Why do we have to choose?

by Ehren T. Bingaman, Executive Director

“INCREASE MOBILITY BY ENCOURAGING MULTIMODAL AND INTERMODAL SOLUTIONS, POLICIES, AND TECHNOLOGIES - AASHTO will collaborate with shippers and carriers, relevant associations, and additional partners to develop funding and policy initiatives that help state DOTs (departments of transportation) improve multimodal and intermodal passenger and freight mobility.”
-American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Strategic Plan, 2009-2013

Even the highway guys get it. AASHTO is the voice of the highway construction industry in the United States.

An investment in transit isn’t in lieu of investment in roads. Lots of people think it’s a choice – that we should do one or the other. Take for example the intersection of I-69 and I-465 in the northeast corridor of Central Indiana. Transit advocates will ask me why we can’t just put a rail line in that corridor rather than adding more lanes up to exit 5. The reality is transit wouldn’t be able to serve all the pent up demand in that corridor. On the other hand, adding lanes won’t meet the demand on the corridor during peak congestion (AM and PM commutes) on its own either.

Rail transit works best as a release valve for high demand corridors. It takes less time and money to add a train set in a high volume corridor than it does to add more lanes.

Busses and roads help each other in a different way. First of all, busses love good roads – so do bus riders! Second, busses take cars off of the road. Fewer cars on the road, aside from the positive environmental impacts, create two other opportunities: safety and movement. By reducing the number of cars on the road we make automobile travel safer. By reducing cars on the road we also make car and truck (big trucks, shipping) more efficient.

There’s a fine point to this because it boils down to money. I’ll write more about national transportation funding another time, for now let’s keep if focused on Indiana. Major Moves is the landmark road construction project of our state’s history. All of that money, all of it, will go to build roads and highways.

That’s great. That money is for roads. Leave it there.

Where’s our Major Moves for transit? Traditional road and highway folks agree, our infrastructure needs are great and the pot should be larger for investment in all modes of transportation. We shouldn’t be looking back, we should be looking forward. The next wave of Indiana’s transportation infrastructure construction needs to get focused on diversification. The highway guys have gotten theirs. And judging by their strategic plan the road people agree, it’s time for transit to get its do.

The pattern of choosing one investment strategy over another, when we need more of both, is a losing strategy.