MAR 25 > JUL 31

Phase I: Weekly discussion on life in 2060

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Week 6: (Scenario 3) What values do you think should guide transportation planning and investments over the next 10 years?

Discussion of the Week, on This Topic

Lindsey Alexander

Moderator, Students Speak Out

For the past few weeks we’ve been thinking about what life in 2061 might look like. Your perspectives have informed the development of three future scenarios. What we want to talk about this week is transportation in those scenarios. For the purposes of MnDOT’s work this is a very important piece of project, so give your answers some thought. You can use values more than once. (For example, it’s fine if you pick 1, 2 and 3 for Scenario 1 and want to pick them again for another scenario, etc.)

Scenario 3 (created by YOU!):

By 2022 (11 years from now), the political unrest in the Middle East has produced regime change in nearly all of the major oil producing countries. The uncertainty about supply causes gas prices to swing wildly and soar to $12 a gallon. By 2061, many average civilians have given up on the constantly fluctuating gas prices and turned to other methods of transportation.
There is a movement toward walking and biking whenever possible. State governments mandate that transportation become more efficient, so cities build more extensive public transportation systems that people often use to travel from the suburbs to the city or vice versa. People must use hybrid buses, light rail, and other newly developed modes of transport. Personal transport is still allowed, but in limited quantities. The less oil a citizen's car uses, and the less the cars’ manufacturing contributed to increasing climate change, the more they are allowed to drive on the roads. 60 percent of US citizens report only using their car once a week.
Obesity levels fall to unheard of levels. Families have become much closer, living in closer conditions than they had before. Rare now is the family who has members more than a hundred miles away from one another.
While the building of these systems for transportation employed many, afterward workers struggle to find jobs.

Given this scenario for 2061, what values do you think should guide transportation planning and investments over the next 10 years? (Choose three.)

[Note the timeframe: it’s not 2061, it’s planning and investments over the next 10 years. The idea is to say, if this scenario were to happen, what do YOU think is important in planning for transportation in light of this scenario.]

Fix it first – within each type of system (rail, highways, etc.), maintain existing transportation infrastructure (roads, bridges, tracks, etc.) before building new
Expand choice – prioritize diversify of travel choices versus reliance on a single option.
Support existing communities – investments in existing communities before expanding to serve yet-to-be-built communities
Align system with other public purposes – emphasize environmental stewardship, economic competitiveness, public health, energy independence and education.
Emphasize reliability/predictability – the reliability of the system and predictability of travel time are more important than speed.
Ensure regional connections – key regional centers need to be connected to each other and to the Twin Cities.
Use partnerships – coordinate with the private sector and with other units of government to make transportation projects and operations more efficient.
Other ….. (describe)

Now say a bit about WHY you selected the three answers that you did?

Student Commentator Responses:

Louise E.

2. Diversity of travel choices

4. Align system with other public purposes - environment

7. Use Partnerships

Because gas prices have risen drastically, it is a good opportunity to change transportations systems so they depend on more environmentally friendly fuels/resources. Also, cities should make sure they are not relying only on transportation systems that use gasoline as fuel. There should be access to transportation to the public that is easily affordable. It would also be important to have transportation systems that could transport people short distances as well as far distances. For instance walking and biking are good for going short distances, cheap and environmentally friendly, but there also needs to be ways to travel longer distances such as the hybrid buses and light rail mentioned in the scenario. Using partnerships isn't really specific to this scenario, I just think it is a good idea in any scenario for the public and private sectors to work together on transportation projects in order to be more efficient and look at projects from both perspectives.

Ann D.

2. Expand Choice

5. Emphasize reliability/predictability

6.Ensure regional connections

I think this scenario really requires for average citizens to trust in the government and methods of transportation. If rules and regulations are to be set down, the people will have to feel as if the new options are at least as good. All three of the options that I chose do that. I think from there is where we would be branching off into four and eight, but a solid base needs to be built first.

Hannah O.

1- fix it first,

4- align the system,

5- reliability

It’s important to work on the efficiency of the systems that are already in place in order to make sure that when gas prices do reach such obscene prices as $12 a gallon, we can have the alternative ready. Also crucial to the transfer over to a more effective system is allowing the alliance between transportation and other public purposes, such as emphasizing the environmental stewardship. Pushing the use of the public transportation system to help combat climate change will be effective—at least I’d like to believe that people are kind enough to use public transportation rather than smiting the system by driving alone every day. The truth is, this is our planet, and we have to start treating it right before the political strife isn’t the cause of our gas problems… finally, emphasizing the reliability of the transportation is important because families will be relying on it to get them where they need to be in a timely fashion. This piece is really important because if they don’t rely on the transportation system (or they can’t) then they’ll revert to using cars again.

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by Joey L. on Jun 10, 2011 @ 6:43am

The issues I was reffering to were mostly traffic flow. The more cars/buses/trucks/motorcycles you have cramped up in an area unable to move because of a passing train (I think light rails would probably get bigger to transport more people), the more energy, oil and other resources you spend doing absolutely nothing. This government would HATE that with a passion. To me, alignment meant timing; how to rig up a system for cars, trains and bikes that doesn't cause traffic and can efficently get things moving in case there is such traffic.

by Ann D. on Jun 8, 2011 @ 6:46pm

I think trust is gained when a community sees the effort being put out and then when they actually see results. If people aren't able to see results they may not trust what is supposedly being done. Some people are less likely to think big picture and be patient for results, so this needs to be balanced with things that show results quicker.

by Hannah Oakes on Jun 7, 2011 @ 4:51pm

I really think trust is important in any situation, because if we're trusting the governement to set rules and make laws, we have to have some hope that it's in our best interest. I think the trust is gained as time goes on because each new decision really instills more trust in the system. If that makes sense?

by Lindsey Alexander on Jun 1, 2011 @ 1:46am

All, Ann mentioned trust. What roles does trust play in this (or any scenario)? If it's important, how do you foster trust?

by Lindsey Alexander on Jun 1, 2011 @ 1:44am

Louise, you said, '"I just think it is a good idea in any scenario for the public and private sectors to work together on transportation projects in order to be more efficient and look at projects from both perspectives." What does each (public and private) perspective contribute?

by Lindsey Alexander on Jun 1, 2011 @ 1:43am

Joey, say more about the disruption you mention. What does "alignment" mean to you? What sorts of "issues" are caused by a system that is not in alignment?

by Joey L. on May 30, 2011 @ 7:05am

2. Expand travel choices

4. Align the system

5. Emphasize reliability/predictability

With cars going down in lieu of gas prices, there should be more options to travel with, given that cars are now so restricted. These new options need to be aligned with the current system, because otherwise the disruption in flow will cause issues. Finally, transportation must be reliable and predictable for the whole system to work.