Enviros lose clout - can't muster opposition to highway widening
Posted Fri, 2007-06-01 18:23
Ten and 15 years ago it was tough to get political support for road widening in the US. On State Route 91 in California largely at the behest of the no-more widening crowd they wrote a ban on extra free capacity in the 1991 toll concession granted to California Private Transportation Company,
though later it was interpreted as protective of the concessionaire - which it was, though there had been virtual unanimity at the time that "We can't build our way out of congestion" and "We can't go on paving over America."
Ten years later there was a consensus that 13th and 14th lanes had to be added to the 12-lanes that were the maximum under the concession. Local officials lobbied successfully for a county buy-out of the concession in order to make allow the road widening. SR91 now has 14 lanes.
Florida under Gov Lawton Chiles (1990-98) had a statewide policy prohibiting any widening beyond 6 lanes. In a number of places in Florida highways are now being widened directly from 2x2 to 2x4 lanes. The I-4/Selmon Connector through Ybor City in inner Tampa will be 10 lanes from scratch.
Similarly in Maine in 1991 environmentalists managed to get a law passed with the name Sensible Transportation Act (read Sensible and you know immediately it has to be Nonsensical) prohibiting widening of the Maine Turnpike (I-95) - the state's main connector to the rest of America. Stymied in handling increased congestion by the Turnpike's 2x2 lanes and minimal shoulders, the Turnpike sponsored an allow-us-to-widen referendum in 1997. That turned the tide against the antis resulting in a 60/40 popular vote in favor of widening - a large chunk of which was done 2000 to 2004.
That was an intensive rebuild, involving replacement of almost all the crossroad bridges over the Turnpike to accommodate extra lanes, shoulder and safety clearzones for some 30 miles (48km) from MP12 to MP42 at Scarborough. That took the wider format to the Portland area.
That project was a big success.
But traffic continues to build north of Exit 42 through the west of the Portland area, and the Turnpike wants to extend the third laning to Exit 53 in Falmouth. Seeking legislative approval for this the Turnpike this week got legislative support (LD320/SP103) in the House 104 to 32 and it is expected to sail through the senate too.
Democrat House staffers looking for stuff to criticize in the Skyway and Indiana Toll Road concessions have cited "lack of extra capacity" requirements. These are the same sort of progressivist smartgrowthy/transitalternative people who a decade ago said the answer on roads was, not to build more, but to use existing capacity better. Now they want extra capacity, even on places like the Chicago Skyway where it isn't needed. The existing 2x3 lanes could handle twice the traffic that's there.
TOLLROADSnews 2007-06-01
though later it was interpreted as protective of the concessionaire - which it was, though there had been virtual unanimity at the time that "We can't build our way out of congestion" and "We can't go on paving over America."Ten years later there was a consensus that 13th and 14th lanes had to be added to the 12-lanes that were the maximum under the concession. Local officials lobbied successfully for a county buy-out of the concession in order to make allow the road widening. SR91 now has 14 lanes.
Florida under Gov Lawton Chiles (1990-98) had a statewide policy prohibiting any widening beyond 6 lanes. In a number of places in Florida highways are now being widened directly from 2x2 to 2x4 lanes. The I-4/Selmon Connector through Ybor City in inner Tampa will be 10 lanes from scratch.
Similarly in Maine in 1991 environmentalists managed to get a law passed with the name Sensible Transportation Act (read Sensible and you know immediately it has to be Nonsensical) prohibiting widening of the Maine Turnpike (I-95) - the state's main connector to the rest of America. Stymied in handling increased congestion by the Turnpike's 2x2 lanes and minimal shoulders, the Turnpike sponsored an allow-us-to-widen referendum in 1997. That turned the tide against the antis resulting in a 60/40 popular vote in favor of widening - a large chunk of which was done 2000 to 2004. That was an intensive rebuild, involving replacement of almost all the crossroad bridges over the Turnpike to accommodate extra lanes, shoulder and safety clearzones for some 30 miles (48km) from MP12 to MP42 at Scarborough. That took the wider format to the Portland area.
That project was a big success.
But traffic continues to build north of Exit 42 through the west of the Portland area, and the Turnpike wants to extend the third laning to Exit 53 in Falmouth. Seeking legislative approval for this the Turnpike this week got legislative support (LD320/SP103) in the House 104 to 32 and it is expected to sail through the senate too.
Democrat House staffers looking for stuff to criticize in the Skyway and Indiana Toll Road concessions have cited "lack of extra capacity" requirements. These are the same sort of progressivist smartgrowthy/transitalternative people who a decade ago said the answer on roads was, not to build more, but to use existing capacity better. Now they want extra capacity, even on places like the Chicago Skyway where it isn't needed. The existing 2x3 lanes could handle twice the traffic that's there.
TOLLROADSnews 2007-06-01