MTR 54, Other Regions Jettison Highway Expansions

Mobilizing the Region
Issue 54 October 6, 1995

Other Regions Jettison Highway Expansions

New Hampshire abandoned plans this summer for a $200 million highway project encircling the southern city of Nashua. The decision came after overwhelming local opposition led EPA Region 1 Administrator John DeVillars to recommend that EPA leaders in Washington veto the project, a move the Boston Globe reports is unprecedented. NH Governor Stephen Merrill was persuaded to drop the project by opposition from Nashua mayor and voters, as well as from local planning boards and conservation groups in neighboring towns. The road project would have spread development in southern New Hampshire's largest remaining open space. While the NH transportation commissioner and legislators pushed for the road, saying it would spur job growth and ease commuting, the EPA and the Conservation Law Foundation made sure local opposition was recognized in Washington. Merrill now favors a smaller road expected to ease up to 90% of the traffic the Nashua Circumferential would have handled.

In Portland, Oregon, the state transportation dept. (ODOT) has nixed the Western Bypass circumferential freeway proposal. After a five-year study and sustained opposition to the project by the citizens land-use group 1000 Friends of Oregon, the DOT announced in September that it would not seek construction of the Bypass outside Portland's urban growth boundary, but will pursue smaller road projects instead. 1000 Friends challenged the project from its inception in 1988, saying studies showed the freeway would not serve existing development, but would encourage low-density, single-use auto-dependent development in the future. The group sponsored a planning effort called LUTRAQ ("Making the Land Use, Transportation, Air Quality Connection". The project developed mixed-use, pedestrian friendly, transit-oriented development scenarios and compared their effects to those of the Bypass. Review by ODOT showed the LUTRAQ alternative served the Portland area's mobility needs as well as the Bypass, but had substantially fewer environmental impacts. While the LUTRAQ alternative would increase transit-based commuters by 16%, the Bypass would increase total driving (vehicle miles traveled) by nearly 6%. Say 1000 Friends, "The Bypass was shown to be nothing more than a boondoggle, community wrecker, and urban growth boundary buster."