From the Editor
Planning for a Better Tomorrow Today
By Mark Fausz
Aug 6, 2008 - 9:06:32 AM

Okay, where was I? Last week, I expressed some concerns with what I felt were misguided attempts by some to stop growth in Chesterfield by inserting a finger in the development dike, while we have a major opportunity to rebuild the dam through a new comprehensive plan.

The new countywide comprehensive plan is a seed that has been planted, watered, and is just now beginning to sprout. If the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors were to fertilize the effort to get the new plan underway, while growth has subsided due to the economy, we would be that much further ahead when residential building rebounds in a year or so.

Instead, some of our elected officials continue to get sidetracked, sitting for hours on end in BOS meetings on issues that are basically unimportant now if a new comprehensive plan is constructed and implemented.

It seems odd to me that these stop-growth initiatives are coming from some of the newest developments in the county. Let me in, allow me to build my new McMansion, but close the door behind me. And these folks are driving the ill-fated discussion.

Our new comprehensive plan should be all-encompassing and include not just land use, but roads, mass transit, county facilities, parks, schools, and cultural facilities. And they should all be contained in one master plan. That way, everyone who makes decisions concerning the future of the county would be on the same page.

A major piece of the new plan has to be transportation. As we all know the Commonwealth of Virginia, and specifically the General Assembly, has dropped the ball. In fact, they dropped it, then they gave it a good kick.

According to the Reason Foundation, a Libertarian think tank, Virginia spends less on roads than any other state in the country, about $16,796 per mile. The national average is $67,089.
The foundation claims, “the old canard ‘we can’t build our way out of congestion’ is not true. Adding innovative new capacity and improving the management of roads can eliminate chronic congestion.”

“Innovative” and “management” are certainly the key words in this group’s statement. “Safety” and “community sensitivity” should also be considered.

Tom Vanderbilt, whose new book Traffic was released last week, was quoted in the New York Post, as saying pedestrians make roads safer.

“By a curious phenomenon that researcher Peter Lyndon Jacobsen has called the ‘safety in numbers’ effect, as the number of pedestrians increases, the fatality rates per capita actually begins to drop.

“The reason, Jacobsen argues, is that the more pedestrians drivers see, typically, the slower they drive; and, in a neatly perpetuating cycle, the more slowly they drive, the more pedestrians they effectually see because those pedestrians stay within sight for a longer period. And so New York City, when one considers how many pedestrians it has, is actually one of the safest cities in the country for walkers (one study found the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater area to be the most dangerous for pedestrians). That said, with several hundred people being killed by cars every year, there’s much room for improvement.
“Similarly, many drivers think that roundabouts ‘cause’ congestion. But a well-designed modern roundabout can reduce delays by up to 65% over an intersection with traffic signals or stop signs (it’s also statistically much safer).”

In a USA Today article, Vanderbilt reveals other findings.

• Merging, as when three lanes become two, is “the most stressful single activity we face in everyday driving.” Late merging makes the most sense, but only when every driver does it and takes his or her turn, “which isn’t always the case.”

• Driving is, “for most who are not brain surgeons, probably the most complex everyday thing we do in our lives,” which is why robots, so far, make lousy drivers.

• Driving also is what psychologists call an “overlearned” activity — something we’re so well-practiced at that we’re able to do it without much conscious thought.

• Surveys show most drivers think they’re above average, which is statistically impossible, and it is the other drivers who cause problems.

As we consider how our community should look and operate in the future, transportation is a key factor. A road can make or break a community. Good access is tantamount to a successful place, but access that has been overdone can be a community’s downfall.

So let’s quit fooling around with personal agendas and get the comprehensive planning process rolling. But along the way we should also be aware that while we want to manage our growth, we don’t want to stop it completely. Because as any business owner knows, if you don’t grow, you die.

mfausz@villagepublishing.com | 751-0421



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