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Iowa Makes a Bold Admission: We Need Fewer Roads

Posted by samzenpus on from the if-you-don't-build-it-they-will-come dept.

An anonymous reader writes: During a recent Urban Land Institute talk, the director of the Iowa Department of Transportation, Paul Trombino, told an audience that the road network in Iowa was probably going to "shrink." Calling for fewer highways isn't what you'd normally expect from a government transportation official, but since per capita driving has peaked in the U.S., it might make sense for states to question whether or not to spend their transportation budgets on new roads.

7 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. It all depends.... by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It certainly doesn't make sense to plow money in to maintaining roads that are not being used. But there is also a cost with abandoning roads, so the overall benefit must be determined on a road by road basis. But that certainly is a departure from the general assumption that we must maintain all roads.

    Do you shut down a road, or let it die a slow death?

    1. Re:It all depends.... by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If a road is abandoned, who gets the rights to that property? If it is public land then does the public still have access to it? If they do does the government have responsibility to keep it safe? If they public isn't allowed on it, how will this be enforced?
      If the land goes to the adjacent private property kinda like a reverse eminent domain, does the land holder have to pay for this land, do they get it for free. Will this extra land area raise their property taxes. What about getting rid of the old pavement?

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    2. Re:It all depends.... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Like abandoned railbeds, they can become hiking trails. In Europe, I have seen Roman roads that are still used as trails.

    3. Re:It all depends.... by bangular · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I still admire roads with no homes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  2. the real admission is peak driving. by nimbius · · Score: 2, Interesting

    According to TFA 'peak driving' happened in 2004. more than a decade later states are waking up to empty highways. I think this is happening for a few reasons:

    intractable recession: The US, in general, is a declining superpower and its starting to show. our skin-and-bones transportation budget, crumbling bridges, and pothole ridden highways are so common as to be a feature. A decade of intentional federal gridlock by republicans clammouring for austerity measures in the face of a housing market crisis and educational loan crisis didnt help. and a decade prior our zeal to fight the war without end amen depleated a lot of our reserves from the clinton adminstration that could have been used to shore up what 60 years ago was a mark of american achievement...namely our highway infrastructure.

    Driving sucks: Millenials like myself hate driving. car companies assumed it was their cars, and raced to put cellphones and wifi computers in our cars hoping we would buy them all up, only to realize we're crippled by inexorable college debt and newfound levels of unaffordable housing. regular maintenance and gas, insurance and most importantly our general penchant for unemployment after the housing decline means we arent really interested in a car. if we get one, it will be a beater from a used lot. we're also mostly service sector employees, or we work from home because OAP's and boomers turned our economy into a giant mechanical turk. Combine this with our urban brethren and we have everything from groceries to the latest blu-ray delivered to us through the mail. we dont shop strip malls, we just buy what you ask for off the list you make online.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:the real admission is peak driving. by King_TJ · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think these points contribute to the problem, but there's a lot to consider here.

      For starters, we're talking about Iowa in this story. Iowa isn't exactly one of the states people flock to in droves to find employment. Don't get me wrong here... I have no grudge against Iowa. I think it just happens to be like other Midwestern states where except for a couple of major cities, it's primarily farm land and rural areas, where most of the car traffic is on interstates, traveling through the state to a destination elsewhere. It's quite possible they're just taking a good look at the situation and saying, "Hey... We could do drivers a favor by improving the quality of the roads that really matter, while just abandoning some of the lightly traveled alternate routes instead of wasting road money maintaining them."

      Out here in the metro DC area, by contrast? Our roads are jam packed with traffic at seemingly all hours -- and that's despite having a pretty extensive light rail and commuter train system in place, linked to an extensive bus system, plus various options like rental bicycles.

      Overall, I think it's short-sighted to write off the highway and road infrastructure as less important since "today's generation hates driving and can't afford decent cars anyway". (Not saying you did that in your post, but commenting in general here.) I think soon enough, we're going to see self-driving vehicles becoming commonplace. And that, in turn, is going to change a lot of things about transportation. (EG. If the car drives itself and knows how to safely get around, you no longer have to worry if it's "ok to let your friend borrow your car" over concerns he/she might wreck it.) So it'll lead to a lot more sharing of vehicles. People will buy one as more of an investment than a "huge but unfortunately necessary expense", as they make money using it to give other people rides when they're not using it themselves.

  3. Re:Iowa Immigration Requirements by tomhath · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Regarding the mountains - realize that some parts of Iowa are so flat that on a clear day, a person with good eyesight can look out toward the horizon and see the back of his own head.

    Everyone I've known who grew up in Iowa and moved away wanted to move back, if that tells you anything