’m all for bikes and pedestrians and tranquil, safe walking
neighborhoods and inner cities, but this is not a zero-sum game unless
we let it be. We need (spoiler alert: popular buzzword coming) a matrix
of transportation solutions to best serve the public.
Make sure your politicians and local journalists get your
take on this debate. Neither politicians nor journalists are known for
being fair and balanced anymore unless there’s something in it for them.
Make sure they have your take, one that counters constructive argument
with constructive argument.
Our industry does not simply stand on the past or dismiss
changes in the way Americans live and what they value. We build–over
time because these projects are not short-term–to serve the communities
of today and tomorrow with today and tomorrow’s roadways. And we need to
get that idea across.
Oh, and note in the aforementioned blog that there is a very old photo which elicited this comment:
“I don’t know which is more jarring to the modern observer:
Seeing Mount St. Helens, pre-1980 eruption, or seeing a toll plaza on
I-5 …
”
Toll plazas on an Interstate?
The
highway, that venerable American institution–that core value, that
industry and community building institution–is under assault again.
Better Institutions,
a blog about transportation and urban planning policy, joins a chorus
of blogs addressing what it calls, “The self-defeating nature of highway
construction and expansion,” and specifically, “Lost in the discussions
of induced demand (focused on the highway itself) and community
displacement and segregation (focused on local residents and businesses)
is the intersection of these two issues, local traffic.”
“The problem here is obvious:
unless 100% of the new highway users are bypass traffic — none of them
using the highway to get into the city itself –local roads have to deal
with a huge influx of additional vehicles. Many of those vehicles aren’t
bypass traffic, of course, so local streets (and their residents) are
burdened with their presence and the congestion they bring.”
“This illustrates two important
facts: first, that increasing capacity doesn’t actually improve the
traffic situation on the highway; second, that it makes local traffic
worse.”
The problem to begin with is a need to move more people.
Highway expansion is one way to do it. More capacity carries more
people. Yes, that is a basic and simple approach because–as this blogger
and others point out–more lane miles have consequential effects in the
communities they pass through and draw from. But those consequences can
be of great value to communities.
There is an increasingly loud clamor that all freeway
expansion is a bad thing. The public hears it because the web delivers
it so efficiently. Much of it comes from anonymous or unqualified
voices, but much of it comes from people interested, involved,
recognized and listened to in their communities. (The blogger in this
case is Shane Phillips, is a research scientist.)
That is troubling because if “down with highways” becomes
some sort of common wisdom, road building is going to have an even
tougher time finding funding. And if that happens, road and bridge
maintenance and repair will be equally short of funds and deterioration,
already so well under way, will increase at a faster pace. Actually,
since we are at that point now, I should probably say it will just get worse.
Some road expansion projects will not be the best solution,
but unless we are careful, the public perception of added capacity may
become so negative that the result will be that almost no expansion
projects–even those that are clearly the superior solution–will get
political backing.
You will have recognized by now that I am atop one of my
favorite soapboxes. There is an oversupply of online sites dedicated to
“transportation solutions” that essentially oppose all road expansion
projects. I’m all for bikes and pedestrians and tranquil, safe walking
neighborhoods and inner cities, but this is not a zero-sum game unless
we let it be. We need (spoiler alert: popular buzzword coming) a matrix
of transportation solutions to best serve the public.
Make sure your politicians and local journalists get your
take on this debate. Neither politicians nor journalists are known for
being fair and balanced anymore unless there’s something in it for them.
Make sure they have your take, one that counters constructive argument
with constructive argument.
Our industry does not simply stand on the past or dismiss
changes in the way Americans live and what they value. We build–over
time because these projects are not short-term–to serve the communities
of today and tomorrow with today and tomorrow’s roadways. And we need to
get that idea across.
Oh, and note in the aforementioned blog that there is a very old photo which elicited this comment:
“I don’t know which is more jarring to the modern observer:
Seeing Mount St. Helens, pre-1980 eruption, or seeing a toll plaza on
I-5 …”
Toll plazas on an Interstate?
- See more at: http://www.betterroads.com/highway-expansion-and-local-traffic-oil-and-water/#sthash.bupzXKWF.dpuf
The
highway, that venerable American institution–that core value, that
industry and community building institution–is under assault again.
Better Institutions,
a blog about transportation and urban planning policy, joins a chorus
of blogs addressing what it calls, “The self-defeating nature of highway
construction and expansion,” and specifically, “Lost in the discussions
of induced demand (focused on the highway itself) and community
displacement and segregation (focused on local residents and businesses)
is the intersection of these two issues, local traffic.”
“The problem here is obvious:
unless 100% of the new highway users are bypass traffic — none of them
using the highway to get into the city itself –local roads have to deal
with a huge influx of additional vehicles. Many of those vehicles aren’t
bypass traffic, of course, so local streets (and their residents) are
burdened with their presence and the congestion they bring.”
“This illustrates two important
facts: first, that increasing capacity doesn’t actually improve the
traffic situation on the highway; second, that it makes local traffic
worse.”
The problem to begin with is a need to move more people.
Highway expansion is one way to do it. More capacity carries more
people. Yes, that is a basic and simple approach because–as this blogger
and others point out–more lane miles have consequential effects in the
communities they pass through and draw from. But those consequences can
be of great value to communities.
There is an increasingly loud clamor that all freeway
expansion is a bad thing. The public hears it because the web delivers
it so efficiently. Much of it comes from anonymous or unqualified
voices, but much of it comes from people interested, involved,
recognized and listened to in their communities. (The blogger in this
case is Shane Phillips, is a research scientist.)
That is troubling because if “down with highways” becomes
some sort of common wisdom, road building is going to have an even
tougher time finding funding. And if that happens, road and bridge
maintenance and repair will be equally short of funds and deterioration,
already so well under way, will increase at a faster pace. Actually,
since we are at that point now, I should probably say it will just get worse.
Some road expansion projects will not be the best solution,
but unless we are careful, the public perception of added capacity may
become so negative that the result will be that almost no expansion
projects–even those that are clearly the superior solution–will get
political backing.
You will have recognized by now that I am atop one of my
favorite soapboxes. There is an oversupply of online sites dedicated to
“transportation solutions” that essentially oppose all road expansion
projects. I’m all for bikes and pedestrians and tranquil, safe walking
neighborhoods and inner cities, but this is not a zero-sum game unless
we let it be. We need (spoiler alert: popular buzzword coming) a matrix
of transportation solutions to best serve the public.
Make sure your politicians and local journalists get your
take on this debate. Neither politicians nor journalists are known for
being fair and balanced anymore unless there’s something in it for them.
Make sure they have your take, one that counters constructive argument
with constructive argument.
Our industry does not simply stand on the past or dismiss
changes in the way Americans live and what they value. We build–over
time because these projects are not short-term–to serve the communities
of today and tomorrow with today and tomorrow’s roadways. And we need to
get that idea across.
Oh, and note in the aforementioned blog that there is a very old photo which elicited this comment:
“I don’t know which is more jarring to the modern observer:
Seeing Mount St. Helens, pre-1980 eruption, or seeing a toll plaza on
I-5 …”
Toll plazas on an Interstate?
- See more at: http://www.betterroads.com/highway-expansion-and-local-traffic-oil-and-water/#sthash.bupzXKWF.dpuf