The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority has released its $46.6 billion transportation plan, TransAction 2030 (See the April preliminary report), and the Coalition for Smarter Growth is quick with a response.
Executive Director Stewart Schwartz praised the Authority for “developing the first set of evaluation measures and for prioritizing projects based upon those measures,” but expressed concern that the plan kept “sprawl-inducing outer beltways on the map” that would have the effect of fueling development speculation, which in turn would create even more transportation challenges.
Schwartz reiterated the familiar position that transportation cannot be considered in isolation from land use, and suggested that the following land-use measures should guide transportation investment:
- Providing significantly more residential housing in a redesigned, and more pedestrian-friendly Tysons Corner would offer the opportunity for many more people to live close to work, to walk and to take transit.
- Designing suburban communities with enough local street connections so that not every trip has to travel on a single arterial road.
- Designing suburban neighborhoods so that many daily needs, including schools, libraries, day care and stores, can be reached in less than a 15-minute walk or a very short car trip.
- Focusing corporate offices within walking distance to transit stations to maximize the number of commuters that use the transit system to get to
work. - Converting large areas of strip-shopping centers into a pedestrian-friendly main street with other local street connections would reduce driving on traffic-choked corridors.
Pithy Schwartz quote: “We must target limited transportation funds to support reduction in driving demand, in energy consumption, and in overall infrastructure needs.”