Roads
I can’t tell you how many discussions I’ve had with other transportation professionals in which a proposal that would expand highway capacity is objected to on grounds that it would increase vehicle miles traveled and therefore worsen urban air quality.
That thinking was so pounded into us during the 1970s and ’80s that it’s become almost second nature. But in the 21st century, it’s wrong.
I cite two studies that have crossed my desk in recent months. The first, from the Foundation for Clean Air Progress, is “Ambient Air Quality Trends.”
It’s a careful analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data comparing recent measurements of the six criteria pollutants with levels of those substances in 1980 and 1990.
As such, it documents the large absolute reductions that have occurred during a time when economic output has increased 164% and vehicle miles traveled have increased 155%. The only pollutant for which progress has been only modest is fine particulates.
Against that factual background, it’s dismaying to find that seven out of 10 Americans think air quality has either gotten worse or stayed the same since 1970.
But even more encouraging is a forward-looking report by my Reason colleague Joel Schwartz, “No Way Back: Why Air Pollution Will Continue to Decline.”
Schwartz reviews what will happen with vehicle emissions during the next 20 years, drawing on modeling of fleet-average emissions done using EPA and the California Air Resources Board mobile-source emissions models.
Thanks to ever-tougher new-vehicle standards (already in place) and fleet turnover, vehicle emissions are going down 5% to 15% a year, while driving is increasing at less than 2% per year. Hence, emissions from motor vehicles will be about 80% below current levels 20 years from now, despite large increases in driving.
And don’t fret over the large market share for SUVs and pickup trucks; as of 2004, they have to meet the same federal and California emission standards as cars.
One of the few things that could slow this welcome progress is some new government mandate that, by making new cars significantly more expensive, would cut the rate of fleet turnover.
When we think about significant new investments in the highway system,high occupancy toll lane networks or toll truck lanes,the knee-jerk reaction in some quarters is: You could never get approval for that, due to air quality concerns.
But since large projects of this sort, even if approved in principle this year, would not likely open to traffic for another decade, vehicular emissions by then will be much lower than today. We urgently need to modernize the air quality conformity requirements for large transportation projects to catch up with this new reality.
Robert W. Poole Jr.
Director of Transportation Studies
Reason Foundation
Los Angeles
Most public testimony on the proposed completion of the Foothill (241) Toll Road in South Orange County focuses on the environment.
The Orange County Taxpayers Association cares about our environment too. But we have a different view.
Free-flowing traffic causes less pollution than stop-and-go traffic. Just as importantly, it generates economic wealth that enables us to maintain our parks, beaches, private land, housing, water and sanitary systems, flood control, landfills, recycling facilities, fire protection and other services that enhance the environment. Good roads, by their effect on our economy, are essential to our environment.
Here are more reasons OCTax supports the completion of the Foothill toll road.
User fees (tolls) are better than taxes.
Measurable results are better than unknown results. Drivers’ willingness to pay tolls is an absolute measure of customer satisfaction and investors’ judgment.
Practical solutions are better than waiting for miracles. The toll roads were planned as freeways, but there was no taxpayers’ money to build them. The Transportation Corridor Agencies stepped in and built 67 miles of first-class roads with investors’ money. When the bonds are repaid, the toll roads will become freeways at little cost to taxpayers.
Voluntary investment is better than taxes to build infrastructure. Toll roads are 85% funded by non-recourse revenue bonds, not taxpayer-guaranteed general obligation bonds. Development Impact Fees (11%) and grants (4%) pay the rest.
Reed L. Royalty
President
OCTax
Airports
My recent letter reported that local airports are experiencing record levels of passenger traffic, while domestic usage of Los Angeles International has dropped significantly since 2000.
The trend fits with subsequent news about Orange County adding six more gates at John Wayne Airport. The Los Angeles Master Plan for LAX calls for removing 10 of its passenger gates to restrict future passenger volume.
So is this adding regional airport capacity? No.
Leonard Kranser
Editor
El Toro Info Site
www.eltoroairport.org
Blaming Bush
A deep thought: After the wet winds comes the hot air.
If the liberals and Democrats were around a billion years ago, they would have claimed the huge meteor crashing into Earth, the Ice Age and the extinction of the dinosaurs were Bush’s fault!
Michael A. Glueck, M.D.
Newport Beach
State Legislature
In the last week of its session, the Legislature argued about what kinds of foods were natural or nutritious, whether illegal aliens should get drivers’ licenses, whether men could marry men and whether or not rich movie producers should get welfare.
Of course, none of these issues had anything to do with the real problems of California. Our houses cost too much, our freeways are overcrowded, our budget is out of balance, and we are running out of water, gasoline and electricity. Yet the Legislature has expended hundreds of hours, spent hundreds of millions of dollars, used up hundreds of thousands of pages of paper, (killing tons of trees) to accomplish absolutely nothing of consequence for the people of this state.
Ray Haynes
Assemblyman
R-Temecula
Blessedly for the people of California, the state Legislature has recessed until January. We voted on more than 150 items in just the past two days. Almost all of those bills passed, including the gay marriage bill, AB 849 (Leno, D-San Francisco).
The passage of this legislation entirely with Democratic votes was a demonstration of three characteristics of this legislature: Its arrogance toward the will of the people, its obedience to vocal special interests over the general interest and its pattern of distorting the reasons behind a proposal.
The voters of this state passed Proposition 22 just five years ago with 61% declaring marriage to be only between one man and one woman. Why don’t the legislators and their special interest qualify another initiative and give the people a chance to change their minds?
Because they’d lose and they know it.
Proponents say the legislation is about equal rights. But it isn’t. If their bill was truly about marriage equality for all, it would allow marriage between any number of human beings regardless of number, gender, age or any other factor.
They excluded these other groups because they drew a line based on their views of morality and biology. That line just happens to be in a different place than where most of us believe it should be.
It’s not about benefits either. Most of the legal benefits of marriage can be obtained either through domestic partnerships or through contract without any formal government-sanctioned relationship.
I don’t normally write about this kind of stuff. The many gay people I know and have known are aware that I don’t have a prejudiced bone in my body toward them. But there is an activist minority in their community who will not rest until they force their worldview on the rest of us.
Thank goodness the Governor issued his rapid and well-crafted veto message.
John Campbell
State Senator
R-Irvine
