Those on campus this summer were certainly accustomed to the chomping of concrete, the rising wave of fresh asphalt and the rolling commotion of construction that kept commuters on their toes.
This brought many — well, at least me — to question, “Is this all necessary?”
A hard-on for bulldozers and jackhammers isn’t unique to the U. It is very much a social epidemic. Nationwide, roughly $135 billion is spent on the country’s highways and roads.
Yes, improvements are made — dangerous potholes are filled in, freeway ramps are retrofitted and reinforced for earthquakes (I hope), and in most cases things are for the better — but, this maintenance primarily benefits cars and trucks. The $135 billion is a giant subsidy to the oil and automobile industry.
Do we really need our streets resurfaced every five years? One excuse for such excess is that it’s a fiscal shot for the economy. Another is that it’s a case of legislative laziness. It’s difficult to break through the beauracracy and upset the status quo of bidding, contracts and good ol’ boys.
It’ll take a creative legislator — and enough counterparts on the hill pushed by a public that foresees a better transportation system — to devise a plan to aggressively fund smart transit. Some thinking outside the box will be neccessary.
For many of us, including our politicians, all that entails is rolling the window down, putting the car in park (or telling the driver to do so, for all you Mitt’s out there) and going for a walk beyond the parking lot to Starbuck’s (Baskin Robbins, Mitt).
Venture out for a bipedal trek through the valley and you’ll see it’s not pretty.
Aside from the brown cloud that now envelopes the valley — “toxic air, it’s not just for winter anymore” — the landscape of this valley (and this country) is dominated by the automobile. Take a walk down Redwood Rd. and people will think you’re a freak. The same goes for any major commercial streetfront past downtown and a precious few Salt Lake City neighborhoods.
This stigma toward pedestrians should not be surprising. With six lanes plus of two-ton projectiles speeding in all directions on one side and a wasteland of asphalt and stagnant strip malls on the other, the sidewalk does not offer up the Sunday stroll in the park.
Instead of appeasing the status quo and continually feeding a system of transportation that has left us in a very serious conundrum — parking, smog, global warming, multi-trillion dollar wars over gas — why not reallocate this money and use it to build light-rail along the valley’s expressways (all of them) with stops at every other exit. Do the same for the nation’s super highways, with options for stops at each town along the way or an express that only stops at metropolises over a million.
Why not do what Paris did (or Portland, for all those who cringe at anything French) and buy 20,000 bicycles for the people to ride independently like a taxi, able to leave the bikes at stations across the city.
When designing communities, consider building with more than just the vehicle in mind. Enact zoning that forces developers to build neighborhoods that don’t wind into a litany of cul-de-sacs, where it is feasible for Junior to go walk to the store and pick up a gallon of milk. If developers moan about such legislation, hand them a subsidy for their efforts, they’ll be on board real quick.
Bottom line: The automobile is the aging veteran whose skills have diminished but is locked into a long-term deal. Rail transit is the big slugger, hitting his prime, but getting paid Triple A money. Dump the veteran, it’s time to pay the new star what he’s worth. Of course, Detroit and the Big 3 (GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler) would throw a tantrum at any of these ideas (kind of like how Jerry Rice wouldn’t retire), suing anyone and anything that dare divert any of their corporate welfare and obstruct the course of higher growth and profit. (They are currently contesting states’ right to raise emission standards.)
As it currently stands, transit projects not devoted to the automobile are one-fifth what the government spends on transportation. Public transit advocates will tell you a 20 percent user rate would be notable. They’ll also tell you the transit has to be built before the commuters can ride.
The most important factor in changing the direction of this valley from a smoke-filled half-pipe where commuters interact with a horn and a bird to one where the automobile is a luxury — one that everyone owns, just uses about as often as you take the boat out — is the people.