Taking action: This week at the Capitol, supporters called on
legislators to fund transportation now.
In a surprise move a week ago, freshman senator Melisa
Franzen offered an amendment on the Senate floor to the Omnibus Transportation
Funding bill to provide new funding for roads and transit. That amendment
passed and, soon after, the entire bill was adopted. HF 1444 (previously SF 1173) includes a
phased-in half-cent increase in the metro area sales tax for transit, and a
phased-in increase of 5 cents in the state gas tax. The amended bill also
includes a small percentage for bicycle and pedestrian connections, and increases transit funding for Greater Minnesota, meeting 70
percent of the need. Together, these investments will put Minnesota’s transportation
system on the right path for the future. The question now is whether these
elements make it into law this session.
TLC and the Transit
for a Stronger Economy coalition have advocated all session for a funding
bill that will greatly expand transit, and safe, accessible bicycling and
walking connections. This past Wednesday, the coalition gathered outside the
Governor’s office and marched to Speaker Thissen’s office. The walls of the
Capitol echoed with voices calling, “Transportation Now!”
This week, the Minnesota House and Senate have been
conferencing the bold Senate bill with a “lights on” House Transportation
funding bill that offers no increase in funding, but rather keeps status quo
transportation budgets in place. The
Conference Committee is comprised of the following legislators.
Senate
House
Dibble
Hornstein
Champion
Bernardy
Carlson
Beard
Jensen
Erhardt
Kent
Sundin
There is still hope that end-of-session negotiations will
get the job done on transportation. One possibility is that the half-cent sales
tax will be packaged with $300 million in trunk highway bonds and as yet
unnamed additional funding for roads. Another funding effort is a House bonding
bill, championed by Rep. Alice Hausman, with funding for Southwest light rail
and other key transit projects.
All session,
Governor Dayton has remained committed to his budget proposal, which includes a
half-cent increase in the metro sales tax to significantly expand the metro
area transit system. Let’s thank the Governor (click
here or call 651-201-3400)
and inspire him and legislative leaders to get the job done in the final few
days.
The Transit for a Stronger Economy coalition will remain
engaged in legislative action right up to the final bell—in this case, Monday,
May 20. We encourage other transit,
bicycling, and walking advocates to do the same, and to keep the pressure on
your elected officials through the weekend!
By Teresa Roark, TLC Intern, Graduate
Student at U of M School of Public Health
Throughout this legislative session,
Transit for Livable Communities has been facilitating the Transit for a Stronger Economy coalition.
Our coalition’s name emphasizes the positive economic impact of increased
transit, but the benefits of public transportation are broad. Not surprisingly,
the list of Transit for a Stronger Economy’s 52 member organizations is equally
broad, representing a variety of sectors, including public health. Earlier this
spring, coalition partner Rachel Callanan, Regional Vice President of Advocacy
for the American Heart Association and Chair of the Minnesotans for Healthy
Kids coalition testified in favor of increased funding for transit, bicycle,
and pedestrian improvements. In her testimony, Callanan made a strong
connection between transportation and health. As she emphasized, greater
investments in transit and active transportation options are likely to have positive
health implications for Minnesotans, while also saving our state money in
health care costs.
Lack of physical activity is associated
with a number of chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, and obesity.
The Surgeon General recommends that adults get at least 30 minutes of daily
physical activity. Almost half of American adults do not meet this
recommendation. But as Callanan noted, “Increased access to public
transportation may provide more opportunities for physical activity as most
transit trips begin and end with walking.” In fact, Callanan said, “Public transit
users spend an average of 19 minutes daily walking to and from transit. . . . This
modest amount is significant enough that it could reduce the obesity epidemic
and its related health costs.”
Improved physical health is not just
important for individuals who currently don’t exercise. We will all benefit
from lower health care costs. Callanan shared research conducted by the
American Heart Association that predicts that the “healthcare costs from
obesity alone could exceed $861 billion by 2013, which would account for at
least 16 percent of U.S. health expenditures.” By acting now and increasing
funding for transit, bicycling, and walking, we can prevent this astronomical
increase in health care costs.
Transit, bicycling, and walking are good
for Minnesota’s economy, but these transportation options are also good for our
health. As the diversity of our coalition members reminds us, the potential
benefits we will see when the legislature passes a comprehensive transportation
funding bill are many—hopefully too many for elected officials to ignore.
