George Fitch understands the connection between transportation and land use, and he’s the only one willing to talk about it. Unfortunately, he’s addressing small audiences and getting coverage only from the suburban weeklies, so there’ s no one to hear him. This comes from the Fauquier Times-Democrat:
Traffic congestion could best be eased, Fitch said, using political restraint and common-sense development.”First, we need to lock up the transportation trust fund and stop raiding it,” he said. “Then, we need to stop the bleeding once and for all that is causing a lot of traffic gridlock. We need to coordinate land-use with developments.”
That means, he explained in more detail, that construction plans should be tied at the hip to transportation improvements or developments, and that without the latter, the former should not commence. It also means, he added a few minutes later, demanding more accountability and cooperation from existing transportation officials.”I have a plan,” Fitch said, “(that says) VDOT, you’re going to be evaluated on how well you relive traffic congestion. Nothing else.”
No, Ray Hyde, reforming land use won’t cure all of our transportation woes. But building a bunch of roads and extending METRO rail without reforming the prevailing scattered, low-density pattern of development won’t cure any of our transportation woes. And it’ll cost us a lot in taxes to boot.
Too bad we’re not reading Fitch’s analysis in the Washington Post or Richmond Times-Dispatch. Until the Mainstream Media stop conducting he-said, she-said journalism, there’s no hope that voters will develop a more profound understanding of the issues.
