Public forum tonight on how transportation money could be spent locally

Often is the case, transportation problems
are answered with highway expansion

Giant highway expansion always seems to be the answer to road problems.

Often, especially at a local level, it’s not. At 6 p.m. tonight, a transportation forum at the south side neighborhood center on 6th St., put on by the local Sierra Club chapter, discusses alternative transportation spending plans that don’t necessarily include those highway expansions the DOT typically embraces.

It’s the kind of approach that really shorts local road funding, says the Sierra Club’s Cathy Van Maren.

“We’ve gone from having pretty good roads to now being rated at “D” and having almost a billion dollars in unmet needs,” she said. 

The forum is looking for input from the public.

“There are other issues of transposition needs for people who don’t have or can’t drive cars,” Van Maren said, “like increasing funding for or enhancing public transposition locally and regionally.”

The group will collect input and share it with those who are making key transportation decisions in the region.