Bumps along the way

Gathered together for a potluck dinner over the weekend, I was chatting with a friend’s parents, when the topic of awkward conversation turned to what I was working on at the moment. Knowing that they are from New Jersey, I thought they would be interested to know that with a large group of transportation engineers and urban planners, I am working with NJ DOT on helping communities make better decisions about land-use, thereby helping to plan better transportation. Vague, I know, but people, especially in NJ, have such an immediate negative reaction when any DOT is mentioned that I didn’t want to put them off.

They didn’t care about the land-use side, but really wanted to know what the DOT had planned – meaning, what crazy projects were the DOT undertaking that would inexcusably inconvenience their ability to drive? I told them about a couple of major arterial projects, and how NJ DOT was pushing the community to make better choices with what they were doing with their land before they promised to build any roads.

This is simplistic. But how else do you explain what’s going on to a nice, well-intentioned couple who has lived in a cul-de-sac development all their lives, two people who are moving to a smaller cul-de-sac development because they can’t deal with the congestion in their areas, and who have had a SUV as their car of choice for years now? They’re just not equipped in their experience to think about anything outside of their car and house.

Their main complaints as drivers, was that DOT should make it easier for drivers. They disliked the bump-outs that were being built to encourage walkability. They hate that people just drive right over them – “so annoying” – cutting them out of traffic. I tried to not say cul-de-sac too many times to illustrate my point (just looking at cul-de-sac plans make the inaccessibility problem so obvious to me, but people just don’t think so). They liked the idea of biking, but wanted to make driving easier. Finally they seemed to agree - in theory - that having more and better alternate routes would help ease their driving experience. Still, it’s going to take a lot before they agree with state agencies about what that would take.