I read with interest Jack Major’s Viewpoint in the April 2-8 issue. Mr. Major asked the question, “Whose problem is I-25 corridor?” His answer was that the solution lies solely within the purview of the Colorado Department of Transportation and therefore CDOT should fund the proposed light rail system parallel to I-25. I disagree for several reasons.
READ MOREHave you ever been stuck in traffic on the freeway only to look over and see a nearly empty car-pool lane? While they may have seemed like a good idea, unfortunately High Occupancy Vehicle lanes are woefully underused. For most of us, carpooling to work is simply impractical, as a result HOV lanes remain near-empty during rush-hour while unrestricted lanes are often bumper-to-bumper.
READ MOREThe legislature went at it again, doing its best to make the world a better place. This time, they were going to improve the existing seatbelt law by making failure to buckle up a primary offense. (Right now, you can be cited only if you are first pulled over for another violation.) Although the measure is dead for this year, it will probably be resurrected one day. If this day comes, we would be better served if our lawmakers would consider a different approach to this matter.
READ MORETable 1 Traffic Count: I-25 at Hampden – August 1996 (3 lanes each direction)
Table 2 Configuration possibilities
Table 3 Capital construction cost of all configurations
Table 3A Capital construction cost of all configurations
The problem with any all-or-nothing approach is the very real possibility of getting nothing. There is no better example than RTDs attempt to build out rapid transit in all directions all at once. Heres the simple story: RTD has within its own means the ability, without a tax increase, to build one rapid transit line at a time. In order to do this RTD must decide which corridor goes first, which goes second, etc. Sounds like what we all have to do with our own major investments.
READ MORESynopsis: House Bill 99-1212, which makes driving or riding in a car without a seat belt into a “primary” traffic offense, is yet another attempt to control peoples own decisions about risk taking. Research shows that when reckless drivers are forced to buckle up, they drive even more recklessly. Thus, careful drivers (who wear seat belts by choice) are endangered. Moreover, mandatory seat belt laws also increase the risk that minorities or other groups will be victimized by pretextual traffic stops.
READ MOREThe competitive contracting program, which requires RTD to contract out 20% of its services to private contractors, has reversed RTD’s previous trend of increasing costs. The cost savings from competitive contracting has enabled RTD to improve service, resulting in the largest ridership gain of ant of the nation’s largest 25 bus systems. If the legislature raised the percent of RTD services which can be competitively contracted to 35% or more, the benefits to metro Denver mass transit users would be all the greater.
READ MOREWhat if your supermarket was absolutely jammed with shoppers? Day after day, week after week it’s solid people. Checking out takes hoursand it’s been that way for years.
Even imagining such a situation is difficult, because it never happens. Entrepreneurs are always searching for opportunities for profit, and any numskull can see that a routinely overcrowded supermarket means there is money to be made opening a competing store down the street.
READ MOREThe Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) recently organized a series of “public” meetings about the weekend traffic congestion on Interstate-70 west of Denver. The so-called solution? A new high-tech magnetic levitation train that would be built along and above the existing highway from Denver to Vail.
READ MOREThere is no truth to the belief that light rail improves traffic congestion. A look at the failure of light rail in Portland, Oregon and elsewhere shows how wise Denver-area voters were to reject light rail in a landslide.
Locals in Portland report “light rail actually put more cars on the road.” Portland’s Environmental Coalition opposes building more rail because light rail forces more people into cars. Portland’s experience is not unique.
READ MOREThe federal immigration reform legislation passed in the summer of 1996 affects the privacy rights of all Americans, even if they are native born citizens. The new law requires:
Americans must provide Social Security numbers to apply for or renew a state drivers license beginning October 1, 2000. If not, the license cannot be used for federal identification purposes.
States must display the number on the license itself or embed it within the document for reading by electronic means.
Congress is considering giving Denver hundreds of millions of dollars to construct an eight mile extension of the existing five mile light rail system. The Regional Transportation District (RTD) is pushing for a vote on a tax increase to fund even more ligth rail With new EPA air quality standards looming over the city, the battle over the light rail system is about to begin. The facts show that light rail in Denver is a waste of money:
READ MOREThe good news is that Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena is finally leaving Washington. The bad news is that he was ever invited to come in the first place and that he is not leaving in disgrace.
READ MOREThe citizens and taxpayers of the Denver metropolitan region have shown their willingness to fund numerous imaginative public works and civic improvement projects over the past decade. Denver International Airport, at a cost of nearly five billion dollars, leads the list. But don’t forget the Colorado Convention Center, Coors Field, and Elitch’s. Then there’s the proposed new Ocean Journey aquarium and a new Broncos stadium. All of these imaginative projects were (and are being) sold to the public using questionable economic assumptions. Citizens were promised that by investing our tax dollars many economic benefits would accrue to the entire region.
READ MOREWatch out Colorado. The Regional Transportation District (RTD) has an insatiable appetite for tax dollars and they are eyeing the state coffers. They have a plan to divert $40 to $50 million of state highway funds to extend light rail to Littleton.
RTD got its first taste of state revenues when they received a windfall from outside the district that allowed them to build the Light Rail Demonstration Project in downtown Denver. Now they want a massive tax rate increase of 67% plus $50-60 million from the highway fund. This kind of irresponsible behavior is a signal to policy leaders that it is time to engage in serious analysis of Colorados transportation problems and the role of structures like RTD.
READ MOREExecutive Summary: In March 1993, the Independence Institute published an Issue Paper titled Stop that Train, which contended that the plans of the Regional Transportation District (RTD) to build a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system throughout the metro area were flawed. The Issue Paper suggested that expanded use of special traffic lanes for busses and carpools (HOV lanes) would be a more cost-effective method of improving mass transit.
READ MOREAmy Oliver Cooke, Director
Email: Amy@i2i.org
Phone: 303-279-6536, ext 107
Amy Oliver Cooke, Director
Email: Amy@i2i.org
Phone: 303-279-6536, ext 107
Over at Education Next (one of my favorite stops these days), professors Robert Costrell and Michael Podgursky say there may be a way to make a positive move beyond the traditional debate over teacher pensions:
The critics of DB [defined benefit plans] are correct that current plans are seriously underfunded in part because benefits are not […]
READ MORELast week I asked what Denver Public Schools was up to with a plan to change the enrollment policies for some of its charter schools, making them into “boundary schools.” What’s up with that?
When you’re 5 years old like I am, you can tend to be insecure about questioning authority so often. Thus I was […]
