Sunday, September 20th, 2020
Imagine this. As part of the solution to the economic challenges brought on by COVID-19, the federal government passes an infrastructure stimulus package in the next year. The want is clear: we need improved access to the internet, public transportation, roads and bridges, and upgrades to energy infrastructure to support renewables. Investment in infrastructure can provide well-paid and long-term jobs for low-skilled workers, and thereby serve as an indirect investment into low-income communities. Additionally, many sectors including design, engineering, and construction benefit from the development of this infrastructure. The financing of infrastructure projects is also currently more manageable with low interest rates, which means borrowing for capital costs is down. With high unemployment numbers and a looming economic recession, investing in our infrastructure at this crucial juncture would have lasting economic benefits and improve the quality of life for generations to come.
Across the Hudson Valley, as with most of the United States, countless roads need repairs and upgrading. If a stimulus package passes to provide money for infrastructure projects, it is important to consider how roads could be improved and reconfigured to the public’s benefit. First, there is intelligent design that allows for the optimal movement of automobiles. Traffic engineers should follow best practices to shorten travel time, increase road safety, and minimize traffic build up and wait times. Another dimension of road design is arguably equally as important and often overlooked: how well roads accommodate pedestrians and bicycles.
Before I continue, I feel the need to emphasize that roads are not just for automobiles but also for bicycles and pedestrians. For anyone who thinks that roads are only for cars I pose the simple question: if a person does not have an automobile, how should they get to their destination? How should a person go from their home to their place of work, place of worship, grocery store, doctor’s office, school, or other destination? There is also the fact that roads are public space, funded with taxpayer money, so why should they be exclusively for people who own automobiles?
There are many reasons a person might not own an automobile but the more common are that cars are expensive as is fuel, insurance, and maintenance; people may be too young or too old to drive; or people may have a disability that prevents them from safely operating a vehicle. Whatever the reason, these people also need to get to where they are going and until we all have our own personal flying machines, roads are often the only way to get there. What this means is that roads must have a space and include design features to accommodate people who travel by foot, bicycle, wheelchair, or other mode. Typically, this means the road has a sidewalk and crosswalks at intersections. These seem like simple and obvious things to include, yet, there are many roads without these features. The result: people who do not own a car have very limited mobility and are forced to rely on others to drive them around (which is not an option for all people) or make unsafe choices in order to reach their destination.
On a recent Sunday afternoon trip to Adams Fairacre Farms off Route 9 in the Town of Wappinger, I witnessed a forlorn pedestrian stranded on the road across from the grocery store waiting for a safe moment to run across five lanes of traffic with no crosswalk. It is as if the road is saying to anyone without a motor vehicle, “you do not belong here!” As I waited for my light to turn green, I saw the person dart in front of oncoming cars and sprint to the other side. I am certain that not all pedestrians who encounter this type of intersection have the same ability to run as the person I watched on this day. Imagine an elderly person or a young school age child trying to manage such a situation. Needless to say, this intersection is not built for everyone. This part of Route 9 is what we call “car-centric” design: built for the automobile, not people.
Intersection in front on Route 9 in the Town of Wappinger in front of Adams Fairacre Farms
The consequence of road design that excludes pedestrians is that the people who are often the most vulnerable have very limited mobility and cannot get to where they need to go or are forced into life endangering situations. Each year, there are approximately 14,000 people in the U.S. killed as they try to cross a road. Crosswalks, sidewalks, stoplights and speed limits are the most effective means to prevent these unnecessary deaths.
In the current debate about how to increase equity in this country, the built environment should be part of the discussion. If a federal stimulus package gives us the opportunity to re-build our roads, let us build them better and build them for all! In the meantime, keep your eye out for bicycles and pedestrians and give them a brake.
