The local transportation scene becomes more problematic with each passing day.

Whether you experience it yourself or just constantly hear about it on radio or television, congestion and unpredictable traffic conditions are costly and time-consuming problems for Hampton Roads. A survey of nearly 2,000 Hampton Roads residents conducted last year by Christopher Newport University and the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement found that traffic was second only to the recession when it came to major issues facing the region. No other local issue was considered in need of more urgent attention than transportation.

Recent research conducted for the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) finds citizens concerned that traffic congestion is strangling the economic lifeblood of the region, and with it our quality of life.

Solutions to our traffic problems have been discussed and debated for years, but have stalled because of disagreement over how to prioritize and pay for them. Meanwhile, traffic gets worse and delays add hundreds of millions of dollars each year to the eventual cost of solutions.

Hampton Roads has the natural assets, talents and historic momentum to be a world-class metropolitan area. Yet we continue to think small, look backwards rather than forward and act as if we don’t believe we deserve better. Meanwhile, traffic congestion dulls our daily commutes, adds to the cost of goods and service, makes it hard for us to get into or out of Hampton Roads and discourages us from even trying to get around town to shop, visit our friends and take part in our region’s bountiful recreational opportunities.

Unfortunately, the only transportation solutions being talked about seriously involve when, where and how to build new highways, bridges and tunnels, as if just a few new lanes or crossings will cure everything.

The Solution is easy: No new highways.

Instead of wasting billions of dollars planning and building new lanes, highways, bridges and tunnels that will do little in the long run to solve our transportation congestion, there is a decision we can make that will profoundly change the way we look at mobility within our region. Over time, this change can catapult Hampton Roads into the league of the most agile and competitive metropolitan regions in the world. If we refuse to consider this option, we’re doomed to chase our tails for years to come.

Specifically, the solution is to stop building new highways, bridges and tunnels and instead redirect money into the creation of a bold new 21st Century regional mobility system. We may not be able to predict the future precisely. But if history teaches us anything, it’s that things will be very different in the future and that yesterday’s methods for solving transportation problems will be as irrelevant as building more stables for horse-drawn carriages.

Findings from the HRTPO study tell us that Hampton Roads residents recognize that the solution to our transportation problems is “getting cars off the road,” not increasing access and traffic. So let’s maintain our current transportation infrastructure of highways, bridges and tunnels, repairing them and updating them, as needed. But that’s all.

Transportation planners have long known that new highways only lead to further sprawl and congestion and that added lanes only invite more drivers onto the road and do little to improve traffic flow in the long run.

In Atlanta, the Marta trains run from the city through the suburbs. Atlanta city planners first proposed the system in the 1950's, and it was finally built in the mid 1980's.

A Change of Priorities:

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to realize that you never get ahead of traffic problems until you decide that driving isn’t going to be your primary way of getting around. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood recently signaled a sea change in the culture of national transportation planning when he announced that the Department of Transportation will now give the same consideration to pedestrians and bicyclists as they do motorists.

Many people come to this same conclusion when they have informed discussions about transportation and personal mobility. Virginia Beach citizens taking part in public discussions on the city’s Strategic Growth Areas, for example, have become excited about development plans that would make it possible for them to leave their cars at home. Their thoughts are echoed by the many more citizens taking part in Virginia Beach’s innovative Envision Transportation citizen engagement initiative.

Part Two >>