CAMBRIDGE AND BURLINGTON SHOW SAME NEW PARADIGM--GOODBYE TO CARCENTRICITY

DEAR EDITOR: CAMBRIDGE, MA AND BURLINGTON, VT

The lead Boston Globe editorial last Sunday touted Cambridge, MA instituting a new paradigm of pushing developers and existing businesses and institutions to reduce parking and incentivize non-driving behaviors—and the startling result that the community prospers, car traffic is down and all the benefits from reduced parking spaces needed, pollution reduction, etc. come along for the ride.

This Blog for  a few month pointed to the various program initiatives, studies and statistics—all leading to the same paradigm.  Behaviors and a long term factors create a growing latent citizen demand for transportation change from carcentricity. Yes, the success of roundabouts, demand for bicycle facilities, and community bike rental systems, and rapidly growing public transit usage--all reflect contain the kind of benefits which enables and spurs this new paradigm to thrive.

The letter sent on Monday, August 20 is as follows:

“The University of Vermont, Champlain College and Fletcher Allen Health Care employ a third of Burlington's (VT) 30,000 workers.  This troika reduced solo driving by about 14 percent over the past decade, so you can change behaviors of folks anywhere with some simple incentives, new services and cooperative approaches ("More buildings,fewer cars help drive economic growth," Editorial Aug.19)--here in Vermont less cars, the same buildings!

A small office, Campus Area Transportation Management Association (CATMA), with a staff four serves the troika institutions.  Everything from regular drawings for merchant gift certificates for those walking and bicycling to work, discounted or free use of the transit system, and even private car share assistance for students to leave their cars at home rather than keeping them on campus--all contribute to the success in reducing solo driving and moving workers and students to alternatives to the solo drive.  Note New England states average car travel growth 2000-2010 hit an all time low of 3 percent with more states this decade likely to join Rhode Island which hit a negative number.  In Burlington during the last decade, low fare commuter buses began and now 46 buses daily ply three corridors into Burlington.  Lots of factors at play here, such as decades of stagnating wages, new transit services, and old time incentives.  The sanctity of solo driving really ended some time ago and the next step for Burlington clearly involves starting commuter rail services.  

When it comes to moving away from cars, we are long past the hope and hip deep in the change.”

FINALLY...CALIFORNIA CONSIDERS "ROUNDABOUTS MUST BE CONSIDERED"

FINALLY...CALIFORNIA CONSIDERS “ROUNDABOUTS MUST BE CONSIDERED” POLICY FOR ALL INTERSECTION INVESTMENTS

Current TV ads promoting the State of New York cite the State being historically first in lots of areas—including the first lengthy transportation canal—and asserts the State still a leader in industry and commerce today. Early last century New York led the nation in developing rules of the road, the beginnings of highway design and safety, and traffic management--largely through the efforts of William Phelps Eno who born in a wealthy family actually never got a driver license.

Eno also gets credit for taking a traffic concept from a French town planner and installed the first traffic circle in New York City in 1905, Columbus Circle. This precursor of the modern roundabout was followed shortly thereafter in 1907 by Paris' Place Charles DeGaulle (then Place l'Etoile), and a circle in the first “garden city”, new town Letchworth, UK in 1909. It is fitting then that New York became the home of the first “roundabouts only” policy begun in 2005. New roundabouts can now be found throughout the State in spite of recent funding constraints for highway investment. For example, the Town of Malta, a suburb of Albany, already has twelve roundabouts with two more in development. New roundabouts can also be found in the downtowns and town centers, for examples, Glens Falls, Hamburg, Plattsburgh, Voorheesville, and Albany itself.

The “roundabouts only” policy of the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) was joined by the Virginia department (a “preference” for roundabouts) and two Canadian provincial departments, British Columbia (first) and Alberta. The Canadian rules call for roundabouts use whenever “more than two-way stop control” is required to control traffic. Once in place “roundabouts only” policies lead to most new installations being roundabouts and conversions of most, if not all, signalized intersections to roundabouts.

The “roundabouts only” policy located in the NYSDOT “Highway Design Manual” is as follows:

9. Intersection at Grade
   5.9.1...when a project includes reconstructing or constructing new intersections, a roundabout alternative is to be analyzed to determine if it is a feasible solution based on site constraints, including ROW, environmental factors, and other design constraints.

...When the analysis shows that a roundabout is a feasible alternative, it should be considered the Department’s preferred alternative due to the proven substantial safety benefits and other operational benefits.

