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Category: Resources
CSG Testimony Re: Virginia 6 Year Plan
May 4, 2021
Testimony re Virginia 6-Year Plan 2022 – 2027
For this evening I will focus on the big picture. We will submit more detailed comments by the deadline.
First, thank you for your leadership in supporting transit in Virginia including funding reduced fare and free fare initiatives for bus service. Transit is now receiving more funding than it has in the past, however we believe it should receive far more – as much as 50% of future state transportation funding in order to support economic opportunity and equity, more efficient land use and state competitiveness, and fight climate change.
Second, thank you for your great leadership on Virginia intercity rail. Your analysis showed that adding another lane the length of I-95 would be both costly and a failure due to induced demand. Since our Reconnecting Virginia project in 2005, we’ve shown that intercity rail, transit, and transit-oriented development in the state’s urban crescent should be a top priority. Third, thank you for adoption and implementation of SmartScale which in general is resulting in more effective projects and spending.
However, we urge you to do more, in light of the existential threat of climate change. Virginia will be heavily impacted by sea level rise and we must limit that rise if we are going to save our coastal communities including Hampton Roads and the Naval facilities. In addition, we will be faced with more flooding events, washed out roads and transit facilities, as well as longer droughts and significant heat events.
This means you must scale back the extensive road expansion in state plans. New and wider roads in metro areas fill up in as few as five years and they fuel more auto-dependent development, more vehicle miles traveled, and more greenhouse gas emissions. “Congestion relief” is not possible. The science shows electrical vehicles will not be enough. We need to reduce VMT by at least 20% statewide, and because rural residents have fewer options and must drive more miles, our metro areas need to reduce VMT even more. We know how to do this – by focusing development in our cities and towns, and creating transit-oriented communities (TOCs) in our suburbs. This must be combined with focusing our transportation $ on transit, on local street networks for TOCs and on bike/walk investments. It also means pricing solutions like parking pricing, and employer transit benefits, and zero transit fares.
As usual, we strongly disagree with the Northern VA Transportation Alliance whose focus on the failed metric congestion reduction has done great damage to planning in NOVA.
Our suburban elected officials must recognize that the auto-dependent land use approvals that they are granting and the efforts to widen so many roads (even if they have bike/ped paths) creates more traffic and less than ideal experiences for pedestrians and cyclists.
For today, I will just mention two items of concern:
495Next – we and our partners urge you to delay action because VA and Md have not studied a TOC/transit/demand management alternative. The P3 process continues to override fair and objective alternatives analysis. As it is, the proposal to date has far too little funding for transit, and extends the provision limiting transit and HOV to 24% of HOT traffic after which the taxpayers must pay fees to Transurban.
State of good repair – We appreciate the increased attention to maintenance. But it appears that you are including capacity expansion, at least for bridges, in your state of good repair program. If that means additional vehicle lanes, we ask that the relevant portion of the cost due to capacity expansion not be charged in the SGR category but to the capital funding spent on road expansion.
Route 1: We are concerned that the widening of most of Route 1 will create a barrier and make the road far more dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders. So could the proposed 123 and Route 1 interchange.
Thank you,
Stewart Schwartz
Executive Director
RELEASE: CSG statement regarding the Washington, DC region’s deadly roads and too many lives lost
Coalition for Smarter Growth
Press Release
For Immediate Release:
April 29, 2021
Contact: Stewart Schwartz, 703-599-6437
Statement on the Washington, DC region’s deadly roads and too many lives lost
The Coalition for Smarter Growth shares in the profound sadness and anger at the deadly state of our region’s roads. In the past month, there have been six lives lost in DC alone to preventable traffic crashes: Jim Pagels, Brian Johnson, Evelyn Troyah, Zy’aire Joshua, Waldon Adams, and Rhonda Whitaker. Numerous other fellow residents have been killed in the region’s suburbs including at least four people so far this year in Fairfax: Raymunda Garcia-Hernandez, Christine Caldwell, Ramakant Bhusai, and Choon Yoo. We extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones of all those lost on the unnecessarily dangerous roads in our region..
We commit to working with our partners in the non-profit community and with area officials to address dangerous road conditions and other factors with a goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries.