Update: Bill passes 35-27!
Update (8pm): Senate passed amendment but is still debating the transportation finance bill.
Late this afternoon on the Senate
floor, Senator Melisa Franzen (DFL) District 49, introduced an amendment
to the transportation finance bill to phase in increases in both the
metro area sales tax for transit and the gas tax. The amendment passed,
dramatically reviving hopes for action this session on behalf of
transportation needs statewide.
The amendment includes
funding for transit (bus and rail), bicycling and walking projects, and
road and bridge projects statewide. The bill, now through the Senate, if
enacted would increase the regional sales tax for transit in all seven
metro counties by 1/4 cent sales tax now, with 1/4 cent next biennium.
The bill would also raise the gas tax by 2.5 cents now and 2.5 cent gas
tax next biennium. The bill also increases funding for Greater Minnesota
transit and safe routes to school.
All eyes turn next to the House-Senate conference committee.
The Metropolitan Council’s new regional development plan, Thrive
MSP 2040, will set the framework for how the Twin Cities metro area will grow
over the next 30 years. It will
influence the footprint of the developed area, including how much land will be converted
from farmland and open space to housing and employment sites. It will set
targets for affordable housing and establish goals for parks and water quality.
And Thrive MSP will also influence our region’s future mix of transportation options:
Will we invest in more highway lanes and new interchanges? Or will our region
shift investments to additional public transit, bike routes, and sidewalks along
with the repair of existing roads?
You Have the
Power to Influence this Plan
This spring, the Metropolitan Council is seeking input on the plan.
We strongly encourage you to tell the Council what investments matter most to you,
and what kind of community you want to live in going forward. Your ideas
matter! Share
them online, or participate at an upcoming
Thrive MSP Roundtable Discussion near you.These roundtables will focus on four issue areas: 1) Regionally significant
economic places, 2) land use and transit, 3) affordable housing priority,
location and need, and 4) water supply and a thriving region.
With regard
to land use and transit,here are three key points to keep an eye on when
you comment on Thrive MSP:
** Affordability =
Opportunity. Thrive MSP should make sure the entire
region has convenient access to transit and safe, accessible bicycling and
walking options.
The Thrive MSP Transportation Goal should include the word
“affordably.” Today’s transportation system works pretty well for people who
can afford to drive a car, largely connecting motorists with destinations
safely and reliably. But it nearly requires owning a car—a huge cost to
families in the region. For young adults, the elderly, people with a
disability, or others without the means for car ownership, this burden limits
opportunity and makes home ownership, educational advancement, and personal
health harder to achieve. We can advance
Thrive MSP’s equity principle by prioritizing affordable transportation options.
For example, materials for the Thrive MSP Roundtable discussions ask, “How
could transit investment decisions enhance access to opportunity for low-income
and people of color. . . . ?” We think the best way to enhance access to opportunity
is to increase investment in transit, bicycling, and walking – affordable options.
** Connect the Dots to Climate
Change.Thrive MSP should help
achieve Minnesota’s goal to reduce climate change by setting and measuring
goals for the percent of trips by transit, bicycling, and walking in our
region.
If our region is to dramatically reduce emissions that contribute
to climate change, Thrive MSP needs to include a specific goal (as is already
in state statute) for the share of trips made by public transit, bicycling, and
walking that will help to achieve the state climate goals. To make progress
toward those goals, the Met Council needs to explicitly advocate for the
funding and policy change necessary to expand the availability of these
transportation options. Transit emits a
fraction of the pollution of driving alone, and bicycling and walking are
emissions free.
**
Transit-Supportive Land Use.Thrive MSP should encourage most new
development inside the I-494/I-694
beltway and along transitways or near high-frequency
transit.
As Thrive MSP Roundtable materials state, “Over the last 60 years, our rapidly expanding region built a network of
highways and grew outward around them. This new development provided jobs,
homes, schools, and recreation for the region’s residents. However, this
development pattern is not sustainable.”
We agree with the Metropolitan Council. Planning for the majority of
new growth (housing and employment sites) to occur where there is current
infrastructure (roads, utilities, schools, etc.) in place, along major bus
corridors and transitways, and inside the I-494/694 beltway where density
levels are favorable for providing efficient transit makes good economic and
environmental sense.