And California? Well behind the curve in adopting roundabout technology, the State transportation agency, Caltrans, seven years after New York moves towards a pro-roundabout approach as that agency ponders a policy which “requires consideration of a roundabout” when any investment takes place at an intersection. Within the past few years—really every year--California experienced high profile T-bone crashes at intersections, including the death of famed author David Halberstam and a horrific crash killing Anaheim Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart (who had just pitched an excellent game) and two friends when the car Adenhart was driving got T-boned by a by a car running a red light.

The emerging Caltrans policy helps propel other states and localities to moved towards “roundabouts only” policies for no other reason than safety, the primary reason behind pro-roundabout policies to date. (Of course at busy intersections roundabouts cut delay for all users, reduce pollutant emissions and gas use by about 30%, cost less to maintain, and enhance scenic quality.) On average, anything but a roundabout generates serious and fatal injuries at a 900% greater rate. For walkers, a single lane roundabout reduces fatalities by about 90% and at two lane roundabouts also reduce walker injury crashes significantly.

With proper designs, roundabouts overall provide a safety benefit to bicyclists.

Welcome to the roundabout age California!

BLOOMIN' ROUNDABOUTS

ROUNDABOUT BLOOMIN' COUNTRY—NORTH CAROLINA

The following message appeared on August 10 on the national “roundabout listserv” hosted by Kansas State University:

“I've been working on North Carolina's inventory, and we are now at 165 roundabouts across the state, including 17 under construction, and 99 on the State highway system, but not including about 45 programmed and funded for future construction.  Still waiting on updates from some larger municipalities before I'll be ready to send out our updated list.  One municipality told me they have 15 roundabouts that weren't on my list, but I haven't been able to confirm design/operations (in other words, if they're roundabouts rather than traffic calming circles or the like.)”

James H. Dunlop, P.E.

Congestion Management Engineer

Transportation Mobility and Safety Division

North Carolina Department of Transportation

The North Carolina data did not happen in isolation as New York, Washington, Kansas, Virginia and Wisconsin—among other states—feature roundabout “blooms”.

Vermont, once a leader in roundabouts, provides a yardstick for the North Carolina figures. Vermont roundabouts number 10 (eight built, two under construction) or 1.6 per 100,000 population. North Carolina roundabout per 100,000 population: 1.7.

California generally receives credit for being a true laggard in adopting roundabouts. A recent count on their state transportation agency, Caltrans, roundabouts on the state highway system of 20 compares to 99 on the North Carolina system and 9 for Vermont. On a roundabouts per hundred thousand population: Vermont 1.5, North Carolina 1.2, California 0.05. Yes, California deserves "laggard"  status.

CATMA THE BIGGEST LITTLE AGENCY IN VERMONT TRANSPORTATION?

CATMA THE BIGGEST LITTLE AGENCY IN VERMONT TRANSPORTATION?

Part 2: CATMA uses a range of program elements including cooperative arrangements to nudge—with astonishing success—more of its target population of 16,000 students and 10,000 employees away from solo commuting and towards walking, bicycling, transit, and car share

CATMA, the Campus Area Transportation Management Association, works an entire range of program elements from incentives for students to use the private Car Share Vermont services for not bringing a car to keep at campus to monthly drawings of gift certificates for Marketplace businesses from a basket of those who use non-solo driving to work.

Along with a universal free access to the Burlington's transit system (Chittenden County Transportation Authority [CCTA]) for University of Vermont (UVM) employees and students, program elements dropped solo driving to work by 14%, decreased cars student cars taking up valuable parking space at campus lots, and overall contributed to all the good things of decreased solo driving—reduced pollution, better health, a more efficient community, less traffic congestion, and lower infrastructure costs. Slightly more than half of troika employees solo drive to the workplace.

With solo driving to work stuck at about 75% for decades statewide (another roughly 12% carpool), shifting about one in seven solo drivers to alternates deserves attention for an accomplishment bordering on the miraculous. Of course, a couple of developments, particularly the emergence of dozens of buses serving three commuting corridors out of Burlington, contributed substantially to CATMA success, but CATMA brokering a number of programs and services deserves the overall credit for the performance to the benefit of its troika sponsors, their employees and students. The shift away from solo driving among CATMA member employees found in surveys dating from 2000 also finds confirmation in Census journey to work data from the 2000 Census to the recent 2006-2009 numbers for Burlington resident commuting trends.

The troika who formed non-profit CATMA--Champlain College (CC),Fletcher Allen Health Care (FAHC) and UVM—choose which program elements to participate in and to what degree. All three, for example, provide through CATMA a guaranteed ride home in case of a personal emergency at no cost to the employee. UVM employees and students receive full access to CCTA buses (including Link services) while FAHC provides CCTA passes at 50% discount and Link tickets at 25% discount. The “bike/walk” program rewards any participant with a $15 reward for at least 3 days per week walking and/or biking to work for a full 8 week period—the reward can be used downtown Church Street Marketplace merchants—currently the Roxy movie theater, the Ski Rack and City Market. This program operating since 2000 has awarded $20,000 so far and has 120 regular participants. For those who go to work other than by solo driving, in a second reward approach, three names are drawn monthly for a gift certificate.

