Another Voice Congestion isn't only issue in transport plans
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Congestion isn't only issue in transport plans Sacramento Business Journal - April 14, 2006by Walt Seifert
Access and mobility Air quality Travel choices Economic vitality Equity
Transportation and land use Funding and revenue Health and safety Environmental sustainability We need to be concerned about all these goals, not worry about mobility in isolation. If we have congestion-free but unsafe roads in an unlivable community and still have some of the dirtiest air in the country, that will not be good for anyone. Mahood suggests that while we may not be driving gasoline-powered cars in the future, we still all will be driving cars and big rigs will be hauling our goods. Others see a different future, in which global warming and scarce energy resources change how we travel and how we move freight. With blinders on, the chamber proposes building a transportation system based on your father's Oldsmobile and cheap energy -- a system in which community concerns bow to the primacy of short-sighted, unsustainable economic interests. Nods are given to transit and smart land-use choices; that's all to the good and essential. (I note with chagrin that bicycling is not mentioned as a transportation choice, despite the fact that SACOG projects more than four times as many people will be walking and biking than riding buses and light rail.) There never is enough money for transportation, so we have to set priorities. Calling for more roads and transit avoids hard choices and is unrealistic. There is no example where continued roadway expansion has solved transportation problems. Witness Los Angeles, Atlanta and Houston. There are plenty of examples where vibrant, livable, successful cities tolerate some congestion and thrive economically. Walt Seifert is executive director of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, and was a member of the SACOG Transportation Roundtable that developed MTP goals. He can be reached at saba@sacbike.org. Directory: News News -> Nonprofit grant application News -> Bulletin 4 Monday July 8, 2002 Backgammon News -> Last year four of the best Afrikaans Christian singers joined forces to tour Down Under with the production ‘Manne wat Glo’ News -> Management and Marketing News -> World Computer-Chess Championship News -> World Computer-Chess Championship News -> World Computer-Chess Championship Download 5.11 Kb. Share with your friends:
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