Despite an overall reduction in vehicle traffic during the pandemic, traffic fatalities soared due to increased speeding and reckless driving. A recent report from the Governor’s Highway Safety Association showed that pedestrian deaths have risen 46% over the last decade, and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments says bicyclists and pedestrians are one-third of traffic fatalities in our region. Smart Growth America (SGA), in Dangerous by Design, documents the racial and economic disparities in these deaths and serious injuries among pedestrians and cyclists, and the major role of dangerous road designs that favor the speed and movement of cars over the safe movement of people and safe local access to schools, libraries, services, jobs, and transit. SGA has also shown that as a percentage of people walking, it is our suburban arterials that are the most dangerous.
Unfortunately, the presentations at the recent Council of Governments/Transportation Planning Board Vision Zero Arterial Summit confirmed that most area jurisdictions are not doing enough to fix our roads — particularly our suburban arterials — to make them safe places for walking and biking and taking transit. Too many DOTs continue to focus on moving cars, building new roads, and expanding existing roads. Instead, DOTs should be redesigning our existing roads to be humane places that support the growing demand to walk and bike for access to daily needs, to improve our health, and to fight climate change.
We need action now from our local, regional, and state leaders to prevent further loss of life. We wholeheartedly endorse the five recommendations and accompanying detailed actions for DC offered by Nick Sementelli and Conor Shaw in their recent GGWash post, which should be adopted in the surrounding suburbs as well:
1) Implement emergency road diets on all arterial streets, followed by permanent changes
2) Reduce speed limits on all roads, and deploy automated enforcement to make those limits real
3) Reappropriate street space for public transportation, walking, and micromobility
4) Make safe modes of transportation free and deadly forms of transportation more expensive
5) More rigorous oversight and regulation of DDOT by the DC Council
There is much to do and among the many necessary actions that need to be taken we also call for all area jurisdictions to:
1) Provide much more transparency and detail in reporting deaths and serious injuries for pedestrians, cyclists, and other micromobility users on the region’s roads.
a) Police and transportation agency reporting must include more information about the road design at each site — including the width and speed of the road (both posted and design speed), location and distance between crossing points, type of crosswalk marking, availability of pedestrian refuges, turn radii, location of bus stops compared to crossing points, etc.
b) All cases should be included in publicly accessible and easily utilized websites.
2) Shift significant funding from road expansion to retrofitting and redesigning arterial and secondary roads to be safer for pedestrians and cyclists, using Complete Streets principles, and the National Association of City Transportation Officer (NACTO) standards.
3) Commit to creating Safe Routes to School so every child can walk or bike safely to school.
4) Invest in an extensive network of protected bicycle lanes and bike/walk trails such that biking and walking to work and to meet daily needs is no longer a high-risk activity.
###
CSG statement regarding the Washington, DC region’s deadly roads and too many lives lost
Coalition for Smarter Growth
Press Release
For Immediate Release:
April 29, 2021
Contact: Stewart Schwartz, 703-599-6437
Statement on the Washington, DC region’s deadly roads and too many lives lost
The Coalition for Smarter Growth shares in the profound sadness and anger at the deadly state of our region’s roads. In the past month, there have been six lives lost in DC alone to preventable traffic crashes: Jim Pagels, Brian Johnson, Evelyn Troyah, Zy’aire Joshua, Waldon Adams, and Rhonda Whitaker. Numerous other fellow residents have been killed in the region’s suburbs including at least four people so far this year in Fairfax: Raymunda Garcia-Hernandez, Christine Caldwell, Ramakant Bhusai, and Choon Yoo. We extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones of all those lost on the unnecessarily dangerous roads in our region..
We commit to working with our partners in the non-profit community and with area officials to address dangerous road conditions and other factors with a goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries.
Despite an overall reduction in vehicle traffic during the pandemic, traffic fatalities soared due to increased speeding and reckless driving. A recent report from the Governor’s Highway Safety Association showed that pedestrian deaths have risen 46% over the last decade, and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments says bicyclists and pedestrians are one-third of traffic fatalities in our region. Smart Growth America (SGA), in Dangerous by Design, documents the racial and economic disparities in these deaths and serious injuries among pedestrians and cyclists, and the major role of dangerous road designs that favor the speed and movement of cars over the safe movement of people and safe local access to schools, libraries, services, jobs, and transit. SGA has also shown that as a percentage of people walking, it is our suburban arterials that are the most dangerous.
