Our primary comments are contained in the joint letter with over 30 other organizations from
across TPB’s region.
Category: Regional and Federal
LETTER: May 2022 Visualize 2045 Sign-On
Yet the TPB board members made no substantive changes, and the
RELEASE: Statement by CSG Executive Director Stewart Schwartz on Gas Prices and Suspension of the Gas Tax
Better, lasting solutions are needed including more sustainable community designs to end our oil dependency
Comments re: NVTAuthority Annual Organizational Meeting
I’ll begin with expressing deep appreciation for your public service and the service of all staff. I join others in praising your Gateway dashboard. We also appreciate the support some jurisdictions have given to dedicated bike/ped and transit investments.
TESTIMONY re: TPB Climate and Transportation Study Findings
The findings from your climate and transportation study are clear: The region can achieve necessary levels of greenhouse gas reductions under its adopted 2030 climate plan, We cannot depend solely on electric vehicle adoption and a cleaner grid, the region must reduce per capita vehicle miles traveled by 15 to 20% by 2030.
TPB’s 2021 Voices of the Region Survey – Highlights
- Scientific survey of over 2,400 regional residents conducted by TPB that was representative of urban, inner suburban and outer suburban jurisdictions.
- Shows that the region’s residents generally demand more walkable, bikeable and transit-friendly communities and climate action, and prioritize this much more than expanding roads and parking
- Climate Action
- 84% of the region’s residents want elected officials to consider the impacts of climate change when planning transportation.
- For residents under 30 years of age, those most impacted by our long-range planning decisions and by climate change, that percentage rises to 92%.
- Overwhelming majorities of suburban as well as urban residents across the region’s jurisdictions agreed.
- Even in outer suburban jurisdictions, between 72 and 78% of residents wanted climate change considered in transportation planning.
- These percentages are much higher than those expressing congestion to be a significant concern that impacts their lives a lot (44%).
- Support for expanded pedestrian zones, bike lanes, and bus lanes
- Three quarters of survey respondents said they support post-pandemic use of street space for expanded pedestrian access and restaurant seating.
- Strong majorities also support bike lanes (63%) and bus lanes (71%), and a narrow majority (54%) support dedicated bus lanes even in situations that involve removal of on-street parking.
- It’s not only city residents who want dedicated bus lanes, either: the majority of survey respondents live in suburban areas, with a plurality from outer suburbs.
- “What transportation investments should we make today that future generations will thank us for tomorrow?” – only a small minority (134 out of 637) called for more or wider roads:
- 259 responses called for improving transit, walking and biking
- 172 responses called for clean transportation investments
- 134 responses called for more roads and more/wider car lanes
- 72 responses called for improving the condition of existing bridges and roads
- Dissatisfaction with region’s transportation system is by far the highest in the car-dependent outer suburbs
MetroNow Statement on Blue Line Derailment and Ongoing Service Disruptions
Washington, DC — The MetroNow Coalition—comprised of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, Federal City Council, Greater Washington Board of Trade, Greater Washington Partnership, Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce, the 2030 Group, and Tysons Partnership—today released the following statement on the ongoing WMATA Metrorail service disruptions.
MetroNow Dispatch (October 2021)
View the dispatch here.
RELEASE: COG’s Initiative for Equity, Smart Growth, Climate
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
September 23, 2021
Contact:
Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director, 703-599-6437
Cheryl Cort, Policy Director, 202-251-7516
CSG Applauds COG’s Initiative for Equity, Smart Growth, Climate
COG Proposal to Focus Development around DC Region’s High-Capacity Transit Stations Vote Scheduled for October 13
Today, the Washington Post reported that the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, composed of the region’s local elected officials, some state legislators, and state and federal representatives, are on the verge of agreeing to focus development around the DC region’s high-capacity transit stations. These include Metrorail, Purple Line, VRE and MARC commuter rail, and bus rapid transit stations. At the same time, COG intends to prioritize transportation, housing, trails, and other investments around stations within equity emphasis areas, which have high concentrations of lower income residents and high numbers of Black, Latino, or Asian residents.
COG also announced preliminary findings that show a combination of smart growth, electric vehicles, and pricing tools will be necessary for the region to slash its greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. Focused growth in transit communities is an essential part of this strategy.
