Conscious Choice: A Refreshing ISTEA

Archive | News of the Earth (September 1997)

A Refreshing ISTEA

by Ben Lilliston

Mention transportation policy and people’s eyes glaze over. It is a world filled with acronyms and words like "mitigation" and "intermodal" that are far from inspiring. But talk about a new construction project that will add another 30 minutes to your travel time and people start to perk up, usually as their blood begins to boil.

In fact, there may not be an environmental issue in the Chicago region that arouses as much passion. And make no mistake, how transportation dollars are spent has a profound effect on the region’s environment. From air quality to the preservation of natural areas, transportation directly impacts many of the higher profile environmental issues. Certainly, transportation policy also gets to the heart of suburban sprawl, access to jobs, the development of communities, and the depletion of Illinois farmland.

So, it’s no surprise that Mayor Daley recently told a group of suburban leaders that transportation is the number one issue confronting the region. While local public officials understand the importance of transportation to their constituents, they are often caught having to rely on federal dollars to fund projects. For this reason, the stakes are enormously high for the Chicago region as Congress considers the six-year reauthorization of the nation’s transportation law—known as the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). The final form of ISTEA will go a long way toward addressing whether the Chicago region will continue its failed policy of perpetual road-building, or begin to fund projects which have been proven to reduce traffic congestion.

The fight in Congress is fairly straightforward. The road builders want to earmark more money exclusively toward building roads, reduce projects that address air quality, and eliminate the ability of citizens in local communities to have a say in how federal money is spent. Environmentalists want increased citizen input into which projects get funded, and flexibility in projects that provide more options for transportation.

When ISTEA was first passed in 1991, it was fairly revolutionary as transportation policy goes. For the first time, it was mandated that citizens on the local level have input, and it included components which promoted transportation projects that benefit the environment, including projects for walking, biking, and mass transit. And over the last six years, Chicago residents have benefitted greatly from this little-known transportation law.

"ISTEA has moved many decisions down to the local level," says Randy Neufeld, of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation (CBF). "Better transportation decisions come from people who are closer to the transportation needs."

Neufeld and CBF have been one of the more successful local organizations in taking advantage of ISTEA’s flexibility. ISTEA has helped establish seven miles of on-street bike lanes which include Wells Street, Canal Street, Clinton Street, and Dearborn Street. Bike lanes will be added to Halsted in the Spring. Chicago has installed an additional 3,641 bike racks throughout the city. And another ISTEA project, the Conrail Bikeway, is Chicago’s first rails-to-trails project — running through Dan Ryan Woods and Whistler Woods.

"If people are organized they can get federal money for projects on bikes," Neufeld says. While it is difficult to assess precisely how much biking has increased in Chicago during ISTEA, there are streets on the north side which average 100 bikers an hour during peak hours, according to Neufeld. A recent survey by the Metro Chicago Information Center found that over half of the people in the Chicago region own a bicycle, and one in ten bicycle owners who normally drive to work take up their bikes for the commute when the weather allows. In response to increased biking, each county in the region now has its own bike plan.

CBF is part of a larger coalition of groups working to fund transportation projects that provide alternatives to driving. The Chicagoland Transportation and Air Quality Commission (CTAQC) now is composed of over 130 groups, including organizations representing the elderly, public health, unions, and low income communities.

"The strength of ISTEA is that it has created the climate for citizens to have direct input into the transportation planning for the region," says Jacky Grimshaw, co-director of CTAQC.

The Green Line initiative is considered a prime example of how ISTEA can make a difference. In early 1994, the Green Line was shut down for a two-year reconstruction project, including building or renovating 28 transit stations serving some 500,000 people. The Green Line is one of the oldest routes on Chicago’s El system. Money for the rehabilitation work became available through ISTEA provisions which fund projects that improve air quality.

