INC NEWS - Column: The Outspokin' Cyclist: Repaving N.C. not right for Durham (Herald-Sun)

[John Schelp]

Column: The Outspokin' Cyclist: Repaving N.C. not
right for Durham
By Phillip Barron, Herald Sun, 4 April 2007

David Hartgen's plan to repave the state of North
Carolina might be accepted in some towns, but not in
Durham.

Hartgen, a professor at UNC-Charlotte, recently
released a study of transportation planning that looks
at urban areas around the state. His conclusions
simply amount to statistically backed reasons why
urban areas should reduce transit spending, divert
saved funds to highway construction and road widening,
and embrace the private automobile as the keystone
species in the ecology of economic progress.

The 200+ page study is available for download from the
John Locke Foundation's website, and I encourage you
to read it for yourself. At the very least, read the
15 page section on Durham because it is rife with
interesting tidbits that don't sit well with his
conclusions.

By his own admission, single-occupancy driving
declined in Durham between 1990 and 2000, the time
period at which his academic gaze is focused. The data
show, and so he also admits, that carpooling and use
of public transit increased. He notes further that
"Durham is the only urbanized area in the state to
report declining solo driving times and increased
carpooling and transit shares between 1990 and 2000."
You might think, then, that the conclusions he reaches
for Charlotte or Raleigh ought to differ from the
conclusions he reaches for Durham's future.

Across the state, however, it's all the same.
Eliminate transit. Widen roads. Pave early and often.

His consistency reveals his incorrigible proposition.
Any good social scientist knows that an "incorrigible
proposition" is a belief that answers to no one. It is
a telling sign that you've fallen prey to an
incorrigible proposition when your prejudices guide
your research in such a way that you always conclude
what you previously believed to be true.

"I think that Hartgen essentially approaches the issue
with blinders," says Durham resident Barry Ragin. "He
assumes that 'congestion' is the problem which needs
to be solved." In the case of Durham, congestion is
the problem that just hasn't happened yet.

Hartgen guesses (but can't cite any studies to back
him up) that a slow economy explains why people ride
the bus and carpool in Durham. So if his prognosis is
that the personal automobile is the cure for what ails
Durham's economy, then, you might wonder what Hartgen
recommends for combatting ozone pollution and bringing
the city into compliance with federal standards.
That'll take care of itself, he says, "as vehicles get
less emittting."

But emissions aren't the only concerns swirling around
the monolithic transportation infrastructure Hartgen
dreams of. "Hartgen calls for government to spend
heavily on more roads without imposing any land-use
restrictions -- a combination doomed to fail," says
Kevin Davis, senior IT manager at Duke. "If we don't
introduce transit and bike/pedestrian services in
combination with smarter growth, we'll end up as
gridlocked as poorly-planned, car-centric cities like
Houston and Orlando."

Instead of car-culture's monolith, a thriving city is
one with a truly multi-modal transit authority. That
is, the more options people have for getting around
town, the healthier the people of the town and the
healthier the economy. Hartgen implies that congestion
limits individuals' freedom by restricting their use
of the personal automobile. But a city without buses,
without bike lanes, without trains is a city without
options. Meaningful options are what people want, and
those options don't always look like more asphalt.

"This report suggests that the state should spend
money here on traffic-signal optimization instead of
public transit. That's ridiculous," says David Mills a
Durham resident and Executive Director of the Common
Sense Foundation. "Durham needs visionary leadership
to make public transit viable, not backward studies
such as this one."

Durham's residents have spoken loud and clear on this
issue. In response to the North Carolina Department of
Transportation's current plan to widen Alston Avenue,
which would turn it from a neighborhood street into a
mini-freeway, citizens and government representatives
expressed a united voice to say that Durham values its
pedestrians being able to cross streets safely.

Whether DOT will side with the John Locke Foundation
or Durham residents remains to be seen, but the
question remains for each of us to consider.

Do roads exist to serve people or cars?