“We applaud COG’s proposal which is to be voted on at their October 13 meeting,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “COG’s action is the natural outgrowth of the work and long-time advocacy by our organization and COG’s own studies and vision statements over the past two decades. But now this agreement must be followed by action.”
Founders of the Coalition for Smarter Growth first proposed a “network of livable communities” centered on the region’s transit hubs in reports released in 1992 and 1996, and in CSG’s 2002 Blueprint for a Better Region. It was a vision largely endorsed by the Urban Land Institute’s “Reality Check” conference in 2005, COG’s Region Forward vision of 2010, COG’s follow-on studies and plans, and by many local elected officials who have been approving transit-oriented developments.
“Anyone frustrated by sitting in traffic, or concerned about the growing evidence of climate change including frequent floods in the DC region, should support this COG initiative. Mixed use, mixed-income, walkable, transit-centered communities mean many more people will be able to drive less and reduce the air and climate pollution they generate,” said Schwartz.
“The region’s east-west economic and racial divide, first highlighted in the 1999 Brookings report ‘A Region Divided,” has persisted for too long. Accelerating investment in transit communities in Prince George’s, eastern Montgomery, and eastern Fairfax and Prince William would shorten commutes, reduce vehicle miles traveled, and improve access to jobs and opportunity,” said Cheryl Cort, Policy Director for CSG. “In fact, building out transit-oriented communities on the east side of our region and investing in affordable housing near transit throughout our region are key transportation and climate solutions.”
“But there was also sobering news from the meeting of COG’s Transportation Planning Board (TPB) yesterday,” said Schwartz. “Early findings from their climate scenario study confirm that neither the rate of adoption of electric vehicles, nor land use changes, will be enough to slash our greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently by 2030. We’ll need to move on a number of fronts – much faster adoption of electric vehicles, much stronger action to focus growth and reduce sprawl in order to reduce vehicle trips and vehicle miles traveled, increase telecommuting, and use pricing (congestion pricing or vehicle miles traveled fees, and parking pricing), if our region is going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to do our part to address the climate emergency.”
“Electric vehicles alone can’t save us. We must stop sprawling outward where people have no option but driving, and create inclusive, walkable, transit-centered communities, in order to slash our greenhouse gas emissions. In the process, we will increase access to opportunity and address regional inequity, while improving quality of life for everyone,” concluded Cort.
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RELEASE: Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill
PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
May 12, 2020
Contact:
Stewart Schwartz
703-599-6437 (cell)
CSG Released the Following Statement from Executive Director Stewart Schwartz
Senators Warner, Kaine, Cardin, Van Hollen Can Fix the Infrastructure Bill
“The bipartisan infrastructure bill would pour record amounts of money into transportation. But there are critical flaws which should be addressed. Fortunately, Senator Kaine and Senator Cardin are two of the Senators proposing critically needed amendments to ensure that the bill achieves our nation’s goal of fixing existing crumbling infrastructure, sets firm goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, and funds the reconnection of city neighborhoods torn apart by highways in the 1950s through 1970s.
We strongly support Senator Kaine’s “fix-it-first” amendment for highways and roads. The infrastructure bill has been sold to the public because of crumbling roads and bridges. While the bill does require aging bridges to be prioritized, and imposes strict fix-first requirements on transit, there is no similar requirement for roads. Senator Kaine’s amendment 2373 would address this and we applaud VDOT for supporting this.
We also strongly support Senator Cardin’s amendment 2465 to require states to set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. Transportation is the number one source of U.S. and DC regional emissions. Addressing this will take more than electric vehicles — it will also require reducing vehicle miles traveled through walkable, transit-oriented communities, transit, telecommuting and other demand reduction tools.
We also support Senator Klobuchar’s amendment 2301 to require states to reduce deaths on our roads, and Senator Warnock’s 2167 to invest more money into reconnecting and restoring city neighborhoods torn apart by highways, like those in DC, Baltimore, and Richmond.
While the package provides record amounts to intercity rail — an implicit endorsement of Virginia’s success with passenger rail, we are very concerned that the bill allocates less than 20% of the combined package to the transit upon which so much of our workforce depends. The transit share should be increased by at least $10 billion.
These are critically needed amendments if our nation and our region are going to truly fix its aging infrastructure, fight climate change, and create more sustainable communities.”
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