Ballot measures

Houston: A tale of two transportation systems

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a photo of Houston from the north looking southeast.
The average American currently drives nearly twice as far each day as they did 30 years ago. Taking a cursory look at two radically different transportation plans for Houston, TX shows how the default position of federal transportation policy is to increase driving—and consequently pollution—by offering billions to states to build new roads and make existing roads wider, while making transit projects wait in line or compete for much smaller amounts of funding.

Transportation

‘Crossroads of America’ gets a bus lane

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This month on Building Better Communities with Transit we are joined by Sean Northup, Deputy Director of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization. Sean chats about the Indianapolis Red Line, the first of three BRT routes that will crisscross the region. Those lines and other transit improvements are being funded in part by local, dedicated funding which was won after a long and arduous process, as Sean explains.

Technical assistance Transportation

What the election showed me

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This election season was tumultuous and divisive. For me, as president of an organization working to improve Americans’ lives by building better communities, it has brought a mixture of uncertainty, alarm, and hope. First, the uncertainty. With regard to economic development, tax policy, housing, infrastructure, and other federal programs that affect communities, the policies of … Continued

Advocacy

Voters strongly support smart growth measures on Election Day 2014

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bar-harbor-meMaine’s small businesses, like these in Bar Harbor, will get new help thanks to yesterday’s passage of Question 3. Photo by Duluoz via Flickr.

On Tuesday, voters across America passed statewide, county-wide, and citywide measures in support of smart growth and better development strategies. Here’s a short roundup of what passed, what failed, and what it means for community development.

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More results in from Tuesday's elections show big wins for smart growth

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Photo by mystuart, via Flickr.

On Tuesday, voters from across the country overwhelmingly showed their support for smart growth, crossing partisan lines to support open spaces, land conservation, and public transportation.

“These votes demonstrate Americans’ commitment to strengthening communities and economies, as voters recognized the value of smart investments and how they can benefit their own neighborhoods and towns,” says Smart Growth America President and CEO Geoffrey Anderson.

The most recent results to come in this week include a $166 million parks measure in Houston, TX and a $77.7 million parks measure in Austin, TX.

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Ballot measure offers Atlanta an alternative to gridlock

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Traffic jam in Atlanta. Photo by Flickr user Matt Lemmon.

Though it won’t come as news to residents – or anyone who has visited the region – metro Atlanta has some of the worst traffic congestion in the country. The worst, in fact, according to a 2006 ranking by Forbes. Metro Atlanta residents spend an average of 43 hours per year stuck in traffic, costing individuals an estimated $924 per year in lost productivity and wasted fuel. Moreover, years of auto-oriented suburban growth and lack of investment in the regions’ MARTA transit system means that commuters looking for an alternative to the gridlock are largely out of luck. The region’s rail system currently serves only a small percentage of metro Atlanta’s 4.1 million residents.

That could soon change, however. In what is being billed as a watershed moment for metro Atlanta, voters in the 10-county Atlanta region will go to the polls on Tuesday, July 31, to vote on a referendum to raise an estimated $7.2 billion for transportation projects aimed at relieving Atlanta’s congestion and building out its transit network. The Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) would raise the region’s sales tax by 1 cent for ten years. 85% of the funds raised would be spent on a list of regional transportation projects developed by a “regional roundtable” of elected officials. Approximately 52% would go to transit projects, including an expansion of the MARTA heavy rail system and the Beltline Light Rail. The remaining 15% would go to each county for local projects.

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