TRADE, TRUCKS, TRAINS, AND TOLLS

 

 

 

Phyllis Spivey
September 13, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

If you’ve never thought of Southern California roads as continuous-pay slot machines, you will; for the biggest philosophical shift in national transportation policy since the 1950's is underway. Not only have regional planners embraced the new regimen, they’re working to implement it with all haste. The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) has detailed the agenda in its 2004 "Destination 2030: Regional Transportation Plan" (RTP).

The RTP, though it must be updated every three years, is meant to govern transportation programs for the next 25 years. SCAG says it’s responsive to public and local government input, but few Californians even know of the group’s existence, never mind its grand designs. Nevertheless, if the RTP is executed as SCAG now proposes, Southland drivers will pay – going, coming, and standing still.

Drivers will pay directly and immediately as they use transportation facilities, indirectly and over the long term as taxes and costs for goods escalate. As mammoth multi-modal corridors slash through rural as well as urban landscapes, and diesel emissions worsen already-poor air quality, drivers in the six-county region will finance a system designed less for passenger vehicles than for the handling and movement of international cargo. It’s called logistics.

Unquestionably, successful logistics operations, which include purchasing, transport, warehousing, organizing and planning, are important to the region, which offers the two largest cargo-handling ports in the U.S. Combined, they handle about 40 percent of the nation’s cargo and constitute the third-largest port complex in the world. But once goods arrive, they must be moved through the region by truck, rail, or air, and therein lies the crisis.

Each major transportation mode already faces serious limitations in capacity, but huge growth is predicted for all kinds of cargo traffic, including the NAFTA trade. According to SCAG, two million trucks traveled northbound/southbound across the California/Baja California border in 2003. That was before the Supreme Court okayed Mexican trucks and buses for full U.S. access and before implementation of the recently-approved Cental American Free Trade Agreement.

Then, there’s the people component. If trends continue, SCAG says, by 2030 the region will be home to 22.9 million residents – predominantly "minority households, increased by immigration" – an increase of 38 percent, or 6.3 million people. Travel delays due to congestion are expected to more than double by 2030. Not only has the transportation system not kept up with demands, the infrastructure is aging.

To meet the region’s transportation "challenges," SCAG proposes to make existing systems more productive and create new multi-modal (a mixture of the several modes of transportation) corridors and facilities; significantly expand rapid transit bus services, double Metrolink’s passenger-carrying capacity, and construct an elevated high speed monorail system that will ultimately stretch over 275 miles and move up to 500,000 riders a day. Get your checkbook.

SCAG’s wish list comes with proposed funding sources.

But that’s not all. SCAG also wants the federal government to offset gas tax revenues reduced by inflation, fuel efficiency and alternative fuels. They suggest the feds establish user fee collection mechanisms for various fuel/vehicle engine combinations. How about that, hybrid automobile owners?

Left unresolved in SCAG’s gigantic blueprint is what to do about the region’s air quality. Acknowledging that the South Coast Air Basin, the South Central Coast Air Basin and three desert areas are designated as ozone non-attainment areas, SCAG makes assumptions based on vague analytical methods and somehow concludes that under their plan, as compared to doing nothing, "all income and ethnic groups, as well as disabled and elderly (over 65) populations will benefit ..." This, though truck traffic is predicted to double, or even triple, during the plan’s implementation.

What is SCAG, and who elected it to initiate such massive changes, affecting so many people? SCAG is the largest of nearly 700 councils of government in the U.S. It functions as the Metropolitan Planning Organization for six counties: Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura and Imperial, encompassing 15 million people in an area of more than 38,000 square miles.

It is mandated by the federal government "to research and draw up plans for transportation, growth management, hazardous waste management, and air quality" and is subject to additional responsibilities imposed by the state. According to the RTP: "Under federal law, SCAG is designated as the Regional Clearinghouse for review of all submitted plans, plan changes, projects and programs for consistency with adopted regional plans and policies."

Translation: SCAG rules. And through it, comes access to the federal purse.

An 80-member governing board called the Regional Council conducts the affairs of SCAG, while a smaller Executive Committee makes policy recommendations to the Regional Council. Representatives from cities and counties in the region comprise the membership. As of August 2005, Los Angeles County held 38 seats on the Council, Riverside County six.

Thus, if you participated in local Riverside County or city elections, at best you might have elected one member of the Council. Welcome to the world of regional government.

© 2005 Phyllis Spivey - All Rights Reserved