More Transit, Walking / Bike Paths, Fewer Trucks and Tunnels: Comments on SCAG’s Transportation Plan 2

The Southern California Association of Governments’ draft transportation plan is a compendium of regional wish lists, including bike and pedestrian paths. While not binding, it is used as a basis for federal and state funding, so if municipalities apply for funds the projects need to be in this package! Advocates are pushing for a higher share of active transportation funding relative to the vast amounts proposed for roads, freeways and conventional goods movement projects.

The Draft 2012 Regional Transportation Plan for Southern California proposes funding all municipally planned bikeways (4,980 miles), and includes 827 additional miles to establish a connected network. It calls for bringing 12,000 miles of deficient sidewalks into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and increasing cooperation with Safe Routes to Schools and other entities promoting active transportation projects. The plan’s proposals for walking and biking projects, and providing first/last mile connectivity for pedestrians and bicyclists using transit, exceed $6 billion.

“Relative reduction in vehicle miles traveled resulting from these mode shifts are estimated at approximately 7.8 million miles and 20.4 million miles for 2020 and 2035, respectively,” according to the draft plan.

The plan also focuses extensively on goods movement as a major driver of the local economy and devotes a entirely new section to jobs. It proposes freeway expansions, completion of the EIR and closure for the 710 gap, near-term dedicated truck lanes, lower emission and hybrid technology trucks, and completion of a goods-movement East-West Corridor. It ignores the sustained, long-term opposition to extending the 710 and pushes further into the future studies of multi-modal alternatives, which should receive more attention. Included at the end of the goods movement appendix is a proposal for a long-term study of electrified rail infrastructure that would eliminate the need for many trucks and additional freeway capacity, even though specific proposals such as the GRID are already circulating for new zero-emission port technology and electrified rail delivery.

Billions of dollars are allocated to road and freeway improvements, including several 710 freeway projects (from resurfacing the PCH connection to downtown Long Beach, to the gap closure EIR) in a Project List table tagged “Financially Constrained” – which means all the funds are not available. A miniscule portion of funds are dedicated to bicycling and pedestrian improvements in comparison, even as the plan focuses quite a bit on the need for more of these to reduce vehicle miles traveled and pollutants, and admits that air quality will not be substantially improved with more trucks on the road unless and until new vehicle technologies and zero-emission rail systems are implemented.

A coalition of active transportation advocates already filed this public comment. Excerpt: We respectfully request that the 2012 RTP includes strategies to significantly increase the proportion of funds allocated to active transportation so that over time, such funding reflects the proportion of trips made by walking and biking.

The draft plan was released by the Southern California Association of Governments in December 2011. Comment period for the plan extends until February 14, 2012, and SCAG will also be holding public hearings on the plan, with the LA County hearing set for February 2 in downtown Los Angeles. Check this Notice of Availability and Public Hearings for more information about how to submit a public comment, and for times/locations of the upcoming public hearings. The plan is set to be finalized by April 2012.

Active transportation advocates in Glendale and around Southern California: the time to comment on regional transportation project priorities for the next four years is now! Glendale’s Safe and Healthy Streets program, its commitment to Complete Streets design, and its Safe Routes to School grants are all evidence that active transportation planning is welcome and working here.