Sierra Club rates best US transportation projects

July 31, 2002 SAN FRANCISCO - Reuteurs reported that "hoping to step up the fight against sprawling communities that gobble up open space and fuel pollution, a leading environmental group Tuesday unveiled a report highlighting the best and worst transportation projects in the United States.

The Sierra Club said the list looked at how the projects affected air quality, whether they provided adequate transportation alternatives and if they triggered sprawl by spurring economic development far from the community.

"We definitely hope it gives people an idea of some of the potential that is out there," said Neha Bhatt, who coordinated the report. "We hope a lot of others will benefit from what some of these visionary communities using alternative solutions are doing."

She said the report, which includes 49 projects ranging from urban plans costing billions of dollars to smaller scale community-based initiatives, shows different ways to deal with the demands of growing populations.

While no one project topped the list, the report saw commuter rail solutions in general as one of the most effective ways to reduce air pollution, protect green space and allow people to live without a dependence on cars.

For example, a proposed high-speed train traveling from the San Francisco-area to Los Angeles and the North-South rail link connecting two commuter lines in Boston were two of what the Sierra Club called "smart" transportation choices.

Others included Portland, Oregon's FlexCar program where members share vehicles located throughout the city and the removal of an elevated freeway in Wisconsin that will open 26 acres for redevelopment and new investment.

"By focusing on moving people rather than autos, these communities are pulling commuters out of traffic jams by giving them more choices in how they get to work," the report said.

The report, available on the group's Web site at (http://www.sierraclub.org), also targeted "wrong way" choices that were made up mainly of projects to build new roads --initiatives the Sierra Club said often increased the traffic problems they set out to fix.

For instance, the cost of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge across the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia was over its $2.5 billion budget and will end up wider than the highway it connects, the report said.

Also making the "wrong way" list was the $500 million Northwest Parkway project in Colorado, which the report said would make congestion worse because of travelers attracted by the new road.