Yes
Please explain.
The Federal Transit Administration now requires a larger percentage of local financial participation than was required when the TTA plan was designed. The Charlotte system was funded because they had a half-cent sales tax in place to fund their transit system. We should do the something similar, making sure that the amount of funds raised would trigger increased federal funding. We should not raise taxes for roads unless it includes dedicated funding for TTA rail.
21. Please describe your vision of an “integrated” transportation system for the Triangle and how you would fund these projects. Among the items to consider are highways, mass transit/light rail, and bike and pedestrian elements.
Integrated transportation starts with design and land use.
- You have to have homes, work places, and shopping within close proximity. Incentives need to be in place for businesses to encourage at least some of their employees to live near their job. The old model of the store owner living above the store was not such a bad idea, except now the store manager gets to live in the condos a five minute walk from the store as part of his benefits. It's not going to work for everybody, but an integrated system includes a range of answers -- one of which is reducing the need for transportation. It would take cooperation with the business community, but business people are by-and-large sensible people. This is a practical answer to some of our transportation needs.
- If there are pedestrian and bicycle connections to the larger community then it becomes easier and safer to walk and bike to work or shop. Benches to rest at on the way and bike racks at destinations are amenities that can be added to make the trip more pleasant and more convenient. Raleigh's Greenway system can serve as important bike and pedestrian links to many popular destinations. I would work to complete the network.
- Bus access can be designed into a shopping center. For example, having a roof over the entrance of an anchor store with enough room to allow for a bus stop under that roof. You could even have an indent in the sidewalk so a bus could pull over out of the way of other vehicles. You also have to remember that not all buses are public transit. Churches, retirement villages, even private charter buses could use this space to deliver customers to businesses.
- Rail is the engine that could energize the entire process. TTA had a plan in place to do just that. The new plan may still accomplish it. Sierra Club has members on the task force that is developing a new plan, so you can have a big part of making an integrated transportation system possible. Any kind of rail system is going to need a dedicated source of funding to build it.
- When you focus only building roads, you lose opportunities: to build community, to reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, reduce impervious surface runoff, and reserve open space. My approach to roads would be a temporary means to deal with transportation until we get the other parts of the system in place.
You asked for a vision. I have one. I'm also eager to hear what other people think about improving the transportation system so it is more effective and less damaging to the environment.
22. Do you believe that pedestrian and bicycle travel should be encouraged and that safe transit for pedestrians and cyclists, bike lanes and sidewalks, should be added to our roadways when new roads are built or existing roads are widened?
Yes, in most cases.
Please explain.
I don't think bicycle and pedestrian facilities should be limited to the same paths as roads. For example, a path from an apartment complex to the shopping center close to it doesn't have to follow the same route that a car would have to take. Also in some routes, a sidewalk can end up in the same location as a road without following the exactly the same path. In some situations doing that could make the new road less damaging to the environment -- for example, avoiding damage to a heritage tree or disturbing less of a wetland.
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