by Ron McLinden - Jan-Feb-2001
Ozark Chapter Transportation Chair
MoDOT’s projected $30 billion funding shortfall for transportation over the next 20 years is still a preliminary estimate. Chances are the number will go up before they finalize their new long–range plan sometime in the spring.
Whatever the final estimate, we citizens of Missouri must not take it simply as a fund–raising target to be met. It is simply a reasonable estimate of what state outlays for transportation will have to be — IF we keep doing things the way we’ve done them in the past. We should take that estimate as a $30 billion incentive to do transportation differently.
If we take the $30 billion literally, we’ll need a general sales tax increase of 3 cents per dollar, or a gas tax increase of 40–50 cents per gallon. I don’t think Missourians are ready to swallow either one of those options.
We should expect that taxes for transportation WILL be raised. But while those details are being worked out, we must also insist that state and local policies that contribute to traffic growth be examined. As we raise revenue, we must also get serious about slowing or reversing the growth of our need for transportation.
Smart growth — growth management policies implemented by counties and municipalities — is one way. Some real estate developers will wince at that, characterizing it as heavy–handed government intrusion in the workings of the free market. It is nothing of the sort. It is simply a conscious effort on the part of government to make sure the public gets full value out of the streets and sewers and other public and private infrastructure that is already in place. And besides, what with things like tax breaks for mortgage interest, and new state–financed roads and tax subsidies for exurban projects like the MasterCard processing center in prosperous St. Charles County, the market is anything but free.
Up until now we could depend on MoDOT to try to build enough road capacity for all the traffic that anybody — private developer or local municipality — wanted to load onto the state road system. MoDOT can’t afford that any more. We citizens can’t afford that kind of extravagance any more. We should face up to that reality, and treat it as an opportunity to do more with what we already have.
You who read this newsletter are already among the best–informed citizens of the state on transportation matters. You understand the economic, social, and environmental costs of past reliance on road–building while transit and cycling and even walking go into freefall. You are “in the driver’s seat” to help initiate and continue a soul–searching public dialogue on the place of transportation in our society. How much transportation is enough? A lot less than most people think. What transportation choices do we need? A lot more than we currently have.
So what can you do? Here’s a preliminary list.
Attend public meetings on transportation issues and speak up for more transit, more sidewalks, more bike routes, and fewer road widenings.
Speak up for smart growth. Ask for the things that smart growth brings — lower taxes for roads and sewers and services, a more efficient economy, a higher quality of community life, and a less stressed–out natural environment.
Speak out through letters to the editor, email discussion forums, and radio call–in programs.
Use public transit if you can, and advocate transit for others if you cannot. If you live in a city whose transit system has monthly passes, ask your employer to pay all or part of the cost of a transit pass for you and your fellow employees.
Carpool, bike or walk to work if you can. And whether you can or not, if your employer provides free parking, ask that they give cash in lieu of free parking to employees who don’t use a parking space.
Choose where you shop based on whether it is pedestrian friendly. Maybe YOU have to drive to get there, but if other people can get there on foot, that business deserves to thrive and not be driven out of business by businesses that require their customers to drive.
Speak up for sidewalks. And speak up for crosswalk markings and pedestrian signals.
Check out new housing developments — whether you are in the market or not — and ask realtors if there are any destinations you could walk to from their hot properties.
Just say “no” to congestion. If you get caught in congestion, you are part of the problem. Plan another place or another route or another time of day to go.
As you get the chance, make changes in your own life to reduce the amount of transportation you consume. Change your trip–making patterns, and change your consumption patterns to favor products that are produced closer to home.
Tune up the old bike and use it once in a while — for trips that begin at your own front door instead of at a trailhead that you have to drive to.
Pretty radical? Not at all. Pretty pragmatic, actually. Remember — we’ve got a $30 billion incentive.