"...there’s a few billion dollars’ shortfall in meeting Georgia’s transportation needs. Indeed, this was the reason given for creation of the TSC; somebody needed to look into the matter... Which, of course, begs the question as to what, exactly, has the Georgia House and Senate transportation and appropriations committees, as well as GDOT and the governor’s office, been doing all these years?"Mr. Wienbaker goes on to list what "they've" been doing:
- "They've been siphoning off the fourth penny of the gasoline tax and putting it in the state's general fund,"
- "They've failed to index the gasoline tax to inflation,"
- "They've failed to recognize alternative fuel vehicles also use the states [roads] and ought to pitch in for their maintenance,"
- "They've failed to realize Uncle Sam's 'stimulus money' [] might one day run out,"
- "They failed to consider the prospects of a depleted US Highway Trust Fund account."
All of this is very true, but, the "they" that Mr. Wisenbaker refers to are his beloved republicans in the state house up in Atlanta, and in D.C. for the last one.
The larger truth is, states and localities throughout the country are struggling with this very same issue. Most, like Mr. Wisenbaker, assume it's a matter of adequate funding. However, there are those that break from the general consensus and say the problem lies in the pattern of development we've had since World War II, what in some circles is known as the Great Experiment of Suburbanization, or more commonly, called sprawl. The greater problem is that our pattern of development has a design flaw, based as it is in an automobile-centric design. Atlanta is a prime example of this problem. If you've been in Atlanta lately, you know what I'm talking about.
Chuck Marohn, of Strong Towns, USA, writes in his book, "Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Vol 1,"
Following World War II, the United States embarked on a great social and financial experiment that we know as suburbanization. It created tremendous growth, opportunity and prosperity for a generation of Americans who had just lived through economic depression and war. What we seemingly didn't stop to consider at the time was that the way we were building our places - spread out across the landscape - would be extremely expensive to sustain, far greater than the relative wealth the approach would generate.
While we financed the first life cycle of the suburban expansion with savings and investment, we financed the second by taking on debt. Entering into the third life cycle, our need to keep everything going became so desperate that we allowed our financing to become predatory. We're now at the end of this experiment, unable to prop it up or keep it going. We desperately need to find a different approach.
He has called this pattern, for all intents and purposes, a Ponzi Scheme from which we need to free ourselves.
From a book by Andres Duaney, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck called "Suburban Nation:"
From a book by Andres Duaney, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck called "Suburban Nation:"
"Suburban sprawl, now the standard North American pattern of growth, ignores historical precedent and human experience. It is an invention, conceived by architects, engineers, and planners, and promoted by developers in the great sweeping aside of the old that occurred after the Second World War. Unlike the traditional neighborhood model, which evolved organically as a response to human needs, suburban sprawl is an idealized artificial system. It is not without a certain beauty: it is rational, consistent, and comprehensive. Its performance is largely predictable. It is an outgrowth of modern problem solving: a system for living. Unfortunately this system is already showing itself to be unsustainable. Unlike the traditional neighborhood, sprawl is not healthy growth; it is essentially self-destructive. Even at relatively low population densities, sprawl tends not to pay for itself financially and consumes land at an alarming rate, while producing insurmountable traffic problems and exacerbating social inequity and isolation. These particular outcomes were not predicted. Neither was the toll sprawl exacts from America's cities and towns, which continue to decant into the countryside. As the ring of suburbia grows around most of our cities, so grows the void at the center."
Even in Valdosta and Lowndes County, we can see this happening. Our public officials, at both the city and county levels, would do well by their citizens to heed these principles, taking them into consideration when they think and talk about transportation.
