Winkelman and Bragdon: Sidewalks are as sexy as hybrids | Senate Testimony

"Sidewalks are as sexy as hybrids," is a soundbite from Steve Winkelman of the Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP). Winkelman and David Bragdon, Portland, Oregon Metro Council President, testified at the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on July 14th.

From Bragdon's transcript (pdf):

Our experience offers two lessons for our fellow Americans:

First, our nation cannot successfully address climate change without reforming our transportation system. And second, we cannot successfully reform our transportation system without improving the way our communities are designed, and reducing the need for people to drive. We can’t simply reform the “supply” of transportation; we have to reduce “demand” – and the way our communities are laid out is a major determinant of demand. ...

This committee is uniquely situated to address climate change through transportation reform. Just as Senator Moynihan and this Committee used the 1990 update of the Clean Air Act to create aspirations for the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, you can use climate change legislation to set goals which can be addressed in the upcoming transportation authorization.

Take full advantage of this opportunity:

1. Link the planning requirements of the pending climate change bill to the planning requirements of the upcoming transportation bill. In our region, we are already undertaking to model the greenhouse gas impact of transportation projects.

2. Link your Highway Bill to the Transit Bill which will emerge from the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Use the transit bill to essentially create carbon off-sets for the highway bill.

3. Reduce administrative obstacles that prevent localities from using Surface Transportation Program funds for non-highway uses, and overhaul the federally-mandated design standards which often require the most expensively engineered solutions.

4. Include an aggressive program to address metropolitan mobility in the transportation bill. Urban regions provide the nation’s biggest opportunity for reductions in transportation-related greenhouse gases – give them the tools to do so.

From the CCAP press release (full pdf of Winkelman's transcript):

My top points today are:

• Reducing vehicle miles traveled (or VMT) is critical for climate protection;

• Travel efficiency can reduce VMT and save money while cutting CO2;

• There are many short-term savings opportunities; and

• CCAP and our dialogue partners recommend that Congress dedicate a meaningful share of climate allowance value to fund travel efficiency.