Solutions: Real Alternatives for the DC Region

It is well recognized that traffic, congestion, and growth are real issues in the DC Region that need to be delt with. However, the way in which we deal with these issues is extremely important so that we do not end up creating more problems for ourselves in the long run. Studies show that building roads is not the answer to regional traffic and congestion because it does not reduce traffic and it is costly to taxpayers, communities, and the environment. However, smart growth development provides a range of alternatives to road development. The following smart growth solutions will reduce traffic and benefit taxpayers and the environment:

Invest Transportation and Tax Dollars Wisely
Fix It First!
Expand Metro, Bus, Pedestrian, and Bike Service
Provide Incentives for Commuter Choice
Smarter Land Use
Smarter Government and Tax Policies
Make Developers Pay
Revitalize and Repair Existing Communities
Grow in Appropriate Areas- Protect Open Space

Invest Transportation and Tax Dollars Wisely
Instead of spending millions of transportation dollars on highway studies and road projects that will lead to costly and unwise development, money should be directed to existing communities to improve safety for walkers, bicyclists, and drivers, and to promote accessable and affordable public transportation choices.

Fix It First!
Focus on solving our traffic congestion by repairing and improving problematic areas that already exist instead of pouring money into ineffective road projects. Money should be put toward improving congested roads and interchanges, fixing potholes and bridges, improving intersections with timed traffic lights and left turn lanes, and improve bus and rail transit services. Some basic improvements can have a dramatic effect on traffic.

Expand Metro, Bus, Pedestrian, and Bike Service
Liberate yourself from your car and the roads! People deserve to have transportation choices available to them so they can decide for themselves how to get around. Transit that is affordable and convenient offers commuters a choice and reduces traffic on the roadways. We need to plan communities that offer more accessible and frequent rail and bus services, commuter trains, bike trails and lanes, and safe places to walk.

Provide Incentives for Commuter Choice
Expand services like Park and Ride, Smart-Cards, reimbursements to employees who use transit, and subsidies for telecommuting. If we make it convenient and affordable for people to use transit, we all benefit.

Smarter Land Use
We must use our land wisely so it does not all turn into highways and development projects. Smart land use includes mixed use development, which creates sustainable communities by mixing jobs, housing, stores, and services in each community. In additon, transit oriented development (TOD), which places offices, homes, and stores around metro centers, will reduce our dependancy on roads and automobiles. Smart land use and TOD will decrease the need to make trips that require driving, and will increase our ability to walk, bike, and use transit to get to our destinations. Currently, 75 percent of trips made are related to running errands such as daycare, dry cleaning, and picking up milk, and are the reason for so much congestion. We shouldn't have to spend billions on new interstates and roads just to pick up a quart of milk when we could develop in a way that would allow us to walk, bike, or use transit to make that same trip. In addition, it is important to develop land in suitable areas and avoid building on floodplains, coastal areas, and other disaster prone areas.

Smarter Government and Tax Policies
There are currently many government programs and policies that support road expansion, sprawl, and unwise developement. We need to create nation wide policies that promote smart growth and create healthy economic, ecological, and social enviornments. This can be done, as was seen when the U.S. EPA practiced smart growth by denying permits for the proposed Legacy Highway near Salt Lake City, a highway that would destroy wetlands, increase air pollution and promote sprawl.

Make Developers Pay
Wealthy developers should be required to pay impact fees to cover the costs of their developments, which includes the cost of new roads, schools, and water and sewer lines, instead of that money coming from the pockets of taxpayers. In addition, developers should be required to pay for property tax impact studies on new developments so the public understands the true costs of new developement brought to them by developers and can see the benefits non-road solutions.

Revitalize and Repair Existing Communities
Instead of pouring money into new environmentally, socially, and economically costly road projects, revitalize and repair already developed areas. Improving existing neighborhoods and roads will attract new businesses, reduce crime, and improve schools. Many already established suburbs have potential for more growth and are in desperate need of more investment that will bring money to the community that can be used to make social and commercial improvements. Even Fairfax, one of the richest suburbs in the nation, now faces urban decline in places like Baileys Crossroads and Route 1. Vacant land, abandon store fronts, dangerous roads, and huge parking lots in the inner suburbs could be revitalized with walkable, traditional town centers to create thriving, sustainable communities that last.

Put Growth in the Appropriate Areas- Protect Open Space
Enacting growth boundaries and parks & open space protections like those in Oregon, Tennessee, and Colorado allow growth without building invasive highway road projects and creating sprawl. By putting growth in the socially, economically, and environmentally appropriate space, we all benefit.

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