Unfortunately, the presentations at the recent Council of Governments/Transportation Planning Board Vision Zero Arterial Summit confirmed that most area jurisdictions are not doing enough to fix our roads — particularly our suburban arterials — to make them safe places for walking and biking and taking transit. Too many DOTs continue to focus on moving cars, building new roads, and expanding existing roads. Instead, DOTs should be redesigning our existing roads to be humane places that support the growing demand to walk and bike for access to daily needs, to improve our health, and to fight climate change.
We need action now from our local, regional, and state leaders to prevent further loss of life. We wholeheartedly endorse the five recommendations and accompanying detailed actions for DC offered by Nick Sementelli and Conor Shaw in their recent GGWash post, which should be adopted in the surrounding suburbs as well:
1) Implement emergency road diets on all arterial streets, followed by permanent changes
2) Reduce speed limits on all roads, and deploy automated enforcement to make those limits real
3) Reappropriate street space for public transportation, walking, and micromobility
4) Make safe modes of transportation free and deadly forms of transportation more expensive
5) More rigorous oversight and regulation of DDOT by the DC Council
There is much to do and among the many necessary actions that need to be taken we also call for all area jurisdictions to:
1) Provide much more transparency and detail in reporting deaths and serious injuries for pedestrians, cyclists, and other micromobility users on the region’s roads.
a) Police and transportation agency reporting must include more information about the road design at each site — including the width and speed of the road (both posted and design speed), location and distance between crossing points, type of crosswalk marking, availability of pedestrian refuges, turn radii, location of bus stops compared to crossing points, etc.
b) All cases should be included in publicly accessible and easily utilized websites.
2) Shift significant funding from road expansion to retrofitting and redesigning arterial and secondary roads to be safer for pedestrians and cyclists, using Complete Streets principles, and the National Association of City Transportation Officer (NACTO) standards.
3) Commit to creating Safe Routes to School so every child can walk or bike safely to school.
4) Invest in an extensive network of protected bicycle lanes and bike/walk trails such that biking and walking to work and to meet daily needs is no longer a high-risk activity.
###
CSG Comments on Prince George’s Climate Action Plan
Recommended Transportation & Land Use GHG Mitigation Strategies, April 2021
CSG Testimony Re: Visualize 2045 Climate Commitments
April 21, 2021
Hon. Charles Allen
Chair, National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board
Re: Call for a climate-friendly Visualize 2045 update
Chair Allen and Board members:
Tomorrow is the 51st anniversary of Earth Day, and 2030 is just 9 years away. By which time we must slash greenhouse gas emissions by 50%. Transportation is our largest emitter and electric vehicles will not be enough. We must reduce VMT by 15 to 25%, and increase non-auto mode share by 15 to 20%.
You voted 22 to 0 with 8 abstentions (VDOT changed from No to Abstain) to require that members “prioritize investments on projects, programs, and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, prioritize the aspirational strategies, and achieve COG’s land use and equity goals.”
But in response, your DOT staffs are arguing their road projects reduce VMT and emissions, and without showing how. Building new highways and widening highways and arterials does not reduce VMT or GHG emissions. Nor do HOT lanes. This is because induced demand is a proven fact. New capacity fills up in just a few years with more vehicle trips and VMT, and sparks more auto-dependent sprawl. Not to mention the impact of highways in loss of thousands of acres of forests, more impervious surface and stormwater, and the negative health and equity issues.
You are the leaders who can and must break us out of business-as-usual and craft a plan that focuses on TOD and proximity, correcting the E-W jobs divide, transit-first, and local connected street grids with safe bike/ped networks.
The DC region can and must be a leader in smart growth and sustainable transportation — starting with a new climate-friendly CLRP.
Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director
Bill Pugh, Senior Policy Fellow
Video testimony on Fairfax County’s FY22 budget
See below for our Northern Virginia Advocacy Manager, Sonya Breehey, testifying before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on behalf of CSG and Fairfax Healthy Communities regarding the FY22 budget.