MTR 278, Postcards from LITP 2000

Issue 278

July 24, 2000

Postcards from LITP 2000

The NY Times ran letters to the editor complaining forcefully about NY State DOT's Long Island Transportation Plan 2000 in its July 9 Long Island section. The letters followed a lengthy Times feature explaining the DOT plan to widen many Long Island highways with new "bus lanes that admit carpools" (MTR #273).

The letters were from members of the study's Technical Advisory Committee, the group DOT and its main consultant, Parsons-Brinckerhoff, want approval from for their road expansion approach.

Lawrence Hahn's letter noted the workings of public committees supposed to shape the study:

"When the time came for suggestions, the dept.'s observers (they were not members of the committees) would propose their favorite solutions, like widening roads and building more HOV lanes. Their suggestions would be included in the summary, giving them the appearance of having been endorsed by the committee…

"When DOT disclosed [its] analyses in June, it became obvious that a proposal contained a 'fatal flaw' if it did not involve pouring megayards of concrete or endless acres of asphalt, to say nothing of the destruction of countless trees….

"Properly carried out, LITP 2000 could have served as a model for cooperation between government and private citizens. Unfortunately, such was not the case. Many volunteers feel we were the victims of a hoax."

Dennis Fagan, another TAC member, wrote:

"So after a $7 million study, we get more of the same - more asphalt, more traffic, more ozone-alert days. If our leaders cannot buck the car culture, why do they bother to ask the public's opinion?
...The predictable conclusion of the plan to widen roads is an insult to members of the public who took the trouble to take part in the study. As a member of the public committee, I can tell you that widening roads was not a majority opinion…"