I’d like to thank Herald reporter Larry Lebowitz for remaining impartial when composing today’s article about the Broward Libertarians who seem to have all the solutions to our local traffic issues. With that being said, I’d like to tell them why they are wrong.
The picture above was taken in the mid 1950′s. It depicts rush hour traffic heading north along Biscayne Boulevard. At the time, Biscayne Boulevard was the major North-South route into and out of downtown Miami. Since then we’ve added 3 North-South expressways (I-95, Palmetto, and Turnpike expressways) as well as widening countless other avenues in Miami-Dade County. So using the theories of Bob Poole and Co., one would think that the 20 to 30 some odd lanes we’ve added would have solved the traffic congestion, right? Wrong. Just like the 3,400 more miles of lanes they propose will do nothing but spread our current problems all around the county. See, I say this because as any transportation expert would know, the maximum capacity of any expressway is about 2,200 Vehicles per Hour per Lane at a free flow rate of 60 MPH. Which, given the typical stubborn South Florida commuter who fails to carpool, this equates to 2,200 passengers per lane per hour. A typical heavy rail line can easily move upwards of 50,000 people per hour per lane. So, in short, we can go through the trouble and expense of widening expressways to add some minimal capacity as they suggest but then also have to deal with widening major streets such as Bird road, Kendall, or Coral Way. How? Let’s take away people’s land and make wide boulevards so that our community is as hideous and inefficient as western Broward. So when do we begin?
The people mentioned in the article also speak of a key point which I always tend to bring up; our city and area lacks a defined center in which public transit can be implemented easily, as in New York and Chicago which both have traditional business districts and suburban areas. So why don’t we begin to change our city to model those which have had success in the past. In short, don’t build stadiums out in the everglades, add density along major corridors like US-1, create incentives to create business centers, etc. We can use government incentives and better development oversight to steer construction properly rather than the haphazard, disorganized mess that their solution aims to perpetuate…
Update: Robert from the 26th Parallel is on Board…
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Don’t criticize the Libertarians!
It is actually GOVERNMENTthat creates these commuter traffic problems with inflexible zoning and unrealistic city planning.
REALITY: People have to live somewhere, and most people need to get to a job that is NOT close to home. Plus they need to grocery shop, get to appointments, the post office or pick up the kids at school.
Government zoning and city planners still separate residential areas and business districts far apart.
How many malls and shopping centers in Florida are deliberately planned to be far away and next to interstates… (no pedestrians allowed)… so your ONLY option to get to these shopping areas is a vehicle.
But government officials will never admit they created this problem, instead they will propose some unrealistic quick fix such as people not driving their cars or political propaganda about the virtues of an expensive bullet train, buses, or car pools.
But for the average employed driving citizens, these government commuter solutions don’t work because they are inflexible, unrealistic, and do not acknowledge the REAL needs of the citizens who actually pay for government.
BASIC NECESSITIES
In the real world, most people NEED to get to a income providing job, plus they need groceries, clothing, and household items. Too often, shopping centers with groceries chains and business districts with the good jobs are typically zoned far from residential housing.
So even if you want to consider walking a few miles to your nearest grocery store, your perishable foods will probly spoil in Florida in the 80′s and 90′s heat.
So what are your options?
A Bus?
You better not miss it or you are back to the heat spoiling the food problem while waiting for the next bus. But also every time you need groceries you’ll have shell out $2.50 for the round trip $3 by 2009.
With a car–a four mile grocery trip would cost about .60 cents (based on a car that gets about 20 miles per gallon at $3 a gallon). Plus you can go shopping on YOUR time not the limited bus schedule times.
People are smart enough to know a car works best because it is time and cost effective for their real needs.
But what about a Libertarian solution to commuter problems?
Check out the 91 Express Lanes
The 91 Express Lanes opened in 1995, born from the need for congestion relief on the 91 Freeway when no public funds were available to solve this critical transportation problem. The concept was unique — the private sector would take the risk and the State would get congestion relief at no cost to taxpayers.
The 91 Express Lanes is a four-lane, 10-mile toll road built in the median of California’s Riverside Freeway (State Route 91) between the Orange/Riverside County line and the Costa Mesa Freeway (State Route 55). The state-of-the-art facility boasts several firsts
- the first privately financed toll road in the U.S. in more that 50 years,
- the world’s first fully-automated toll facility,
- and the first application of value pricing in America.
Check out this VIDEO
Reason.tv Host Drew Carey examines the costs and consequences of traffic jams and explores several solutions that can get our roads moving.
ALSO check out these videos:
Urban Legend – Gridlock & Asphalt
Reason’s Ted Balaker debunks the myth that
“we can’t build our way out of congestion.”
Express Lanes vs. Car Pool Lanes
A victim of congestion looks for better uses of L.A.’s car pool lanes.