What Will Gas Cost in 25 Years?

Do you know what vehicle you will be driving next year? In 10 years, do you know where you’ll be working or living? In 20 years, do you know how many children you will have and where they will be going to school or participating in activities? Which restaurants will you want to try when you retire in 25 years? Will the senior center and medical clinic be the only places you want to visit? These are some of the questions the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (DMAMPO) is asking you to think about this week.

A public meeting will be held in the library at Roosevelt High School at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 29, 2008. This meeting will be to gather big-picture goals and smaller-scale objectives for the needs of the area transportation system in the year 2035. Officially the meeting is to discuss and to gather input into the Horizon Year 2035 Long-Range Transportation Plan Goals and Objectives. There will also be a meeting for the Citizen Transportation Congress immediately following the long-range planning meeting. The Congress is more of a regularly-scheduled informational meeting about the DMAMPO and any transportation issues or concerns the public may have, whether they be about roads, bicycles, pedestrians, or public transit.

Luke Parris of the DMAMPO talked with me about the long-range planning meeting for this article. He said the reason people should participate in this planning process is that this is their opportunity to be in at the beginning of the concept. Often when public hearings are held the plans have already been worked out so few changes can be made. But the long-range plan can take into account a variety of concerns and desires.

The draft plan includes 9 broad goals, each with more specific objectives. Here is a summary of the goals:

1. Integrate pedestrians into the year-round traffic patterns.

2. Integrate bicyclists into the year-round traffic patterns.

3. Ensure the operation of a public transportation system. The specific objectives include both passenger rail and a downtown (i.e., Des Moines) tram.

4. Improve the street and roadway system to promote safe passage by all types of users. This includes reducing congestion to reduce accidents, to remove opportunities for automobile/pedestrian collisions, and solving the complaints of bicyclists who get shooed off of roads and off of sidewalks.

5. Promote movement of goods within and through the region. While the I-80/I-35 highways may come to mind, the DMAMPO is looking at expanding cargo coming into the Des Moines International Airport and utilizing Foreign Trade Zones. (Note: Think of this as the antipathy of buying locally-grown and locally-produced food and products. Yet, it could also increase the options for Iowa manufacturing and agricultural industries to export products.)

6. Promote a safe and secure transportation system. This revolves mostly around the points where different types of traffic tend to intersect, e.g., at railroad crossings and at crosswalks.

7. Maintain the transportation system in a good state of repair. This includes making sure bridges do not collapse and roads do not have giant potholes.

8. Promote development that supports an efficient intermodal transit system. This includes making pedestrian and bicycle routes more direct and combining shopping and residences in compact districts. (Note: Many people think intermodal transit should also include bus or rail service to airports, to intercity bus stations, and to park-and-ride sites that include access by pedestrians and by bicyclists.)

9. Protect environmental, natural, and historic resources through use of alternative fuels and choice of routes.

For anybody who’s been paying attention to transportation discussions over the past year, this list looks very familiar. How much it can change depends upon visionary and community-focused citizens.

As a comparison, think of a long-range plan for 2010 created in the year 1983. Think of your own transportation needs, from the ease of night-time driving to the need for driving your teenage children to various entertainment venues, as well as getting to work. Think of the businesses you frequent. Are you driving farther for a bargain or are you supporting your locally-owned business? What roads would you like to see built for a more direct route to your favorite locations? Answer that question then think how much it will cost to maintain the extra roads, with ice in winter and patrol officers in summer. Would you be able to save more for retirement if you gave up a vehicle? If you gave up a vehicle what would you need to access jobs, community meetings, and other necessities of life? Would it be public transit or more consolidated communities? Do you want clusters of communities separated by expansive highways and acreage, such as the small towns of Iowa, or would you prefer as much density as possible in one location?

M.R. Field thinks back to 1983 and is shocked by how little her transportation concerns have changed.