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Rand Answer: ‘Toll Booths on All LA Freeways’ |
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Congestion Pricing
By Albert Abrams
Call it what you want, the term “freeway” may soon become “tollway”. At the Annual Town Hall Meeting of the Tarzana Property Owners
Association Tuesday, LA City Councilmembers Wendy Greuel and Dennis
Zine, were joined by County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Rita
Robinson, General Manager of the LA City Department of Transportation,
to hear a presentation by Rand Corporation transportation expert, Dr.
Paul Sorensen. Sorensen’s pitch: the need for “Congestion Pricing” as
the key way to end traffic gridlock in LA.
In a nutshell, Sorensen pointed out that the supply of freeway lanes, roads and streets in LA cannot keep up with the dramatically growing population and demand. The RAND think-tank answer? Toll booths should be implemented on all freeways in Los Angeles, especially in the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, which would get a new name: HOT lanes.
You want to go to the Westside from the San Fernando Valley at rush-hour? No problem. Just be prepared to pay $10 each way for the privilege.
Sorensen said that in the absence of a dramatic build-up of new lanes and roads, the only proven approach to dampen demand is for drivers to pay for the privilege of using the freeways at certain hours of the day. He pointed out that other cities, such as Seattle, New York, Houston and London have already seen the benefits of implementing “congestion pricing”.
Yaroslavsky was quick to point out that the Mayor of London, the vigorous proponent of “congestion pricing” … in an attempt to keep too many cars from entering London … was just thrown out of office in recent municipal elections.
After the presentation, Yaroslavsky and Zine both spoke about the need for alternate, doable solutions that could be implemented with citizen support.
The Supervisor mentioned an idea such as “driver-free days” on the freeways based on the last number of your license plate. If your license plate ends with a number 6, then any days on the calendar with a 6 in it would be days you would avoid going on the freeway during peak hours. It would be self-policing.
Zine strongly urged for the transformation of major thoroughfares and boulevards into permanent or temporary one-way streets (during rush-hour, for example), such as Vanowen and Victory in the San Fernando Valley, and Pico and Olympic on the Westside. He said the concept works in Washington, DC and could be a major help to offset congestion in Los Angeles.
Transportation chief Robinson, a 30-year veteran of City Hall, said that a variety of solutions could work if citizens understand that the traffic congestion is caused by too many people in too many cars.
A comprehensive congestion abatement program, she said, aligned with the goals of Caltrans and the LA Planning Department, would look at the impact on traffic of new buildings, new construction, new housing and overall density. She urged for the implementation of action-oriented, doable solutions that would improve the overall traffic situation.
City Council Transportation Committee chair Greuel acted as moderator of the panel and noted that what we have now in the form of road and lane supply is what we are stuck with – there is no “silver bullet” to fix the situation.
“Congestion pricing” is the new idea flag being raised by City traffic engineers to see who will salute. Zev asked who in the audience supported it as a solution to the City’s traffic problems. By the show of hands … two or three in the audience of over 100 Tarzana residents … it was obviously not a concept that will garner much affection or respect.
It may be back to the drawing boards for a while, but “congestion pricing” may turn out to be one of the key tools that City planners will implement in the future. As Yaroslavsky pointed out, in alluding to going to a dentist, “It sometimes takes a lot pain, after the raw nerve becomes exposed, before you ask for relief to the problem at any cost.”
Ouch! We may not be there yet, Supervisor. But we get the point. (Albert Abrams is a public affairs expert, Chair of the Tarzana Neighborhood Council Government Action Committee and a contributor to CityWatch.) _
CityWatch
Vol 6 Issue 38
Pub: May 9, 2008
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