Through these same ISTEA provisions, the Chicago region has funded a variety of projects including the Wisconsin Central Railroad, which operates from Antioch and Franklin Park into downtown Chicago; reconstruction of several State street subway stops in the Loop; the Illinois Center Pedway, which runs under Lake Street; the pace van pooling program; and the CTA’s hydrogen fuel cell buses which reduce pollution.

The urgent need to address some of the region’s transportation problems is recognized by Chicago’s outlying counties. According to a recent survey by the Chicago Tribune, 79 percent of residents in DuPage and Kane Counties rank traffic congestion at the top of their problem list. That is a 27 percent increase from the 62 percent who responded similarly in a 1991 poll. That poll also found that eighty-five percent of male commuters and 89 percent of women drive alone to work.

Clearly, a large obstacle for traveling in Chicago’s outlying areas is that mass transit is not available in suburb to suburb travel. "You cannot build your way out of this," Mayor Daley was quoted in the Sun-Times telling suburban leaders. "There has to be money set aside for mass transit to move employees. Otherwise, it’s going to be 8:00 a.m. rush hour 24 hours a day."

The Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) is currently mapping out projects it believes need to be funded over the next 20 years. The CATS plan will be announced in late August, and several public hearings will be held in September, before it is finally approved in October. Many of the projects CATS is expected to include would be funded through ISTEA.

The Openlands Project, another local group which has been successful in utilizing ISTEA for planning numerous greenway projects, has been involved in many projects that are still in the design stage, and won’t come to fruition unless ISTEA is reauthorized. "Up to this point the money has been used for engineering and the next round will go into construction," says Joyce O’Keefe from Openlands.

The open question is whether Congress will allow for these projects to be funded by maintaining the current ISTEA. The road building industry is desperately trying to gut components requiring citizen participation and flexibility it allows for funding projects.

This flexibility about the way in which money is spent is a cornerstone of ISTEA. In the last ISTEA over $70 billion, or roughly 58 percent of the funds contained in the highway fund of ISTEA, have some degree of flexibility and can be spent on other projects. This level of flexibility is particularly important for the CTA, which is cutting bus routes, and reducing services for some subway lines. Many of these cuts were made because the new transportation law slashes operational costs for CTA, but increased flexibility in how funds are spent might be able to make up for some of the loss in revenue.

Leading the charge in Congress to weaken ISTEA is a coalition of states called STEP21, which want more resources for highways, and less for projects that reduce air pollution.

But according to Grimshaw, if ISTEA is stripped of its clean air projects, which include bicycle, pedestrian walkways, and mass transit, metropolitan regions will not be able to reach new clean air requirements set by the Environmental Protection Agency. "The money to help bring the region into clean air attainment will be lost," says Grimshaw.

Congress is expected to vote on ISTEA by the end of September or early October. If you are one of the many Chicagoans who wish getting to work was a little easier, write your Congressman and ask him or her to preserve ISTEA. There may not be federal legislation passed this year that has a greater impact on your day-to-day life.

Illinois
Getting Tough On Crime: Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan is asking Illinois residents to help fight pollution by calling the toll-free environmental crimes hotline at 888-288-9436. Ryan urged people to report abandoned storage drums, burning trash or tires and dumping of trash at odd hours.

And Democratic candidate for Governor John Schmidt has touted his support for "strong enforcement of environmental laws," as one of his key issues in the upcoming campaign.

International
The United States could feed 800 million people with the grain that livestock eats, a Cornell ecologist has concluded. David Pimentel, professor of ecology in Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, predicts that future water and energy shortages will change the face of American agriculture.

"More than half the U.S. grain and nearly 40 percent of world grain is being fed to livestock rather than being consumed directly by humans," Pimentel said. "Although grain production is increasing in total, the per capita supply has been decreasing for more than a decade. Clearly, there is reason for concern in the future."

More than 800 million people, including 200 million children, in the developing world suffer from chronic undernutrition. Over the past few years, world grain stocks have dwindled to dangerously low levels, highlighting the fragility of food supplies in a world where the population is expected to reach seven billion people by the year 2010, almost double the 3.7 billion of 1970.

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