| Issue 53 | September 29, 1995 |
NY's Transportation Goals
The New York State draft long range transportation plan does set a number of goals for reducing traffic growth and boosting transit use. These went unnoticed in our initial reading of the plan because they are in the back of the document and were not mentioned in the public proceedings that accompanied the draft's release. The plan calls for curbing estimated growth in downstate single occupant drive-to-work trips for the next decade by 50%. To accomplish this, DOT says the metropolitan area must see transit commute levels increase 20%, car-pooling rise 50% and bicycling and walking go up 15% in the next ten years. Whether the traffic growth reduction goal is sufficient to prevent worsening traffic congestion and improve the metropolitan economic climate and quality of life is highly debatable. Nonetheless, the alternate mode goals represent an ambition to significantly change transportation patterns. As such, they will require changing transportation investment strategies. But as we pointed out in MTR 44, the plan does not set clear priorities. DOT should reorganize its plan: put the goals up front, and use the rest of the plan to identify the means to attain them. Clearly, the Pataki Administration's transit cuts will not contribute to transit ridership growth -- the DOT must point this out to the Governor. Moreover, internal culture at NYS DOT militates heavily against any emphasis other than on highways -- the draft plan in places seems to suggest that the region will need to adopt new transportation habits, or else the Dept. will be forced to build "many more highway lanes." The plan needs to explain how DOT will create a more balanced transportation infrastructure, and specifically identify the investments needed to boost alternatives to driving. goals.
