Opinion: Develop public transportation, help economic recovery
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L.A.’s freeways and maddening traffic have spent the summer in the spotlight thanks to ‘Carmageddon’ and the debate around extending the 710 Freeway, which proponents says would ease congestion. In our Aug. 8 Op-Ed pages, Joel R. Reynolds, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council in Los Angeles, wrote that building more freeways won’t end L.A.’s traffic woes. Instead he argued for alternatives that would ease gridlock and boost the economy. After some debate on our discussion board about his Op-Ed, Reynolds offers this reply.
Several commenters have expressed a strong conviction that rapid transit, for reasons of geography and deep-seated preferences, will never work in Los Angeles -- that to suggest otherwise is a “pipedream.” In fact, while rebuilding a rapid transit infrastructure in Los Angeles is no easy task, we’ve already begun. 30/10 is an exciting initiative because its focus is accelerating that effort. As many highways as we can build will only add more congested pavement -- a failed strategy that will inevitably dig us deeper into gridlock. The transition away from virtually total reliance on the automobile can’t happen overnight, but it will happen over time if we give Southern California residents a viable alternative -- that is, the option to leave their car behind and still reach their destination. We have to prioritize and invest in that alternative today or we will forever be mired in the gridlock we already see today.
Other commenters cited cost as a reason to reject transit alternatives. The fact is that we will be funding transportation -- and in the process create jobs -- and there is legislation pending in Congress now to do that. The question is whether we will spend our limited funds on building more highways that have no long-term prospect of enhancing mobility or focus instead on transit alternatives that will reduce our dependence on cars. The overwhelming majority of commenters supported transit.
And if you think toll roads are a free ride for taxpayers, you may be interested to learn that the Orange County toll road agency has already applied for a $1-billion taxpayer bail-out through the federal TIFIA program for the Foothill-South toll road -- and the road hasn’t even been permitted, much less constructed and operated. No doubt that application is just the beginning.
Finally, don’t forget the hit California taxpayers would take from the loss of direct and indirect revenue if 60 % of the state park at San Onofre is closed for a toll road. Our state parks are a huge economic engine -- but not as a right-of-way for a six-lane highway.
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--Joel R. Reynolds