For smart growth, urban development needs better transportation

May 9, 2018 | G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com

SPRINGFIELD – The conversation around this cocktail party at Theodore’s centered on one big subject: how to improve transportation options in the Pioneer Valley.

The Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance hosted, with the help of progressive activist Corinne Wingard of Agawam,  “TODrinks” on May 3. The “TOD” stands from “transit-oriented development” described as “a type of community development that includes a mixture of housing, office, retail and/or other amenities integrated into a walkable neighborhood and located within a half-mile of quality public transportation.”

The organization’s stance on transportation is detailed on its website (https://ma-smartgrowth.org): “While we firmly believe our state needs  to do a better job of maintaining our roads and bridges in good repair, the average annual cost of owning a car is about $9,000 and climbing. We need to expand walking, biking, and public transportation in a big way. Since people and businesses now want to be in vibrant, walkable areas, doing so will help our economy grow and meet our vast need for housing. Better transportation options also open economic opportunities for people without cars, such as youth, many seniors, and low-income residents. Finally, active transportation improves public health and helps fight global warming.”

While a group of about 20 area residents talked to one another, Reminder Publications spoke with Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance Executive Director Andre Leroux, who detailed some of the issues facing those wanting to improve mass transit and how it can be an economic engine.

While Leroux commended the growing rail presence in Springfield – the commuter trains connecting to Hartford and New Haven, CT start next month, joining current Amtrak service – he said it was not going to serve the needs of the local population most of the time. He questioned how transportation could build a “vibrant downtown.”

For him the answer is to look at a shuttle service that could have “frequency, predictability and comfort” that would connect jobs and housing centers, as well as supporting the state’s Regional Transportation Authorities (RTA), such as the PVTA.

He said the PVTA and others RTAs are suffering from inadequate funding and asserted the PVTA – which is looking at cutting services due to lack of funding – “has a lot of allies in other parts of the state.”

He believes transportation advocates should lobby the Baker Administration for the necessary funding.

“We have to invest in the RTAs or innovate,” he said.

Leroux said one of the easiest steps to take is to make an urban area “more walkable and bikeable.”

“These are cheap fixes,” he said.

Creating bike lanes in city streets doesn’t need to involve the physical restructuring of streets, but dividing them differently with new lane markings. Streets with parking could simply move the parking spaces away from the curb, creating a bike path next to the curb.

“These are the things you could do,” he said. Leroux added that neighborhoods could create “guerilla” bike lanes by creating space though the use of traffic cones or hay bales. It’s away to show local governments how bikes lands could work, he explained.

“We need to design streets to show what’s possible,” he said.

The addition of local housing downtown is vital to a healthy urban area and Leroux used Worcester as an example. He said it is now an “18-hour town” thanks to the addition of more housing downtown.

One major change in American society is that people used to go to where there are jobs. Today more people are seeking a standard of living and a lifestyle and then looking for a job where they ideally want to live, Leroux explained.

Making improvements in the local urban landscape help address the problem of people moving away from small and mid-size communities, Leroux said. Among those improvements include looking at living and transportation options as well as access to outdoors.

“New York City and Boston are sucking the talent from other parts of the country,” Leroux said.

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