Curbside Chat with Chuck Marohn

Chuck Marohn talks about Strong Towns at Glenwood Spring Community Center

Chuck Marohn, author of Thoughts on Building Strong Towns (Volume 1), the primary author of the Strong Towns Blog and the host of the Strong Towns Podcast, presented to 35 residents from the region about the Ponzi scheme growth and development experiment that has dominated communities across the U.S. since the 1950s. 

The main points of his presentation and ongoing work focus on these tenets: 

• Current path that cities are currently on is not financially stable,
• The future for most cities is not going to resemble the recent past; and
• The main determinant of prosperity for cities is the ability of local leaders to transform their communities.

Thanks to Channel 10 for taping the presentation.  We'll post it shortly.

Read Aspen Daily News article prior to the event 

Congestion pricing in the Mountain West?

The debate on how to improve the traffic situation on I-70 from Denver into the mountains continues in the Senate Transportation Committee meeting room today as bills from opposite sides of the legislative aisle get consideration.

Although the two bills are sponsored by Sens. Chris Romer, D-Denver, and Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, it is worth noting that they are both proposing road or congestion pricing for the I-70 corridor. They disagree on the details of how such a framework would operate and how revenues might be re-invested, but the foundation of their proposals seem to cross political ideology -- use market forces to manage an increasingly scare resource (otherwise known as road capacity).

There may be a number of reasons these proposals are on the committee table now rather than after groups such as the I-70 Coalition have made their recommendations, but that's a reality of the legislative process. Nevertheless, the combination of successful congestion pricing programs in London and Stockholm and the proposals for similar programs in New York City and San Francisco make the idea a powerful one that will likely become a part of the package for I-70 regardless of the outcome of the Romer and McElhany bills this year.

The reality of decreasing transportation funding from gas taxes, increasing construction costs, and limited geography is making congestion pricing an increasingly viable tool to manage traffic and congestion in communities and on highways.

As Gordon Price, transportation Planner and former City Councilor in Vancouver, has commented, "congestion turns out to be an inevitable consequence when the private sector produces and unlimited number of vehicles and expects the public sector to spend limited resources to build an unlimited amount of space for them to run on."

Put another way, the age of "freeways" is drawing to a close in the Mountain West.

Counter intuitive approaches to managing traffic

Many people in the U.S. have heard the expression "changing the rules of the game." In some European cities, however, traffic engineers are just about eliminating the rules of the road and removing all the streets signs American drivers are so familiar with.

As Matthias Schulz writes at Spiegel Online:

The plans derive inspiration and motivation from a large-scale experiment in the town of Drachten in the Netherlands, which has 45,000 inhabitants. There, cars have already been driving over red natural stone for years. Cyclists dutifully raise their arm when they want to make a turn, and drivers communicate by hand signs, nods and waving.

"More than half of our signs have already been scrapped," says traffic planner Koop Kerkstra. "Only two out of our original 18 traffic light crossings are left, and we've converted them to roundabouts." Now traffic is regulated by only two rules in Drachten: "Yield to the right" and "Get in someone's way and you'll be towed."

Strange as it may seem, the number of accidents has declined dramatically. Experts from Argentina and the United States have visited Drachten. Even London has expressed an interest in this new example of automobile anarchy. And the model is being tested in the British capital's Kensington neighborhood.

Garco bicyclists to find smooth sailing

To the joy (and relief) of bicyclists, Garco Commissioners decided spend extra funds to use smaller-diameter gravel on chip seal projects for six county roads that cyclists frequently use.

The Garfield County commissioners also said they will consider spending extra taxpayer dollars on some road projects this summer to accommodate cyclists.

Garfield County budgeted $1.1 million this summer for routine maintenance of some of its road network. The roads in roughest shape will receive a new chip seal surface, with the 3/4-inch gravel.

At Commissioner Tresi Houpt's suggestion, the county got a second bid on topping the 3/4-inch gravel with a 3/8-inch mixture. The bid came in at $652,000 for all the projects.

Houpt supported spending that amount and topping all roads scheduled for work this summer with the smoother surface.

Read Scott Condon's full article . . .

TOD can save the planet

Transit oriented development is gaining traction around the U.S. (it's already popular in many other countries) because it can address many community issues -- provide affordable housing, increase transit service, prevent loss of open space, create public places -- at the same time.

And now, in case you needed another reason to support TOD, it can also save the planet. As San Mateo County Supervisior Adrienne Tissier writes,

The solutions to global warming are found in modern urban planning and zoning and three little words: Transit Oriented Development. Build well-designed, affordable housing within walking distance of efficient mass transit, and the air-fouling traffic jams will unclog themselves. Better yet, build well-designed, affordable housing within walking distance of jobs, schools and retail, and car use will plummet.

It is nice to know that something good for a community has a global benefit as well.

Deja vu commuting in the Roaring Fork Valley

A decade ago, writing about the hellacious commute many put up with to get into Aspen, was almost a daily occurance. It looks likethe region is heading into another similar cycle of concern

As Charles Agar writes in the Aspen Times Weekly,

Perhaps the most obvious human cost of the upper valley’s stratospheric real estate market is the ever-longer commutes from affordable homes to higher-paying jobs in or near Aspen. Long commutes cost time and money; they pollute the environment and erode people’s sense of community. Most of the those who spend hours of each working day on Highway 82 have accepted the commute as a necessary trade-off, but it’s getting harder for upper valley employers to find the help they need . . .

More and more Aspen workers are commuting over the Grand Hogback, an area named for a ridge along Interstate 70 west of Glenwood Springs, to towns like New Castle, Silt and Rifle.

