Massachusetts residents are driving more than ever, enduring longer commutes and traveling further distances for work, shopping a recreation. The total amount of miles residents drove increased 75% from 1970 to 2000. All of this driving is in large part due to the fact that we live further and further away from the things we do everyday. In fact, MassInc recently reported that one in five workers face a daily roundtrip commute of at least an hour and a half. Building more and more roads isn’t the answer because lanes continue to fill up with traffic. Unfortunately, state policy over the decades has actually fueled our longer commutes and increased the number of hours we spend in our cars through a variety of policies.

How we get around has a huge impact on our lifestyle and environment. Increased vehicular traffic is hurting our air and water quality; our expanding road system is consumes open space; we are walking and biking less because it’s too difficult to get around without a car in most places; and the cost of driving is making it hard for many to make ends meet.

Where we live and how we develop determines how we travel. The state needs to both improve our existing travel choices while guiding development to places that are near jobs, stores, schools, and other community centers. The state should pursue the following policies:

• Develop a 20-year statwide transportation plan with significant public input. The legislature has created a Transportation Finance Commission and mandated a long-term statewide transportation plan. The Executive Office of Transportation released a draft 20-year plan in March 2005. Now, it is critical to involve the public in reviewing and finalizing the plan. Without a process that includes discussions with the diverse constituencies all around the state, the plan will suffer from both a lack of new ideas and the opportunity to forge an enduring consensus about the transportation future of the state.
   
• Implement a 20-year state transportation plan. In the post-Big Dig era of financial constraints, Massachusetts needs a new transportation vision and implementation plan that sets a new mobility and access framework for the next generation of transportation investments. The plan should coordinate investments in roads, bridges, public transit and walking and biking facilities with land use and development priorities.
   
• Realize the Central Artery transit commitments. All our residents deserve high-quality transportation choices. The state needs to ensure that funding is provided so that the increased mobility, air quality, reduced traffic congestion and other benefits of the transit commitments required to mitigate the Central Artery Project are realized.
   
• Create incentives to Fix It First at the local level so that communities establish pavement management and other maintenance systems to avoid costly repairs resulting from deferred maintenance.
   
• Invest in Transit-Oriented Development. Locating housing, jobs, and retail near transit will help cut down on travel time for many people that live or work in the area. The Legislature and Administration established a $30 million grant program for housing and mixed-use development to be built at transit stations. This program should be implemented quickly and receive full funding.
   
• Safe Routes to School. Many parents grew up walking to school, but their children cannot due to fear of safety and lack of safe pedestrian facilities. The state should establish and fund a statewide Safe Routes to Schools program that will encourage kids to walk and bike to school.
   

To download the state’s proposed 20-year transportation plan, go to www.eot.state.ma.us.

For more information on increasing commute times, go to www.massinc.org.