It sounds like our transportation policy still is going to be as
much about the environment as it is about transportation. When
Nina S. Szlosberg, who is on the Board of Trustees
of the Triangle Transit Authority (TTA), and may have been the chair,
asks for CAPAG involvement, the transportation commission should have
asked why they should hear from an environmental group about
transportation. BTW: Nina was on the CAPAG.
Even if the CAPAG did discuss transportation (it did, I was on the
working group), the CAPAG didn’t look at how best to meet
transportation needs. The focus was how transportation could meet
the extreme environmental needs.
If this new transportation commission is going to be even
remotely successful, they need to remember one obvious thing:
transportation is first and foremost about mobility (having a system
that enables people to get from Point A to Point B in a safe
manner). It isn’t about some environmental cause.
A recent Spotlight
that I wrote covers how NC has lost its way on transportation. It
discusses how money is diverted to smart growth and environmental goals
at the expense of critical transportation needs. This hijacking
of state transportation policy, particularly by environmental
extremists, should be a major concern, especially in light of the fact
that the state’s road and bridges are a disaster.
Quick facts: N.C. has 17,782 bridges, of which 5,082 (29 percent)
are deemed deficient by the federal government. N.C. ranks 32nd in the
nation in percentage of deficient bridges ? 10th worst in total number
of deficient bridges.
Hopefully, Commission members will remember they aren’t the environmental commission but the transportation commission.
