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More
of the "Same Old, Same Old"
Last
week's conclave in Richmond dedicated to
generating "creative" discussion on
transportation solutions served up the same half
truths, mistruths and stale ideas.
Virginia’s
government and commercial leaders met in
Richmond
Wednesday for what they hoped would be
creative discussion on solutions to the
Commonwealth’s transportation problems.
What was reported was mostly more talk
about how to find more money to build more roads,
hardly a creative transportation brainstorming
session.
The
high point
of “creative thinking,” according to coverage
by Newport News' Daily Press, was the contention by
House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Roanoke,
that that vehicles are getting much better gas
mileage today, shortchanging Virginia’s gas tax-based road building fund.
He proposed a “mileage tax,” under
discussion in Oregon, to ensure that hybrids and other fuel-efficient
vehicles pay their fair share of road costs.
The
truly “creative” part of Griffith’s solution was its lack of factual basis.
In
1981, the average fuel efficiency of all cars and
light trucks sold was 24.6 miles per gallon (MPG).
In 2001, that average stood at 24.4 MPG.
The reason is simple:
In the 1980’s gas guzzling light trucks
(vans, pickups, and SUV’s) accounted for only 22
percent of the total vehicles miles traveled in America--today they contribute almost 34 percent.
So, why do we have a road building fund
shortfall?
Griffith
also reasoned that the growth in gas tax revenue
has not kept pace with the growth in traffic and
increased highway construction and maintenance
costs. That
is true, but it has more to do with the outdated
assumptions built into the gas tax rate in 1986,
the last time it was changed.
In
the interim, road used has exploded, confirmed by
Del. Brian Moran, D-Alexandria, who stated that
vehicles miles traveled per person (VMT) has
increased 77 percent since 1986.
Translation:
Each Virginian is driving more today.
Nationally the picture is about the same,
with average VMT up 75 percent since 1977.
One
significant reason for this is the shift in
commuting behavior.
Nationally from 1980 to 1990, the number of
commuters using single-occupant vehicles increased
by over 22 million--an increase that exceeded the
number of new commuters added during that period.
Thus each commuter mile traveled transports
fewer and fewer people, because more people are
commuting alone in their own cars, a fact not
adjusted for in Virginia’s 1986 gas tax/road building calculations.
Much
of the VMT increase is also due to people moving
farther away from their jobs, into the suburbs,
with their one-way commute now averaging 12 miles
nationally. This
creates great road building demand, as new
highways, secondary roads, and smaller streets
need to be built farther and farther out,
accelerating the shift to a vehicle-based
transportation system.
There was little talk of this link between
land use and transportation problems in
Wednesday’s session.
Griffith’s proposal to go after hybrids and other
low-mileage vehicles was another position
unsupported by facts.
It only makes sense if you look at Virginia’s transportation problems through a soda straw,
focusing solely on asphalt and concrete costs.
If you look at all of the secondary costs
of road-based transportation, it fails on a number
of counts.
Air
pollution from cars and trucks is a significant
cause of health problems.
Vehicle exhaust is a major factor in smog
and ozone that cause increases in respiratory
disease and asthma attacks.
Studies are showing direct links between
vehicle traffic on highways and adverse health
effects in adjacent communities, costs that are
never figured into transportation equations.
Neither
are other effects of vehicle pollution, such as
nitrogen oxides. Vehicle
exhaust is a major part of the nearly 30 percent
of the airborne nitrogen pollution entering the
Chesapeake Bay. Virginia
will spend over $4 billion to clean up nutrient
pollution under the Chesapeake Bay 2000 agreement.
None of the Bay’s vehicle-generated
cleanup needs are included in transportation
planning.
Hybrids
reduce tail pipe emissions of pollutants by nearly
90 percent. Conventional
low-mileage vehicles spew fewer pollutants per VMT.
When all costs are accounted for, it makes
sense to encourage, not discourage the use of
these vehicles-–or better still, provide vehicle
alternatives.
If
Virginia’s leadership wants to be creative about
transportation, they should focus their creativity
on solutions that fully integrate transportation
needs and costs into the current reality of the
Commonwealth. They
should avoid creative use of facts and outdated
accounting schemes.
--
December 13, 2004
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