Roger Millar, secretary of the Washington Department of Transportation, critiqued the status quo of statewide approaches to transportation planning and investment.
Angie Schmitt shares news of a progressive leader at a state department of transportation—usually bastions of the status quo for transportation planning and engineering.
The subject of the article, Roger Millar, the head of the Washington Department of Transportation, recently addressed the annual gathering of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in Spokane last week, and Schmitt provides some of the perhaps surprising details of that speech.
Like, for instance, Millar saying that despite one of the highest gas taxes in the country, Washington can't afford more highway widening projects. " "About 71 percent of the state’s gas tax revenue is consumed by interest payments to pay off previously completed projects, he told AASHTO’s Joint Policy Committee."
That's not all. "The underlying cause of traffic congestion in the state of Washington is not insufficient road infrastructure, Millar said, but the dearth of “affordable housing and transportation solutions.” While people who can afford to live in city centers may have good transit options, housing in those areas is so scarce that lower-income residents are forced into long car commutes, he said…"
Schmitt is sharing news first broadcast by the AASHTO Journal.
Read the full story: Washington State DOT Chief: Fixing Congestion With Highways “Fiscally Impossible”
Planning for Congestion Relief
The third and final installment of Planetizen's examination of the role of the planning profession in both perpetuating and solving traffic congestion.
How Planning Fails to Solve Congestion
Solutions for congestion are never as simple and easy as armchair planners and engineers would like you to believe—especially those who suggest that congestion can be solved by forever building more roadway capacity.
Planning and the Complicated Causes and Effects of Congestion
What do planners know about congestion, and what can they do about it? Explanations and solutions are less obvious than they seem (part one of a three-part series).
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO resigns after $600,000 scandal
Under Ian Choudri, the authority used taxpayer dollars to fund first class flights and trips to nightclubs.
Want to study the Missouri River? Soon, you may need unanimous approval from 10 states
Legislation would require 10 governors’ permission to study or build projects moving water outside the basin.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority