MTC
101 Eighth Street
Oakland, CA 94607
FAX 510 464 7848
May 12, 1999
Subject: RTP public comment
Honorable Commissioners:
The Draft RTP, under Goals, states "Enhance sensitivity to the environment" (page 4). This statement is so vague as to be basically meaningless. Most Bay Area air pollution is now from mobile sources. The Bay Area is already a non-attainment region of the Clean Air Act. The goal should be to "reduce total air pollution from mobile sources to meet levels stipulated in the Clean Air Act."
The RTP needs to recognize the phenomenon of "induced traffic."
While the public is beginning to acknowledge this phenomenon (that
building or widening roads encourages increased auto use with a
resultant return of congestion) some still are unaware. More
information on induced traffic is at:
moderntransit.org/links-induced.html
HOV lane construction will increase air pollution and VMT. The
Modern Transit Society has done research on effects of HOV lane
construction in Santa Clara County. HOV lanes increase solodriving by
between 2 and 4 times as much as carpooling. Solodrivers accounted
for 79% of 5769 vehicles added to Montague Expressway six years after
constructing the HOV lane. This solodriver figure for San Tomas
Expressway is 73% and for Rt. 237 is 63% of vehicles added to the
roadway. (All vehicle counts are when HOV lanes are activated, AM+PM
commute.) Details are provided on our web site HOV lanes cause huge
solo driver increase at:
moderntransit.org/hov/hov-disinfo.html
Carpooling has actually decreased since 1980, before HOV lanes
existed, despite the construction of over 200 miles of HOV lanes. HOV
lanes have been unsuccessfull and counterproductive in the stated
goal of decreasing pollution and increasing occupancy. These goals
would be accomplished by diverting HOV funds to the least polluting
and highest capacity travel mode: public transit. We request that you
do exactly that. For more details and sources, please see Carpool
Lane Facts at:
moderntransit.org/hov/hov-facts.html
Sincerely,
Akos Szoboszlay
President