These
materials also ask, “How could local land-use decisions improve the future
viability of transit?” The Council can do this by ensuring that
Thrive MSP is more specific, with clear goals, identified growth areas, and by channeling
incentive funding into investments that help to achieve the plan’s goals.
Stay
Informed, Get Involved
The Metropolitan Council will be working on Thrive MSP through the
end of 2013, with adoption planned for February 2014. Because this plan will
provide a strategic vision for the Twin Cities for decades to come, we
encourage you to get involved, online
or in person, throughout the process.
For more on this topic, don’t miss our other recent blogs in the
Thrive MSP series:
Supporters of comprehensive transportation
funding filled the Capitol Rotunda at a lively rally Wednesday morning.
Comprehensive
transit /transportation funding bills are still alive in the Minnesota Senate
and House. The metro area transit funding package that TLC has advocated includes
substantial new funding for buses, rail and bicycle and walking options. There
have been numerous ups and downs (as is typical for a major bill). A Senate
bill being voted on today, however, gives us renewed hope. See more detail below.
Transit
advocates appreciate Governor Dayton’s leadership. His proposed budget includes a ½ cent increase in the metro area
sales tax for transit. There is consensus by Capitol experts, however, that
this plan will only be passed by the House and Senate if it is combined with
significant new funding for roads and bridges. The logic for this is that
Minnesota legislators have always addressed transportation as a statewide issue.
Greater Minnesota legislators are more likely to vote for a package that addresses
road, bridge, and transit needs in their districts.
Moving
separately in the House is a capital investment bill championed by
Representative Hausman that includes significant bonding for public transit,
Safe Routes to School, local roads, bridges, and trails. The Senate has yet to
take up a bonding bill this session, so the path for adoption is still unclear.
Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak with
supporters at today’s rally for transportation funding.
Transit
advocates are joining with proponents of funding for roads and bridges, working
hard at the Capitol, reaching legislators through phone banks, and hosting a
Rally at the Capitol today.
All these
efforts reflect the strong support for major transportation investments this
session. We believe the Governor and legislative leaders (speaker Thissen in
the House, and Majority Leader Bakk in the Senate) should pass into law a
balanced transportation bill that addresses the statewide need for transit,
roads, bridges, and bicycle and pedestrian connections.
In her remarks at today’s rally, transit
advocate and North Minneapolis resident Kenya McKnight emphasized that all
communities need transit options, safe roads, and bicycling and walking connections.
The bill supported
by TLC and the Transit for a Stronger Economy coalition earlier this session included
increased transit funding as well as substantial new dedicated funding for
bicycle and pedestrian improvements in the metro area. We’re happy to report
that these elements remain in place in both the Senate transportation bill (which
will be heard Wednesday evening in committee) and in a House bill that is
working its way through various committees.
The resounding message at the Capitol
today: transportation is essential for a stronger economy, transportation bills
are jobs bills.
Senate
Transportation Bill includes the following:
Transit/bike/walk
• ½-cent increase in the metro area
sales tax for transit (buses and trains), which will rapidly accelerate the
build out a 21-st century transit system.
• Dedicated funding for bicycle and
pedestrian improvements, and planning studies for streetcars.
• $10 million additional funding per
year for Greater Minnesota transit.
Roads/bridges
• A tax at the distributor level on fuel
(this exists already in more than a dozen other states) combined with a
reduction of the gas tax.
After the rally, TLC and Transit for
a Stronger Economy coalition partners headed to Governor Dayton’s office to
deliver hundreds of postcards and messages supporting increased funding for
transit and safe, accessible bicycling and walking.
The message
is clear: we need a comprehensive transportation bill and the Senate has a good
plan. The Senate bill will be heard in committees over the next week. We are hopeful
that the House will take up a similar bill. Please help us keep the pressure to
pass a strong and balanced bill this session (take action here).
It’s essential for a stronger economy for all Minnesotans.
Report: Motor vehicle crashes that involve a bicyclist or pedestrian represent 3 percent of all crashes, but 12 percent of fatalities.
