At a news conference this week announcing their ambitious "mode shift" campaign, Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Richard Davey boldly announced that the state will "build no more superhighways," and work to get people out of their cars.
We suppose such a pronouncement from "the only state transportation chief who doesn't own a car," shouldn't be surprising, but to hear the head of a state transportation agency discuss not building highways is still a bit jarring.
According to Tanya Snyder, the goal of Davey's mode shift campaign "is to triple the share of trips taken by those modes [trains, buses, bikes, and walking], as
opposed to single-occupancy vehicles, by improving transit service and
active transportation amenities like lighting, sidewalks, curb cuts and
rail-trails."
In seeking to reduce congestion, improve the environment, and achieve positive public health outcomes, "[t]he mode shift will be a centerpiece of MassDOT's GreenDOT Implementation
Plan, being finalized this fall, which strives for multi-modalism," says Snyder.
"'Of
all the state's green policies, this is the one that really counts,'
Marc Draisen, who directs the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, told
the Boston Globe."
FULL STORY: MassDOT Secretary: “We Will Build No More Superhighways”
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