Testimony of Payton Chung, Smart Growth Committee Chair, Sierra Club DC Chapter
before the DC Council Committee on Transportation and Environment hearing on
Fiscal Year 2020 Budget for the DC Department of Transportation
April 11, 2019
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Department of Transportation’s fiscal year 2020 capital and operating budget, as recently proposed by the Mayor.
I offer these comments on behalf of the Sierra Club DC Chapter. The Sierra Club is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots environmental advocacy group. The DC chapter is its only entirely urban chapter, with 3,000 dues-paying members. The top priority of the Sierra Club is combating climate change, and we believe that it is imperative that the transportation sector be reinvented in order to forestall the disastrous consequences of global warming. That will require a rapid increase in the quality of public transportation, and specifically electrically-powered mass transit, along with a pivot to streets where walking and bicycling are easier and more pleasant than driving.
K Street Transitway & DC Streetcar
The Sierra Club believes funding for the K Street Transitway is vital to creating a usable surface transit network within the District. Even a 100 percent electric bus is not serving residents well if it is stuck in traffic. Thus, we commend the $122 million allocation to the K Street Transitway in the Mayor’s budget. Having two center lane busways on K Street will increase the speed and reliability of buses in downtown DC -- something DC relied upon when it had crosstown bus lanes in the 1970s. The K Street Transitway will require strong support from Council, especially given the Mayor’s aggressive timeline.
Still, we believe it would be more effective to install Streetcar tracks on the transitway when it is initially being built. A recent DDOT study showed that Streetcar could reduce trip times by 20-plus minutes across town on the transitway, due to greater capacity and higher reliability, and that it would be among the nation’s busiest light rail systems from day one. Laying Streetcar tracks on the transitway five or ten years down the road will cause greater disruption, take more time, and cost more money than completing the transitway with Streetcar tracks already in place.
On the topic of the Streetcar, we commend the Mayor for including $188 million to extend the H Street line to the Benning Road Metro station, construct a new storage and maintenance facility, and procure Streetcar vehicles for the extended line, as well as funding for the Hopscotch Bridge reconstruction. The DC Council has a long history of dramatically slashing Streetcar funding, and the resulting uncertainty around its future has been detrimental to its success. The Sierra Club asks that that mistake not be repeated.
Circulator Expansion & Electrification
The Sierra Club applauds the funding in the Mayor’s budget to purchase additional electric buses for the Circulator. The Sierra Club led the call for phasing out dirty diesel buses in the Circulator fleet, and we understand that DDOT plans not to purchase additional fossil fuel-burning buses. Electric buses have proven to be a highly valuable addition to the Circulator fleet. The Sierra Club would like to see all DC government fleet vehicles transition away from fossil fuels, to lead by example and move us toward achieving our climate commitments.
The Sierra Club also commends the $3.1 million in funding to continue free Circulator service, which should continue Circulator’s ridership gains. However, we would like to emphasize the importance of expanded Circulator service. Currently, Circulator service is centered around downtown DC, leaving many areas of DC without access to it. It is commendable that $13 million has been allocated to expand Circulator service to Ward 7, which currently has no Circulator lines. The Sierra Club urges the Council to approve this funding to expand Circulator farther into areas with little or no access to Circulator bus routes.
Clean Energy DC Act Implementation & Transportation Electrification
The Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act requires DDOT to establish a transportation electrification plan within 180 days of the law taking effect. In January, the Sierra Club wrote to Mayor Bowser calling for an open and transparent process for developing the plan. We renew that call today. DDOT should hold public hearings and listening sessions with frequent and meaningful feedback from the public and feedback from DDOT to stakeholders.
MoveDC
The Sierra Club notes that MoveDC, the District’s long term multi-modal transportation plan is due for an update. We supported MoveDC because it centered on carbon reduction targets, and we urge DDOT to use the same approach with its new plan -- only reflecting the District’s new net-zero carbon aspirations. In addition, we would like to see progress made on de-congestion pricing. It would be a good idea to tie decongestion to low-emission vehicles, thus incentivizing both less polluting vehicles and less driving overall.
Affording Housing & Infill Development
The Sierra Club also supports the Mayor’s proposed budget funding of $103 million for affordable housing initiatives. It is vital to build in areas where people already live and work, instead of at the fringes of the region. Building in less dense areas results in greater emissions due to increased transportation distances and increased infrastructure costs for maintenance of greater and greater areas of development. Sprawl also destroys natural habitats for wildlife and carbon sequestration.
Another promising part of the Mayor’s budget is the $8.3 million allocated for the Great Streets and Neighborhood Prosperity Fund. This funding will incentivize mixed-use development in high-employment areas. This reduces sprawl and transportation emissions.
Another of the Mayor’s initiatives that the Sierra Club commends is the Open Streets initiative. This initiative has long existed in other cities such as New York and Los Angeles. Even a temporary dedication of streets to biking and walking will show residents what the District has to offer to its people, not to its cars.
Bicycle Safety
We echo the call from our friends at the Washington Area Bicyclist Association to increase funding for the implementation of Complete Streets projects, notably protected bike lanes, and to immediately implement its promised Complete Streets policy. Such a policy will ensure that the hundreds of millions of dollars DC is about to spend on major street reconstruction projects do not result in pedestrians and cyclists dying. In June 2017, I witnessed the crash on 18th St NW in Adams Morgan which left MPD officer Alen Bukvic critically injured, and it still maddens me that that street, which had been rebuilt at great public expense just a few years earlier, is still not a place where its many pedestrians and cyclists can feel safe from speeding cars.
Conclusion
The Sierra Club believes Mayor Bowser’s FY2020 budget includes essential funding for needed transportation capital projects, affordable housing, and other necessary improvements for the future of the District of Columbia. And we look forward to seeing a robust transportation electrification program, as required under the Clean Energy DC Omnibus Act.