By Barb Thoman, Executive Director
Every year, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety
releases a report about death and injuries on Minnesota’s roads. The 100-plus
page report, with the title Minnesota
Motor Vehicle Crash Facts, contains information and statistics about
crashes—who is involved (car, motorcycle, pedestrian), the likely causes, when
and where they occur, etc. I’m always surprised that the annual release of this
report isn’t more widely covered in the media.
TLC took a look at the most recent report and summarized the
information about bicycle and pedestrian crashes in a new policy brief. The
latest report, Crash Facts 2011, found that motor vehicle crashes that involve
a bicyclist or pedestrian were 3 percent of all crashes, but 12 percent of
fatalities. Over the last 10 years, an average of 40 pedestrians and 8
bicyclists died on Minnesota’s roads annually.
TLC’s policy brief also addressed information on bicycle
crashes that occur, but are not included in Crash Facts. Because of federal
reporting protocol, bicycle crashes that occur on public roads but do not
involve a motor vehicle are not included. A separate database maintained by the
Minnesota Department of Health showed that five times as many people were
injured in a bicycle crash as were reported in the 2011 Crash Facts. One of the
people injured was my husband, who fell after hitting a rock in a bike lane in
Saint Paul. He had surgery to repair several bones in his hand.
Despite ongoing
safety concerns and growing rates of bicycling and walking, bike and pedestrian
safety has long been underfunded. The new federal transportation law, MAP-21,
increases funding for traffic safety. TLC hopes that the state’s new traffic
safety plan, which will be developed in 2013, will increase attention and
funding for programs and projects that improve safety for bicyclists and
pedestrians. Bicycling and walking are good for public heath, the environment,
and community livability. The safer it is to walk and bicycle, the more people
will participate.
To learn more, including the leading causes of bicycle and pedestrian crashes, read our brief on Crash Facts here.
By Linden
Weiswerda, The Trust for Public Land (guest blogger)
Editor’s
Note: Our Twin Cities metro region is well known as a place where cityscape
meets green space. Millions visit our robust regional park system each year.
But did you know that most arrive by car? Some efforts are already underway to
connect more residents and visitors to Twin Cities parks in other ways. For
example, the Sierra Club North Star Chapter regularly leads outings to parks
and natural areas via transit. Nice Ride MN bike sharing will begin serving expand service to Mississippi River Park and Recreation Area this summer. And next year, new bus service on Lexington
Parkway will improve access to Saint Paul’s Como Park–one of our most visited
regional parks. As our region’s population grows and the regional park system
expands, will current transportation options ensure the parks are accessible to
all? Here, guest blogger Linden Weiswerda with The Trust for Public Land makes
the case for continuing to improve transit service to our regional parks.
Minnehaha
Regional Park, Minneapolis
Have you ever ridden a bus or light rail train to your nearest regional
park? Chances are high that your answer is no. According to the last Regional
Parks and Trails Survey (2008), less than 1 percent of people arrive at
Twin Cities regional parks and trails via public transit. While the Minneapolis-Saint
Paul region is filled with a diverse array of popular regional amenities that
can be reached by multiple modes of transportation, our regional parks largely remain
an untapped destination for the regional transit system.
The Twin Cities regional park system—which
includes sites from the Chain of Lakes Park in Minneapolis to Big Marine Park
Reserve in Washington County, and 49 other parks and park reserves—is an invaluable
asset that helps keep our region thriving and acts as “the state parks of the metro
area” (Metropolitan Council). As the largest and most natural public lands in our
metro area, the regional parks provide a unique experience for visitors. In
addition to protecting the most important and sensitive natural areas in the
Twin Cities for current and future generations, they are central to creating
healthy and enjoyable communities. And enjoy them we do, with over 44 million
visits annually to the regional park system. Time after time, surveys cite that
parks are one of the top reasons people find the Twin Cities region attractive
and want to move here.
Crosby
Farm Regional Park, Saint Paul
However, the 2008 Regional Parks Survey also found that almost 60
percent of visitors to the parks arrive by “auto, truck, RV, or van.” Meanwhile,
as
Transportation for America reports, 40 percent of Minnesotans are
without a driver’s license, exceeding the national average of 32 percent. If large
numbers of residents in the region cannot get to the regional parks and trails to
enjoy them except by car, how can this significant segment of our population benefit
from the regional parks? Combine this with decreasing rates of car ownership,
particularly among younger and older demographic groups, and the regional park
system could actually become less accessible over time—unless our region does
more to improve transit service to these destinations.
