Transportation Alternatives: T.A. Magazine Article: Transit Authority Raid Guts CMAQ Fund: State and City DOTs Collude to Keep Highway Money to Themselves

July/August 1995, p.7

Transit Authority Raid Guts CMAQ Fund
State and City DOTs Collude to Keep Highway Money to Themselves

Billions of dollars in flexible federal transportation aid are available to New York City. But the State and City Departments of Transportation have forced the NYC Transit Authority to use federal dollars meant for traffic calming, cycling, and waking projects. The DOTs haw done this in order to leave mom money for highway and bridge projects in other funds that do not require the laborious public participation and clean air selection criteria that the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) fund does.

By elbowing the Transit Authority into the CMAQ fund, the DOTs haw left advocates of public transit, cycling, and traffic calming to fight over the scraps. Moreover, while the money the Transit Authority takes from CMAQ is a relative pittance ($89 million over two years in a multi-billion dollar transit budget) it amounts to over 77% of the total CMAQ fund, leaving precious little for cycling, traffic calming, and other projects.

Projects That Should Have Been Funded, But Weren't

Manhattan	Amount	Would Pay For
Extend Hudson River Bike Path	$1.12 Million	Extends the heavily used path from Battery Park City to 23rd St. instead of 14th St.
Brooklyn
Downtown traffic calming	$2.75 Million	Comprehensive plan to reduce traffic and improve pedestrian conditions. In NYC it takes serious planning like this before changes are made. This project is a crucial first step in traffic calming one of the densest parts of the city.

Turkeys That Waste Tax Money

Manhattan	Amount	Would Pay For
Government Employee Commute Option	$3.6 Million	Five projects that range from buying home computers for State employees to shuttling small numbers of Port Authority airport employees around by van. These projects might get a tiny handful of people to stop driving to work.
Computerized Signals For George Washington Bridge	$1.5 Million	Why is the profit-making George Washington Bridge taking scarce funds that could go to traffic calming or cycling? This project makes it easier to drive into Manhattan. Dumb.
NYC Government Electric Cars	$1.876 Million	NYC does not need prototype electric cars. This is a makework program for engineers. The money should go to support Transitcheks for City employees or to give bonuses to those taking transit, cycling or walking to work.
Total Wasted	$7 Million	Nothing worthwhile.

Scrap CMAQ, Change Goal To Traffic Reduction

Federal CMAQ guidelines are fundamentally flawed in their fixation on reducing tailpipe emissions. This misplaced emphasis defies commons sense; it considers traffic flow more worthy than cycling or walking. Thus, computerized traffic signals and other measures that actually encourage more driving and thus more air pollution are somehow funded by dean air dollars.

To make this money work for more livable and healthier cities, Congress should scrap CMAQ and replace it with flexible funds that de-emphasize emissions and emphasize traffic reduction. In the meantime, the City should use its considerable latitude to reform the program to reduce motor vehicle use.

1. Adopt new goals and criteria: Make traffic reduction the fundamental goal and criterion for funding projects. The only sure way to reduce pollution is to reduce driving. The NYC region should put a cap on increases of Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) and set as a goal their reduction to 1990 levels or lower. New criteria should rank projects on the basis of car trips avoided, yet also accommodate long?term cycling and traffic calming changes.

2. Scrap the notion of "congestion reduction." Congestion is not the problem; the steady increase in driving (VMT) is. Do not fund traffic capacity increases.

3. Stop using tailpipe emissions as a criterion for funding, except in the case of diesel vehicles. The current emissions reduction calculations are based on faulty assumptions.

4. Create a master plan based on VMT reduction goals and make sure CMAO projects work together to achieve the plan's goals. No more uncoordinated, grab bag, pork barrel project financing.

5. Increase citizen participation in project selection: The government agencies charged with selecting CMAQ projects have proven more interested in pork for themselves than in funding projects that work together over the long term.

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