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EMR is back from sabbatical.
As noted in our column “The Devils
Dance,” Jan. 3, 2006, we took a sabbatical and vowed not to return with regular columns until the legislature and the governor stopped dancing for and with the Devil.
It has been a long sabbatical because every time we were ready to come back, the legislature would say “Na, given our view of money and mobility, you better take another month off.”
Those who have been elected to lead the Commonwealth insist
upon ignoring the fact that more money, whatever the source, will not improve mobility and access without Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns.
After half a year in which mobility and access continue to
deteriorate, the General Assembly is still in same position in was in January. The MainStream Media and politicians keep talking as if improving mobility and access is just a matter of finding the money.
We had hoped that at some point those in the Devil’s Dance would come to an interim conclusion/stalemate concerning transport funding. As we all know, instead to coming to their senses, the General Assembly
will continue to kick the topic around for the foreseeable future.
In the meantime other issues need to be addressed, so we are back.
For the record here is a summary of the money-for- transport issue:
Building more transportation infrastructure without a Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns is a waste of money.
Just finding more money to spend on transport facilities actually makes mobility and access worse at the regional and subregional scales. (See
“Regional Rigor
Mortis,” June 6, 2005.)
Until these statements of reality are painted on the side of every VDOT and Public Works truck in the Commonwealth and until these statements of reality start and end every section of every study, report, environmental impact statement and speech related to access and mobility there will be no end in sight for the access and mobility crisis.
Saying “we need a tie land use to transportation” is a start but it is not enough.
There must be a balance between the demand for travel and the capacity of the transport facilities.
Because of the potential efficiency and the high cost of shared-vehicle systems (e.g. METRO), it is critically important that there be
balance between station-area travel demand and shared-vehicle system capacity.
It is hard to end the myth that there are facility solutions to the mobility crisis because most of those directly related to transport (transport agencies, transport think tanks, engineers, aggregate and asphalt suppliers, steel fabricators, contractors, et. al.) get paid by studying, planning and building transport facilities.
Those who seek solutions to access and mobility dysfunctions (editorial writers, publishers, politicians and governance practitioners) receive plaudits only from projects and facilities. Land speculators who help fund political campaigns have no chance of selling their land unless there are new roadways to provide/subsidize access to scattered properties.
Together these voices drown out mobility and access reality.
It is imperative that everyone face the fact that the golden age of mobility and “freedom of movement” for individuals in private vehicles is over. Citizens have been living in a fantasy world paid for by an ancient, buried capital reserve of petroleum banked during billions of years of photosynthesis. Every single “new” source of energy for vehicles relies on energy to produce the fuel. There is no free lunch. The free ride is over.
We will be exploring this issue in future columns. The longer citizens of the United States go on living beyond our means the less freedom future generations will have.
There are two choices.
Hold the course, do not question traditional
“solutions,” and make mobility and access a luxury for the very wealthy.
Embrace Fundamental Change in human settlement patterns that can support a balance between vehicle travel demand and mobility system capacity.
All else is an illusion supported by those who benefit from building facilities regardless of settlement patterns. It is good to be back.
Now on to other topics.
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June 26, 2006
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