CATMA runs a traditional ride-match program, and in cases where matches cannot be found the search expands to include downtown State of Vermont employees. Private downtown employers also participate in the guaranteed ride home service including the Chittenden Bank and City of Burlington downtown district employees. Services to State downtown employees began about 2005. The downtown State employees also participate in the bike/walk program and receive carpool materials. The State provides vans plus financial support for employees who form a vanpool through a program operated through a private company. The Vermont Agency of Transportation operates this “Go Vermont” vanpool program.

Note that federal tax policy allows any employer to provide incentives to carshare, bike and use public transit, incentives similar to a health savings account. However, use of these tax incentives while common in large metropolitan areas remain a rarity in Vermont. The one group still discriminated against in these federal tax incentives? Any one who walks to work, the most healthful and least polluting form of commuting.

CATMA, the “biggest little agency in the Vermont transportation”, continues to improve and expand its services with efforts beginning shortly to work with more private and public employers to institute one or more elements of programming generally described as “commuter share”, the field of aiding employers and employees to reduce expensive and inefficient home to work trips, particularly the solo driving type.

SLAYING THE SOLO COMMUTE DRAGON--THE VERMONT CASE

Slaying the dragon of transportation: the Solo Commute to Work

Part 1: How three major Burlington employers though a staff of four slayed the dragon of solo driving in the first decade of this century

No so many years ago the Burlington, VT “Campus Area Transportation Management Association”, CATMA for short, ventured into the land of solo driving with the purpose of shifting students and employees toward greener pastures: abandoning the solo commute to work, jumping onto public transit, leaving cars home during school sessions, getting into carpools, for those still insistent traveling by car shifting them part way by into using peripheral lots and taking shuttles to worksites or classes, and walking or bicycling part or all of any trip. The CATMA bosses—the troika of University of Vermont, Fletcher Allen Health Care and Champlain College—total 10,000 employees and and 16,000 students.

The huge CATMA bureaucracy of four employees documents through periodic surveys since 2000 an amazing alteration of the transportation landscape of its troika with a 18% reduction of solo commuting, students shifting in part from bringing their cars to using Vermont Carshare services, and through partnering with the Burlington area bus provider, CCTA, helping that service move about 500 commuters onto three radiating commuter corridors out of Burlington in the Link buses, services all started within the past few years.

The 2010 CATMA survey finding of 56% of workers still solo commuting compares to a figure of 74% in 2000, a drop of 18%.   In fact the solo driving of the employees at 74% in 2000 varied little from the Census 75% statewide average for all workers statewide. The drop of about 18% in solo driving 2000 to the end of the decade does not include another roughly 12% of the solo drivers who park in peripheral lots and bus shuttle to the workplace. All in all about 30% of the troika workforce of 10,000 switched off from “pure” solo commuting since 2000.

In the 1990s transportation policy makers and planners advocated shifting commuters from solo and the untested estimates were that perhaps 10% could be encouraged though rideshare programs and incentives to get to work in some other fashion than the solo commute. The U.S. Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) initiated a “commuter choice” program and Vermont was one of the test areas aimed at the private and public employers (CATMA coordinated that effort). Commuter choice concentrated mostly on "demand management", that is, shifting solo commuters so as to reduce the number of cars on the highways, needs for parking, etc.  Still, a Vermont Department of Labor employee benefits survey last year revealed that transportation subsidies by employers ranged from 4% for employers of 1-9 workers and only 10% for the largest employers of 250 or more workers.  (Note a surface parking space which costs $30-$60 a month did not appear to be a viewed a “transportation subsidy” to the empoyers responding to the State survey.)

A combination of initiatives and fortuitous parallel developments contributed to the success of the solo commuter reduction by CATMA.  Regardless CATMA stands the mythology of the unchangeable solo commuter with the ubiquitous Ipod playlist, Starbucks cuppa, and personal parking space into just that: a myth.  In following posts, elements of the CATMA program will be detailed, parallel developments decribed, and some of the federal transportation benefits outlined.

SHODDY BURLINGTON CLIMATE CHANGE PLAN?

