Issue Position: Transportation

Issue Position

If we are to grow and develop sustainably--as much in health and happiness as in GDP--we must truly transform our transportation system. Too much energy and land is wasted, too much human health and lives sacrificed, too many waking or half-awake hours lost to our outdated and wrong-headed approach to moving people and goods around the Commonwealth. A good transportation system would prioritize people over private vehicles, value freedom and a more just public realm over congestion and fewer travel options, support local economies over transnational corporations, prize land use efficiency over Walmart sprawl, and create beautiful public spaces rather than hot-topped parking lots. A reformed transportation system will require significant resources and that the true cost of every mode is made transparent. Yet it can also dramatically improve the quality of our lives and where we live. Here are a few ideas that will help get us where we want to go:

Complete Streets

The last several decades has seen the design of streets decline, as public officials and traffic engineers have sought, sometimes inadvertently, to accommodate automobiles over the needs of pedestrians. This has come at great cost to the success of many downtowns and town centers, traditional commercial squares and villages, because in order to support significant commercial life on "Main Street", streets need to welcome and support pedestrian activity. Poor design has also, as it turns out, come at a great cost to individual health. As roads have widened, so have drivers' belts. The Governor's budget this year proposes to advance the laudable goals of the recent GreenDOT plan and Healthy Transportation Compact to increase active transportation (walking and biking) by creating a "Complete Streets" certification. Local communities would qualify for additional grant money when they proactively design and construct streets and street networks that fairly balance the needs of all users. This is a good starting point, but as your Lieutenant Governor, I would also seek to review state projects to see to it that the goals we set are actually met.

Public Transit

Clearly our current public transit system, the MBTA and regional transit authorities require significant investments to modernize. The more passengers our public transit system can handle, the more efficiently and freely people can move around Massachusetts. The presence of public transit also leads to increased land values, economic development, social and economic justice, higher levels of trust, and a more positive impact upon our natural environment. Ironically, the way to lessen congestion on our roads will be to invest more in the MBTA and regional transit authorities than in widening roads or adding lanes, unless solely dedicated to buses. The better integration of relatively simple and readily available technology into a more comprehensive transit system can further tip real and perceived convenience in favor of public transit. Lastly, we ought to consider further how our policies sustainably develop a culture of transit use with appropriate pricing structures to encourage greater use in emerging and future generations, while promoting equitable use among senior and disabled populations. Transportation demand management policies through the state university and community college system and other state agencies and institutions can certainly begin working toward this goal.

A Fare Share

In recent years, debate about public transit has centered on the question of how we fund it. Some have suggested that the system must pay for itself, and yet the same logic has rarely been applied to the highway and road system which has largely promoted private automobile travel over all other modes. We must therefore shift our thinking about what are now considered "subsidies" to public transit, and understand how heavily subsidized automobile use already is. Working within current total spending on transportation, there can be a better balance among all modes, but there will also need to be an overall increase in revenue to balance the need for greater investment. The revenue from an increase in pollution and gas taxes can realign incentives while clearing the way for cleaner modes of travel. A local option could allow cities and towns to assess an impact fee for development where no access to public transit exists in order to support its expansion. Ideally, the state would link public funding to municipalities that seek to maximize the public investment with corresponding zoning, good street design, and rightly-aligned parking policies. For example, former Secretary of Transportation Fred Salvucci has proposed a solution to partially close the funding deficit for the MBTA (which was given responsibility for some of the debt for the Central Artery Tunnel project) with revenue from MassPort parking fees, because the users of parking disproportionately benefitted from the "Big Dig" construction.

By reordering our transportation priorities and raising sufficient revenue to meet our current and future needs, we can put Massachusetts on a path toward more sustainable development. With better street design for people rather than cars, local cities and towns can begin to see street "improvements" less as a necessary expense which cuts into its annual and capital budgets, and more as a vital investment which will continue to pay dividends in local net "new growth," increased property values, and human health and satisfaction. Because good design with appropriately-scaled lighting, slow speeds, street trees, and ample walking and biking space can better bind people to a place, make people feel safer, comfortable, more at home.

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