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Saturday, December 11, 2010
Transportation Update Ahead
By John Robert Smith
Co-chair, Transportation for America
Every six years, Congress rewrites the rules for how our federal transportation dollars are spent, and this time I — like many others — want to see something different.
Americans in communities of all sizes are eager to expand our options and make sure that our existing roads and bridges are repaired and safe. A recent poll found that 82 percent of Americans believe "the United States would benefit from an expanded and improved transportation system, such as rail and buses." Seventy-nine percent of rural voters agreed as well, even though fewer actually have access to public transportation services.
Majorities also want to see us "fix it first" by rehabilitating and rebuilding our existing roads and bridges before we build a whole lot more.
These days, transportation projects seem to have a life of their own, and they sometimes get built without basic questions being answered: Will this project improve access to jobs and essential services? Will it make our streets safer for everyone who uses them — whether it is an older person crossing the street, a child biking to school or a motorist driving to work? Does it make our air cleaner and our neighborhoods less congested?
New Mexicans certainly understand these questions. Last month in Bernalillo at the new Sandoval County U.S. 550 Transit Center, more than 40 key transportation planners, nonprofit advocates, service providers and elected officials gathered to discuss the upcoming federal transportation spending bill and its potential impacts specifically on rural, tribal and small town New Mexico.
I was invited to speak due to my current position as the co-chair of the national transportation reform coalition, Transportation for America. But more importantly, I was asked to share my past experience as a former 16-year mayor of my hometown of Meridian, Miss. With a population near 40,000 Meridian could be considered a pretty typical small American town. We also serve as a regional center for a surrounding population of 350,000 in Mississippi and Alabama. This is due in large part to our transportation connections and our retail, health care, educational and entertainment opportunities.
Although it's in a different state in a different part of the country, it's a town that faces many of the same transportation challenges found across many parts of rural New Mexico. Like many small towns, we lacked the financial resources, planning capacity and authority to sufficiently address our transportation needs.
However, in Meridian, we were able to do something different. We used federal transportation dollars to reverse the decline of our city center through the creation of a transportation hub in our historic Union Station. The improved train station connects Amtrak train service, intercity buses and local transit, and most importantly, it fueled over $135 million in private investment in my hometown. But it wasn't easy: To get it done, I had to engage in the fight for the future of passenger rail in order to preserve our service. People in largely rural states shouldn't have to work that hard to get their needs met, and that's one thing we're working to change.
In New Mexico, advocates are displaying a growing urgency for a wider range of transportation options in livable communities. The regional transit districts across northern New Mexico and the Middle Rio Grande region connect people in numerous rural communities to groceries, health care services and, of course, jobs. Through the help of an innovative federal transportation grant, the Pueblo of Laguna will develop design options for pedestrian and bicycle trails as well as road safety improvements to support physical activity within its community and increase the connectivity within and between its villages. In Las Cruces and in Cuba community members are calling for a "complete streets" policy for new roads and the repair of older road to ensure that pedestrians and bicyclists — along with all users — are able to safely use and enjoy our streets.
Change isn't easy. But refusing to step up and address these persistent challenges will make this an even harder lift down the road. As Congress develops a revitalized, long-term federal transportation program, it is important to support a bold new agenda for rural transportation that would spur economic development in small towns and cities across the United States.
Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation are poised to play a critical role in the next six-year transportation bill, so it is important that New Mexicans raise their voices now to let their leaders know what sort of transportation system they want and need. Many leaders in New Mexico's cities, small towns, frontier and tribal communities are proving they're ready for change – and now is the time to act.
John Robert Smith is also the president and CEO of Reconnecting America, the former board president of Amtrak, and former mayor of Meridian, Miss.
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