A local approach to easing gridlock

Planners raise local funds for innovative projects instead of relying on state and federal money.

from the November 27, 2007 edition

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"Congestion is associated with economic growth, and if it were uncongested, it wouldn't be so exciting," says Mr. Wachs. "Congestion is not an unmitigated disaster."

But America's response, so far, is "a joke," says Joe Washington, a software engineer waiting for Amtrak's hour-late Crescent train Saturday night in Atlanta. New bus and rail routes are the real solution, Mr. Washington believes.

But there's a fundamental problem: Mass transit's share of ridership is steadily losing ground to cars across the United States, according to the Reason Foundation, a free-market-oriented think tank in Los Angeles.

At the same time, the US is approximately $1.5 trillion behind on current infrastructure commitments, according to the Institute of Transportation Engineers in Washington. Raising the 18.4-cent federal fuel tax – last boosted in 1992 – seems a political impossibility with gas prices rising, experts say.

Indeed, the road to transportation salvation is pitted with political potholes. When Indiana leased the Indiana Toll Road to an Australian company, the state Republicans, at least partly as a result, lost their majority in the House as voters balked at the idea of handing over a major state asset to foreign management.

But when foreign-management controversies are taken out of the equation, there are some signs of a shift in public attitudes toward paying for highway improvements. For example, in California, most of the much-touted county infrastructure bonds passed last November.

"Unfortunately, 20 years ago, our land planners didn't talk to our transportation planners, so now we're in a mess," says Sarah Catz, director of the Center for Urban Infrastructure in Irvine, Calif. "Finally, everyone is starting to talk to each other. Hopefully it's not too late."

In some places, highway planners are already stepping on the gas.

Inspired by efforts in Europe and Asia, Oregon is testing on-board GPS systems that could one day allow mile-by-mile pricing for all car travel in the state. Flexible plans could give discounts to drivers traveling in off-peak hours.

Despite ardent opposition, new express toll roads that opened this year in Austin, Texas, have been hailed as a success – meaning lots of fast-moving cars, and revenues outpacing costs.

The trucking industry, meanwhile, is experimenting with switching more loads to nights.

And don't think that rail is dead. The first commuter rail since 1938 in Charlotte, N.C., opened on Saturday and was packed to the gills.

Finally, in a gambit straight out of the Jetsons, the Swedish government is working with Santa Cruz, Calif., to plan a "personal rapid transit" (PRT) system – individual cars connected by cables to a rail system.

Pie in the sky? Given the growing gridlock, maybe not, says Ms. Catz.

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