* This excuse is understandable politics, but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in the long or short term…

House Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego said transit funding should be addressed at the same time that a broad-based capital program is taken up to fund construction of schools, roads, bridges and other projects.

“For us to say we’re only going to take care of one component of a two-part problem is a mistake,” said Cross, who voted against the proposal. Suburban drivers, he said, expect the roads to be widened because they are “sick and tired of sitting in traffic.”

* Widening the expressways will probably just invite more cars onto the roads…

Widening and building new highways actually causes, not relieves, traffic congestion in Cincinnati and other major U.S. metropolitan areas, according to a new study presented [in 2000] to the 79th Annual Transportation Research Board in Washington, DC. The study estimated that up to 43% of traffic in Greater Cincinnati is caused just by expanding the area’s road network. The study also says that Tri-State traffic congestion would have grown less rapidly if no new or wider highways were built at all, contrary to what highway planners have predicted.

The study, “Analysis of Metropolitan Highway Capacity and the Growth in Vehicle Miles of Travel,” used data from the Texas Transportation Institute’s most recent database for 70 urbanized areas from 1982-1996. Using three models with different variables, the study found that highway-induced traffic in the Cincinnati area (including Northern Kentucky) increased by 14%-43%. Highway-induced traffic estimates for nearby metropolitan areas were 12%-35% in Columbus; 13%-30% in Cleveland; 20%-50% in Indianapolis; and 34%-77% in Louisville. The national average was 15%-45%.

“Simply put, this study adds to the growing evidence that traffic congestion has been made worse, not alleviated as road builders claim, by more and bigger highways. It follows that to reduce traffic congestion, and therefore air pollution and suburban sprawl, we need to stop building and widening sprawl-causing highways,” said Glen Brand, director of the Cincinnati office of the National Sierra Club. “Instead it would be smarter to plan our communities better so that we aren’t forced to drive everywhere, and to provide greater transportation choices such as commuter light rail and expanded bus service.”

The study’s authors, Robert Noland, University of London Center for Transport Studies and William A. Cowart, ICF Consulting in Fairfax, VA., conclude that “induced travel effects strongly imply that pursuit of congestion reduction by building more capacity will have short-lived benefits. This may be evidence for a strong sprawl inducing impact of large increases in lane mile capacity relative to the existing infrastructure.

* More…

There is no shortage of hard data. A recent University of California at Berkeley study covering thirty California counties between 1973 and 1990 found that, for every 10 percent increase in roadway capacity, traffic increased 9 percent within four years’ time.3 For anecdotal evidence, one need only look at commuting patterns in those cities with expensive new highway systems. USA Today published the following report on Atlanta: “For years, Atlanta tried to ward off traffic problems by building more miles of highways per capita than any other urban area except Kansas City…As a result of the area’s sprawl, Atlantans now drive an average of 35 miles a day, more than residents of any other city.”· This phenomenon, which is now well known to those members of the transportation industry who wish to acknowledge it, has come to be called induced traffic.

The mechanism at work behind induced traffic is elegantly explained by an aphorism gaining popularity among traffic engineers: “Trying to cure traffic congestion by adding more capacity is like trying to cure obesity by loosening your belt.” Increased traffic capacity makes longer commutes less burdensome, and as a result, people are willing to live farther and farther from their workplace. As increasing numbers of people make similar decisions, the long-distance commute grows as crowded as the inner city, commuters clamor for additional lanes, and the cycle repeats itself. This problem is compounded by the hierarchical organization of the new roadways, which concentrate through traffic on as few streets as possible.

The phenomenon of induced traffic works in reverse as well. When New York’s West Side Highway collapsed in 1973, an NYDOT study showed that 93 percent of the car trips lost did not reappear elsewhere; people simply stopped driving. A similar result accompanied the destruction of San Francisco’s Embarcadero Freeway in the 1989 earthquake. Citizens voted to remove the freeway entirely despite the apocalyptic warnings of traffic engineers. Surprisingly, a recent British study found that downtown road removals tend to boost local economies, while new roads lead to higher urban unemployment. So much for road-building as a way to spur the economy.·

More here.

* Even so, people love their cars, likening them to “personal freedom,” and they don’t like to be told anything that might disrupt their views of life. A suburban politician has to be in favor of building more roads and widening current byways or s/he is dead political meat.

And then there’s the very real problem that people like those who live in Cross’ district face. They don’t have easily accessible mass transportation options, even if they work in the Loop.

Until those people have viable alternatives, it’s impossible to tell them that mass transit should be in the mix.

Then, of course, there’s the problem of Downstate, which resents any cash spent on Chicago-area transit, even though Downstate gets more than half of all road money, with less than half the population.

* But hiking fares too much can backfire…

Metra’s letter cited ridership losses resulting from fare increases during the 1980s to deal with worn-out equipment the agency acquired when it took over commuter rail operations from private freight carriers.

“We have brought this system back [from] the depths,” Pagano said. “The bottom line is if we don’t get the money … we will go back to where we were.”

Ridership is up right now because of high gas prices. It’s the same principle. Rising prices in one sector causes consumers to flee to alternatives. Solutions are not easy, which is why the leadership vacuum in this state right now is so frustrating.

* More transit stories, compiled by Paul…

* House rejects CTA bailout as cuts near

* Illinois House blocks bill to aid mass transit

* Bethany Jaeger: Transit trouble

* Chicago Public Radio: RTA still needs cash

* Lawmakers reject measure to raise regional sales tax

* Fare hikes more likely as transit bill fails

* Lawmakers say bridge needs are great, but money still a question