The current Twin Cities transit system provides limited means for
travelling to regional parks, in part because peak service times are tied to
the typical work commute. Transit services run most frequently during rush
hours on weekdays. However, park use generally peaks for special events, in the
evenings, and mostly on weekends.
Baker
Park Reserve, Three Rivers Park District
Livable communities are active seven days a week and throughout
the day as well. For comparison, think about a movie theater and office
building that share a parking lot. During the week office employees fill the
lot, and in the evenings and on weekends moviegoers take the same spaces. As a
result of this shared use, the parking area needed to meet demand has a reduced
development footprint, smaller amounts of pavement and stormwater runoff, and
generally has created a more efficient community that is utilized more of the
time. Increasing connections among the regional transit and regional parks and
trails systems could similarly benefit both systems, picking up more transit
riders in off-peak times and making regional parks more accessible to more
people at more times.
In building an efficient transit system, one with more housing
options and other development near stops and stations and with higher rider capacity,
we should also be sure that our transit system connects as many regional
attractions as possible, perhaps by both siting new parks near transit lines
and by extending bus service to parks in current off-peak travel times. Our regional
park system is also growing: current plans are to add more than 15,000 park acres
and 700 miles of trails by 2030. By taking advantage of that growth, we can
ensure that people can ride the bus or train, bike, or drive to their choice of
regional parks.
If you’d like to explore a fun tool for seeing which regional
parks (or other regional amenities) you can reach via transit in a certain
amount of time, check out Mapnificent.
Mapnificent is an online tool (still in an early phase of development) that shows
you the area you can reach via public transportation from any point in a given
amount of time. (A sample map for regional park destinations is pictured
below).
Mapnificent generated this map of regional parks
(red) that can be reached by transit from downtown Saint Paul (orange) in 30
minutes or less. (Note: Mapnificent does not work in Internet Explorer, but
will work with other major web browsers.)
For a map to all the regional parks and a list of the activities available,
visit the Regional
Parks page of the Metropolitan Council, which links to the local park
agencies who manage the regional parks and trails as well as their local park
systems.
All featured
images provided courtesy of The Trust for Public Land.
Transit for Livable Communities is calling on legislators
and the Governor to find a way to get a strong transportation bill passed this
session. This week comprehensive transportation bills are moving through House
and Senate committees. Transportation laws are usually statewide. In the metro,
we have an historic opportunity to build out the regional transit system (bus
and rail, bicycling and safe, accessible walking) in fifteen years, not
whenever. We know this has statewide impact, but also that there are
transportation needs in the metro and greater Minnesota for roads, bridges, and transit.
There are corridors of commerce, safety and congestion issues, and farmers who
need to get to market on bridges in good repair.
So we are saying to the legislature—find a way to get this
done. This session!
This region needs an additional ½-cent for transit in the
metro to get residents to work affordably and on time. This state needs to
address critical infrastructure needs. If we don’t act this session, we send a
signal to everyone that Minnesota is sitting on its hands, ready to watch other
regions get ahead of us, have our children move there to work and raise
families, have corporations decide this state isn’t serious.
Just as with education reform, we’re looking at the toddler
today and saying we need a transit system that reaches across the metro by the
time that child is ready to go to college. It’s about affordability, it’s about
attracting and retaining jobs, it’s about access to jobs (in the core and in
the suburbs), it’s about seniors aging in place. We also know it’s about
creating healthy, livable communities—with less pollution and more active
lifestyles.
Statewide, we need to address key corridors of commerce and
ensure safety of our roads and bridges. We also have a huge unmet need for
transit across the state.
We all depend on our infrastructure every day to get us
where we’re going. The legislature needs to act this session to make sure we
have funding for all our transportation needs. This is not a time to sit back
and wait.
What can you do?
1)
Help us pack the Rotunda for a Transportation
Rally at the Capitol. Wednesday, April 17, 10:00-11:00 am. Stay longer if you
can to meet with your legislator. Info
/ RSVP here.
2)
Visit http://www.transit4mn.org/p/get-involved.html
for links to use to call your legislator. Make sure your elected
representatives know you support increased revenue for transit, roads and
bridges this session.