“Ridership is going through the roof,” said Dave Iverson, operations manager with Roaring Fork Transportation Authority. Statistics for city transport in Aspen and Glenwood have increased sharply, and the number of riders traveling the length of the valley and along the Hogback are rising steadily. In December 2006, nearly 23,000 riders made the round trip to Carbondale, and nearly 6,000 made the trip through the Hogback area, he said, a rise of 13 percent since 2005 . . .

Aspen faces a shrinking labor market, and even Aspen’s affordable housing program, which provides the option of lower-cost home ownership in Aspen, is not enough to entice many to the area. Many home-buyers choose the free market, even if it means moving to western Garfield County, over the 3 percent appreciation caps on employee-housing units in the upper Roaring Fork Valley.

Read the full article . . .

Win-Win transportation solutions

Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute has just released a report on transportation programs and policy reforms that can support environmental, social, and economic goals - a triple bottom line. As he comments in the introduction,

People often assume that environmental, social and economic goals conflict. For example, policies to reduce climate change emissions and programs to improve accessibility for disadvantaged people are often opposed on grounds that they are costly and harmful to the economy. But such conflicts can be avoided. Some strategies that support environmental and social objectives also benefit the economy.

This paper identifies more than a dozen such strategies, which we call Win-Win Transportation Solutions. These are cost-effective, technically feasible policy reforms and programs that help solve transport problems by improving transport options and correcting market distortions that result in economically excessive motor vehicle travel. These are considered “no regrets” strategies because they are justified even if the severity of environmental and social risks is uncertain.

Read the full report . . .

Russell George to head CDOT

Governor Bill Ritter completed his cabinet appointments with the selection of Rifle native Russell George to head the Colorado Department of Transportation. George is a well respected former state legislator, speaker of the house, and Director of the Department of Natural Resources under Governor Bill Owens.

During his tenure as legislator, George sponsored the Rural Transportation Authority Act, which enabled local communities to create transportation districts to fund transit and road improvements. Communities in the Roaring Fork Valley had asked George to sponsor the legislation and were the first to use it to fund transit operations in the region.

The selection releaves some of the angst felt by Western Slope residents over Ritter's the lack of Western Slope representatives to his cabinet. In selcting a Republican, Ritter also shows his willingness to work across political lines for the benefit of Colorado.

Read the article in the Denver Post . . .

No Parking: Condos Leave Out Cars

A recent NY Times article highlights examples of condos being built without associated parking spaces. Although this practice goes against the codes in many communities, planners are realizing that "free parking" might be a reason why housing has become so unaffordable to middle-income families.

The article quotes Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the University of California at Los Angeles and the author of The High Cost of Free Parking, "In the United States, housing is expensive and parking is cheap. We’ve got it the wrong way around.”

Although condominiums without parking are common in Manhattan and the downtowns of a few other East Coast cities, they are the exception to the rule in most of the country. In fact, almost all local governments require developers to provide a minimum number of parking spaces for each unit — and to fold the cost of the space into the housing price.

The exact regulations, which are intended to prevent clogged streets and provide sufficient parking, vary by city. Houston’s code requires a minimum of 1.33 parking spaces for a one-bedroom and 2 spaces for a three-bedroom. Downtown Los Angeles mandates 2.25 parking spaces per unit, regardless of size.

Today, city planners around the country are trying to change or eliminate these standards, opting to promote mass transit and find a way to lower housing costs.

Read the full aricle in the New York Times . . .

Rubber sidewalks go where concrete fears to tread

We all know a place in our community where tree roots are busting trough a sidewalk or paved trail. What to do? Hack the tree roots and risk killing the tree? Move the side walk or trail?

How about rubber sidewalks?

Don't laugh.  Some 130,000 square feet of rubberized sidewalks grace about 60 North American cities, giving local governments an alternative to concrete and its attendant pitfalls, such as rising prices, exorbitant trip-and-fall lawsuits, and a trail of chopped-down urban trees.

Although the rubbers pavers are a 2.5 times the cost of concrete, they can be tree savers. And in places concrete in Western communities, where trees grow slowly, if at all, some rubber pavement may be just the solution for the conflict between rooting and footing.

Read the full article in the Christian Science Monitor . . .

Aspen bus lane to get crunch time test

Aspen began its effort to get buses out of town faster by testing the new bus lane on Main Street heading out of town. The city will restricting parking along Main Street from 3-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, to create the new bus lane.

The new lane is working as expected, but the real test comes in another week or two, when high season really kicks into gear. During the offseason, roughly 21,000 cars drive in and out of Aspen on a given day. In July and August, that number jumps to 29,000, which can translate into cars backed up for six or seven blocks.

Although city officials are grateful for the chance to move buses through town faster, they know the new bus lane isn't a solution to the city's traffic problem. The hope is that anything that improves the bus-riding experience will encourage more people to get out of their cars and onto the bus.

"[The new lane] wasn't intended to solve traffic congestion at all," City Transportation Director John Krueger said. "It's to help buses that have 40, 50, 60 people on them get out of town quicker."

Read the full article in the Aspen Times . . .

Melbourne plans to "drive" cars from city centre

Under Melbourne City Council's draft strategy, cars will be "driven" out of the city in favour of public transport and bicycles under a radical new council strategy that abandons plans for a multibillion-dollar cross-city tunnel and suggests slashing speed limits in the central business district.The strategy calls on the State Government to invest heavily in improved train, tram and bus routes, as well as lobbying for off-peak tolls on major roads to spread peak-hour demand.

An average of 640,000 people visit the city each weekday, with that number forecast to rise to 1 million by 2014. Almost half of those commuters travel into the city by car.

Read the full article . . .