CNU Transportation Summit: Day two mid-day update

On break between sessions, I have time for a brief update. The most interesting mid-day activities revolved around two issues, first the idea of transportation reform at the Federal level, and second in regards to the history of the misplaced priorities that got us to where we are as a nation today.

Discussing the reform of MPOs and the Federal transportation process, CNU hosted a panel including, amongst other people, the Federal Transit Administration’s regional administrator and Clackamas County chair Lynn Peterson. This panel discussed where we are and how we can shape federal allocations. Audience questions and comments tended to lean towards tax related reforms, until Mike Krusee, CNU board member and former commissioner of the Federal Surface Transportation Finance Commission made a very interesting point:

“We didn’t get into this mess by having too little money and we aren’t going to get out of it through raising taxes. It’s not going to happen anyway. We need to talk about how to direct the money that is being allocated.”

As Krusee further pointed out, we cannot afford sprawling development because it costs far too much.

Another gem from Krusee was this one regarding highways in Texas: over the course of 40 years for every mile of highway, users provided 2-3 cent on average to the government, while the government paid out 20-30 cents to operate them.

Lynn Peterson gave a rather interesting short speech when she was handed the microphone, noting that all of the communities in her county — despite all of them being either suburban or exurban — want a more urban kind of lifestyle within them. When asked what possible solutions there might be to ensuring that networked, liveable transportation designs become the norm for this century, Peterson asked a provocative question: “is there any reason that state departments of transportation should have authority on anything other than interstate highways?”

Lastly, Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Scott Bernstein gave a fascinating history lesson of the functionally focused highway allocation system. He pointed out that much of it dates back to parkways built for urban elites in the 19th century, by (of all people) Frederick Law Olmstead. By the eve of the First World War, expressways were already being planned and constructed in the United States, far in advance of the German inspired Eisenhower system.

More later on the IBM presentation.