Today I’m taking a step back from the local to focus on the national. Even though decisions made in Washington, DC, can seem far away, make no mistake that they have great importance for Long Beach. Just look at the multi-millions in federal stimulus funds that are coming to our city for employment programs, green port retrofits, and other projects – just to name a few recent examples.
I have a colleague and friend, Marnie O’Brien Primmer, who is President of the Orange County chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar. WTS is a prestigious international non-profit group that organizes women and helps them advance throughout the transportation field (I am a member). In this role, Marnie recently wrote a column for her chapter newsletter that contained a concise, and incisive, observation about the future of our transportation system. It’s as relevant at the local level – where we live and travel every day – as at the national, and here it is, pretty much verbatim:
“Transportation infrastructure is the literal and figurative backbone of our nation. The way we pay for transportation and transit must change in order for us to maintain and strengthen this backbone. Yet as our infrastructure continues to decay and fail, elected leaders grapple with how to pay for the investment that nearly all agree must occur. Politicians are fearful of raising the federal gas tax, which currently funds transportation, because they believe that will be unpopular. They are reluctant to implement a new method of paying for transportation such as VMT [fees per mile traveled] citing fears over invasion of privacy for tracking where and when people travel — when anytime you get on a toll road or use a parking garage or take a trip through an intersection with a traffic camera, your whereabouts are already being recorded. Courage will be needed to try something new. Leadership will be needed to bring naysayers around and develop consensus. Your counsel and support for our leaders at this most critical time is essential to tipping the balance in favor of reinvigorating transportation.”
This call for courage and leadership really resonated with me. Our transportation system – both “motorized” and “non-motorized,” in planning-speak – is so fundamental to our quality of life and our collective prosperity that we can’t afford to let it sink further into decay. Lawmakers in Washington are now considering how to address the fact that the federal Highway Trust Fund, where our gas tax dollars go, is out of money. They are also taking up the reauthorization of the entire federal transportation program, which will expire in just a few months. Of course, I must mention that “greening” the transportation system will be an essential element of new policies and new approaches to funding.
Our elected representatives aren’t likely to exhibit the leadership and courage we need from them if we don’t let them know that we support new ideas and new programs. This means we have to show some of that courage, too – courage at least to consider different ways of paying for essential (if boring) infrastructure. We might pay more – we might pay less. We might find ways of moving around that are cheaper, healthier, greener, and leave us happier. But not if we don’t educate ourselves and let our voices be heard.
The field of transportation is vast and fascinating. Rather than advocate any one group’s point of view, I’ll recommend that if you want to learn more, try a web search like “transportation reauthorization 2009.” You’ll find links to government, private, and non-profit sites; if you like, add some search terms for what interests you: “tolls,” “bicycle boulevards,” “high-speed rail,” “carbon footprint,” “complete streets.” Then go look up your elected representatives and weigh in – with courage!