Nearly
130 communities across the United States adopted Complete Streets policies in
2012, and Northfield, Minnesota, was one of the best.
That’s
according to the National Complete Streets Coalition, a Washington-based organization
dedicated to Complete Streets advocacy. On Monday the Coalition released its
list of Top 10 policies of 2012, and number 5 on the list was Northfield Policy
Resolution 2012-017.
“Northfield’s
policy should be a national standard,” said Stefanie Seskin, Deputy Director of
the National Complete Streets Coalition. “It takes a strong stand for everyone
who uses our streets, including people young and old, walking, driving, or
bicycling, riding a bus or out shopping.”
“This award is partly about recognizing Northfield’s leadership on this issue.
It’s also about showing other cities what a great Complete Streets policy looks
like. Northfield has done that extremely well,” Seskin said.
“Transit
for Livable Communities is a strong supporter of Complete Streets,” said Barb
Thoman, executive director. TLC participated in the MnDOT study of complete
streets in 2009 and was a member of the statewide Complete Streets Coalition
that worked for passage of the state Complete Streets policy in 2010. TLC staff
member Steve Clark currently serves on MnDOT’s Complete Streets Advisory Group.
Many of the projects funded through the federal program Bike Walk Twin Cities
that TLC administers are projects that work to make streets, segments of
streets, or intersections “complete.”
Complete
Streets policies help make sure everyone—regardless of age, ability, income, or
ethnicity, and no matter how they travel—can get around safely and
conveniently. In many cities that means changing how roads and sidewalks are
designed and built, to be “complete” streets.
See
the full list of this year’s Complete Streets policies and learn more about
what makes a great Complete Streets policy at www.smartgrowthamerica.org/complete-streets-2012-analysis. Also of
local interest, Maplewood, Minnesota, a Twin Cities suburb with a population of
38,000, recently adopted a Living Streets policy, the culmination of an
extensive stakeholder process to establish a common vision for the community's
future.
New
data from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) show the average
American drove 9,360 miles in 2012—44 fewer miles than they drove in 2011. More
surprising is that the peak in miles driven per
person (aka vehicle miles traveled, VMT) occurred back in 2004, when
Americans, on average, drove 10,118 miles. Driving per person is down 7.5
percent over the last 8 years. This persistent decrease in driving is occurring
as transit ridership, bicycling, and walking are all increasing (e.g. The American
Public Transit Public Association just announced
a record 10.5 billion rides on US public transit in 2012; the 2012
Bike Walk Twin Cities Count Report shows that in the Twin Cities over the
last 6 years bicycling is up by 51 percent and walking by 24 percent).
Looking at this trend in a different way, the FHWA also reports
total miles driven in the US rose
slightly in 2012, but the percentage of the increase was less than the increase
in population for the year. Total miles driven in the US peaked at 3 trillion
in 2006 and 2007, and hasn’t hit the 3-trillion-per-year mark again since.
A variety of factors have been cited
for the decline, including retiring Baby Boomers; less enthusiasm for cars
among Millennials; a move in many places toward more compact and mixed-use
development; and demand-side policy efforts, including TDM [travel demand
management], tolling, and market-pricing of parking. In addition, some trends
that fueled VMT growth in the last century have eased: The transition toward women
working outside the home is essentially complete, car-ownership has gone from
rare to common, and people’s time budgets for car travel may have reached their
maximum.
As we await the release of Minnesota’s own 2012 numbers
this May or June, what might the national decline in driving tell us about the future?
It’s good for the air, public health, and
community livability.
This decline in driving should give us pause
about adding to the size of our state highway system. Minnesota already has a
large road network (the 5th largest road system in the US, and 8th
largest regional highway system in the US), and in the future we could have trouble
maintaining a highway system that doesn’t align with driving trends.
Our state should also consider and respond to the
preferences of residents as we make investments. A recent statewide poll found widespread
agreement among Minnesotans that transit is a good investment for the state,
and also that building more roads will not solve traffic congestion alone.
We hope these changing travel patterns will mean
a greater focus on investment in transit service and repair of the roadway
system we have. The trends also reinforce the goal of retrofitting more of our roadway
networks as complete streets—safer for people who are choosing different ways
to get around.
For more on driving trends in Minnesota see information
from MnDOT here (PDF).
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