System Goals
The vision can be translated into a small number
of largely measurable goals. While
these goals appear to be modest, the truth is that they represent quite a
reach. Achieving them will require full
implementation of the transportation and land use actions listed in CDTC's New Visions plan. A high degree of success in areas that are
outside the control of CDTC's participants, such as vehicle technology,
national energy policy and national and state economic growth policies will
also be required. To achieve New Visions goals,
we must continue to find ways to overcome the obstacles cited in Figure 7.
CDTC Long-Range
Transportation System Goals
Within the
context of broader national, state, regional and local public and private
actions to meet the economic, social, educational and other needs of the
region, CDTC's long-range transportation system goals are:
·
Transportation Service
¨
Maintain or improve
overall service quality from current conditions.
¨
Enhance the quality
of life in the region.
·
Resource Requirements
¨
Reduce the
per-capita resource requirements related to provision, operation, use and
mitigation of the impacts of the transportation system from current
per capita costs. (See Figure 8.)
¨
Reduce the per
capita cost of accidents (crashes).
·
External Effects
¨
Build strong urban,
suburban and rural communities.
¨
Knit them together
into a cohesive metropolitan area.
¨
Support economic
and social interactions that accommodate population, household, employment and
commercial and industrial growth while improving environmental quality and
enhancing the natural and built environment.
Figure 8:
Annual Per Capita Monetary Costs of the
Capital District Transportation System
Are these goals desirable?
Definitely. The transportation
system exists to facilitate economic and social interactions that are necessary
to the vitality of the nation and to the Capital District and must do so in an
effective manner. At the same time, the
immense private and public investment in transportation systems and vehicles
provides opportunities to influence corollary areas, such as environmental
health and resource protection. It is
not in the region's best interest to watch mobility, access, safety and cost
measures deteriorate in coming years while billions of public and private
dollars are spent on transportation and related activities. The region is better served by using these
resources to achieve strong, livable communities characterized as both
economically and environmentally healthy.
Are these goals consistent with state and national objectives?
Definitely. Among other examples
at the national level, Congress has established a legal connection between
transportation investment and air quality, other environmental objectives,
mobility of the disabled and, through the ISTEA and TEA-21 provisions, broader
community goals. President Clinton has
made international commitments to holding CO2 emissions (essentially energy consumption) at
1992 levels. Secretary of
Transportation Pena established goals for doubling walk and bike mode share,
for achieving "sustainable" communities, for implementing
"Operation Timesaver" Intelligent Transportation Systems in all major
metropolitan areas and for similar initiatives in smaller areas. The Federal Highway Administration and
Federal Transit Administration have established national policies to ensure
that federal-aid benefits all segments of society and implements environmental
enhancement measures and contributes to sustainable community development. The list of similar federal objectives that
both direct and empower the New Visions
goals is quite lengthy.
At the
state level, NYSDOT has established design policies and a Statewide
Transportation Plan, called The Next
Generation. This plan sets
objectives (among others) in system planning and facility design to increase
transit, bike, walking and carpool usage; integrate land use and transportation
planning; and facilitate economic growth.
These are cornerstone concepts in the New Visions Plan, as well.
Are these goals achievable?
Definitely,
although great effort on the part of all involved will be required. The challenges facing the Capital District
are quite real. Continued increases in
dependence on the automobile, continued insistence upon commuting by single
occupant vehicle in the peak hour, and continued land development that is not
integrated with neighboring parcels would clearly preclude achieving these
goals. The obstacles cited in Figure 7 must be confronted -- and overcome -- in order
to reach stated goals. This includes
overcoming the most commonly cited obstacle in the review of the New Visions Workbook -- the challenge of
working together as a region.
The stated goals are neither radical nor reactionary. They are not modal in nature. A balanced strategy recognizes the strengths
of various modes and the contributions of all communities in the Capital Region
to achieve and sustain regional goals. It
is essential to realize that even full implementation of CDTC's desired capital
investments will not be sufficient to allow the region to meet the goals. Innovative, intelligent and coordinated
local planning and private investment is as important -- if not more important
-- than regional transportation investment in meeting the goals.
Over the past few years, CDTC's members'
implementation of the transportation project agenda has been quite impressive,
even if falling short of ambitious goals.
Repeatedly, however, slow progress has been cited in the area of
changing land use patterns and modifying the site development process to
achieve access management, streetscape and community structure objectives. The contrast is so great that, in the NY5
Land Use and Transportation Concept Study, the "baseline" future was
assumed to include full implementation of CDTC's highway, bike, pedestrian, ITS
and transit projects from New Visions -- because of the steady implementation
currently underway -- but did not include any significant changes in land use
and site design from that already present.
Performance Measures