The Burlington Climate Action Plan (BCAP) just issued apparently contains a serious overstatement of transportation growth in the three year analyzed, 2007-2010. Transportation, mostly car and truck travel, is the area which contributes about half of all global warming emissions in the City and the State. But, Vermont gasoline consumption declined 8% 2000-2010, as reported in the annual Federal Highway Administration statistics series. In fact the Vermont trend, if continued, would easily bring us to 1990 numbers by 2020 in view of stalled car travel and new vehicle fuel efficiency standards. Average motor fuel use for New England states increase was barely 0.6% average total for the 2000-2010 decade. Note the historic low New England State average car travel increase reached barely 3% last decade and Rhode Island car travel actually went negative.

Even more impressive data calls BCAP transportation data, conclusions and policies into question.   In addition about 500 commuters to and from Burlington using the Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA) "Link" services dailty by next June (about half on the Montpelier route with its 24 buses) traffic since 2006 on I 89 between Waterbury and Montpelier exits declined 7% 2006 to this spring.  Link services started early last decade and grew to the 46 buses each workday in three corridors out of Burlington.   In addition appreciate the truly miraculous work  since 2000 by the Campus Area Transportation Management Association (CATMA) efforts on behalf of their three key members--UVM, Champlain College, and Fletcher Allen with their 10,000 employees--cutting solo car commuting14%, reducing student and employee car use through providing universal access to CCTA buses, and identifying student reduction of bringing cars to campuses resulting from both the CCTA access and student use of a new car sharing rental service. The City needs to have the planners revisit the basis for the BCAP study and update--the estimate of car travel growth appears unrealistic and the BCAP does not appear to take into consideration the scope of the impact of CATMA demand management for the 2007-2010 analysis period and beyond.  The issue of addressing climate change is far to important to be the subject of the apparent shoddy work in the new BCAP plan. Planners and statisticians need to do better!

DUMP THE BURLINGTON PARKWAY NOW!

CHITTENDEN COUNTY'S TWO HIGHWAY BOONDOGGLES: (1) $70 MILLION CONTINUATION NOW RELEGATED TO HISTORY AND (2) THE $40 BURLINGTON PARKWAY NOW DESERVING ITS TURN AT OBLIVION

Chittenden County while a third of Vermont seems to hold a monopoly on giant highway boondoggles. After $40 million in planning and design funds spent, the Circumferential (Circ) highway continuation pegged at $70 million more money finally went to a deserved deep sixing last year. Burlington's City Council vote a few years ago against the Circ certainly aided its demise. Now Burlington could use some help from other Chittenden County towns to kill off the South End's decades old Burlington Parkway, another relic of the now long gone highway age as Vermont car travel likely  hits negative numbers for this decade. The Burlington Parkway boondoggle would mount to about $40 million if ever built.

Strangely, a simple two-lane street extending from Flynn Avenue along the Parkway right-of-way with simple intersections at Home Avenue and Pine Street “feeding” the waiting I 189 access stub, a “I 189 Feeder” if you will, would accomplish most of the stated purposes with little expense and avoid the specter of blowing out Pine Street, Lakeside Avenue and generally making a mess of an emerging mixed use neighborhood home to schools, commercial and light manufacturing, and residential areas. Much of the truck traffic to and from the west border along with commuters would use the I 189 Feeder thereby reducing traffic on neighborhoods, relieving traffic numbers on Shelburne Road, and make the mid-Pine Street area attractive for desirable land uses. Besides, it is the Lakeside Avenue connection and pressure on mid-Pine Street that draws the opposition, legimate in my view.

And the immense cost of the overall project—about $40 million—could fund, for example, the complete cost of rail upgrades and outright purchase of necessary passenger equipment for Burlington to Montpelier commuter rail with enough money left over to fund operating costs for a few years (Vermont's two Amtrak trains now receive about $4 million a year in State funds). 

Perhaps as important, if traffic represents the concern the way to reduce Pine Street traffic numbers already has been well proven in other parts of the City.

Burlingtonians and other Vermonters already show that with a little incentive they leave their cars home (or altogether) in droves. In the last few years alone, a third of Burlington-Montpelier commuters abandoned car travel for the Chittenden County Transportation Authority (CCTA) “Link” services (22 buses each workday) and Links now serve hundreds in three corridors out of Burlington with 46 buses. The 260 commuters on the Montpelier Link this coming year represent 10-15% of the peak traffic on I 89 between Waterbury and Montpelier with traffic down on the section by 7% since 2000. The point is we can now manage traffic and actually reduce it on busy streets, whether it is Pine Street or Main Street, as the old days of ever growing car travel has ended--Vermont and the rest of New England States grew an average of 3% for the entire decade, 2000-2010 and the average likely goes negative for the current decade.

The Burlington City Council can call a halt to the Parkway, request a refocus toward a I 189 Feeder and maybe reallocate funds to more needed priorities in this post-auto age, like commuter rail, roundabouts, and programs to encourage further use of less auto-centric modes of travel.