The
fall campaign has brought a welcome discussion of the state’s transportation
woes, especially getting mass transit back into a state of good repair. But gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley says he
thinks the real issue isn’t the trains and buses but highway congestion. Yet, he offers no solutions, saying only
“we’ll figure it out.” Really?
Tom,
if there were easy answers, they’d have been implemented by now. Look… this is really a matter of supply and
demand: too much demand (highway traffic) and not enough supply (spaces on
those roads). I think the solution is
in managing the demand. But Foley says it’s
a “supply side” issue.
So
here are a few of the crazier ideas for fixing traffic I hope he does not
embrace:
1)
DOUBLE-DECK I-95: Seriously,
this was once proposed.
Can you imagine the decades of construction and billions in cost, with
“upper level” roads having to soar hundreds of feet over existing bridges.
2)
ALLOW TRUCKS ON THE MERRIT PARKWAY: There
are two words to explain why this can’t happen:
low bridges.
3)
BAN TRUCKS FROM I-95: Trucks
are high-occupancy vehicles delivering goods to the stores that you, in your
single-occupancy vehicle, drive to so you can shop. No trucks, no goods, no shopping.
4)
DRIVE IN THE EMERGENCY BREAK-DOWN
LANE: This was Governor Rowland’s idea and he even wasted a million dollars
studying it. But if you think of that
far right-hand lane instead as the “emergency rescue lane” you’ll see why this
doesn’t make sense. This plan would also
require re-striping traffic lanes to a narrower width, making driving more
dangerous.
5)
WIDENING I-95 TO FOUR LANES: Again,
billions in cost and decades of
construction. And if you build it, they will come. Traffic will expand to fill available space. Then what, a fifth lane?
I
think there are better ideas for managing congestion, some of them already
being implemented:
OPERATIONAL LANES: Adding a fourth lane from on-ramps to
off-ramps gives traffic a better chance of merging on and off the highway
without blocking the through-lanes.
WIDENING CHOKE-POINTS: For
example, the exit 14-15 mess in Norwalk.
But this $42 million construction project, discussed since 2002, has been
under construction for more than two years and it’s still not done!
MANAGE DEMAND WITH
TOLLS: Tolls are coming, as I’ve predicted before.
And with time-of-day pricing they’ll not only raise badly needed funds but
also mitigate demand.
Those who absolutely must drive at peak hours will pay for the privilege
and get a faster ride as those who can wait will defer their trip. We have peak and off-peak fares on
Metro-North, so why not on highways.
ADD A ZIPPER LANE: Sure,
this may require highway widening, but just one lane that’s reversible depending on demand, a system that’s long been in effect
on the Tappan Zee Bridge.
As
I say, there are no simple solutions to highway congestion. So when any candidate says he or she has one,
be skeptical. It’s easy to identify the
problems. But fixing them will always be
expensive.
