Summary.

The transportation measure presents a unique opportunity to create a rail transit system, expand and improve bus service and bicycle facilities and move toward land use reforms which will lessen automobile use and reduce suburban sprawl. Defeat of the measure by environmentalist opposition will delay, but not prevent the widening of Highway 101. The likely consequence of such a defeat will be another freeway widening measure two years from now which will not include the environmentally beneficial aspects of this one.

The Measure.

Sonoma County voters are asked to support a sales tax measure to widen Highway 101, create a rail transit system, repair local roads, expand and improve bus service, move toward completion of a countywide bikeways plan, add pedestrian trails and encourage transit oriented developments. Sixty percent of the measure's revenue would benefit automobile use, forty percent is dedicated to other forms of transportation, with rail receiving half of that.

No Freeway Widening, No Rail.

Extensive polling indicates that a balanced measure of this kind is favored by more than 75% of Sonoma County voters. Neither a rail measure nor a freeway measure, standing alone, can be assured of a majority vote. Even a majority of "slow growth" voters want freeway widening to be part of the package. The clear message is; (1) frustration with 101 congestion is widespread, and (2) we will get a rail transit system only as part of a package which includes a widened freeway

Why Should We Widen The Freeway?

As indicated above, its the only way we can pass a measure that will include major improvements in non-auto transportation facilities and potentially, a better land use plan.

A Super Majority of Voters Want It Widened.

The political reality is that a super majority of Sonoma County citizens want 101 widened and as their frustrations increase, so will their determination and their numbers. Even if freeway widening is prevented now, it will come about within the next few years, with or without environmental support and quite possibly without a rail transit component. That is even more likely if the environmental community loses significant public support by opposing the proposed measure. (The primary election results in the supervisorial races seem to confirm the voting public's preference for an unambiguous, "widen the freeway" message.)

Quality Of Life Issue.

Highway 101 congestion is a quality of life issue for Sonoma County citizens. Only about one-fourth of 101 users are commuters. The biggest impact of 101's congestion is on families going shopping, getting their kids to the doctor, to day care, to soccer games and to cub scout meetings. No matter how environmentally concerned those parents are, most of them depend on the automobile and 101 on a daily basis and are often just as frustrated by congestion as the commuter. They are willing to pay for a rail transit system, but they recognize that they will continue to depend on the car and the freeway for most of the trips required in their daily life. They will not respond positively to an environmental movement that refuses to recognize the transportation realities of their lives.

Highway 101 is Main Street.

The uses of Highway 101 indicate that it is a local road, not a freeway, and for our three largest cities it serves as main street. The great majority of traffic on 101 is generated by local, non commuter trips. Its congested condition spills over onto inadequate local roads. Even with moderate growth, failure to improve it will result in greater intra-city traffic tie-ups, gridlock and driver frustration.

Why Should we use sales taxes instead of gas taxes?

(1) Presently available gas tax receipts are insufficient to maintain our present road system, much less to expand and improve it. We may complain about the allocation of gas tax funds by the federal government and the inefficiency and wastefulness of Caltrans, but regardless of the reasons, our local transportation system will not be improved with gas tax funds in the foreseeable future. (2) Counties are allowed to increase sales taxes but cannot raise gasoline taxes. Therefore the only major revenue source available for transportation improvements are sales taxes. That is why systems such as BART were paid for from sales tax measures. (3) The California Constitution will not allow gas taxes to be used to maintain and operate a rail transit system. Since such a system will not support itself - just as automobiles do not pay their own way - the only readily available funds for rail transit are sales tax revenues.

Won't Wider Freeways and Rail Transit Increase Growth?

The evidence doesn't support that. We have had no major transportation improvements in Sonoma County for thirty years during which time we have been one of the faster growing areas in the state. Economic conditions and the natural attractions of our area combine to encourage growth. We have made major progress in controlling growth through political means, (growth management plans and urban growth boundaries), and we should continue to do so. However, the public will not accept highway gridlock as a growth limitation method.

Sprawl vs. Concentrated Growth.

Although transportation systems do not determine rate of growth, they affect the nature of that growth. An automobile centered transportation system encourages sprawl. A rail system can concentrate growth in areas close to the stations. The proposed ballot measure calls for 11 rail stations in Sonoma county. Each of those stations can be a focal point for small developments -- Calthorpe refers to them as "pedestrian pockets" - which will provide for housing, retail, commercial, industrial uses and recreational facilities, all within walking distance of the rail station. Several of these stations are located in downtown areas and their redevelopment can help restore and revive those areas. The stations in Petaluma and Santa Rosa abut underused land where the commercial centers of those two cities were once located.

Urban Growth Boundaries Restrict Sprawl.

The suburban sprawl threat of the freeway widening encompassed in the ballot measure should be limited. Five of the seven Sonoma County cities served by 101 have passed Urban Growth Boundary, (UGB), measures and Petaluma has one on the ballot this November. A 1996 County measure restricts development in the county's community separators between cities which have UGBs. The Board of Supervisors has agreed to put a measure on the 1998 ballot with the sales tax measure, which will prevent any significant development south of Petaluma for the next 20 years.

Limited New Freeway Capacity.

The growth inducing and sprawl impact of the freeway widening will be minimized by "latent traffic potential". What that means is that many of the drivers who now avoid the freeway because of its congestion, will return to it as soon as its widening makes it a preferred alternative to non freeway routes. As a result much of the new capacity will be taken by the existing population and will be an insignificant incentive for growth.

What's To Prevent Continued Widening of 101?

Two things - the prohibitive cost of doing so and the availability of rail transit. It will be prohibitively expensive to widen 101 beyond six lanes. The two lanes to be added by the present measure are in the publicly owned divider between the north and southbound lanes. With few exceptions, no new land will have to be acquired, which limits land acquisition costs. Any future attempt to widen the freeway will not only require the acquisition of some of the most expensive land in Sonoma County, but will also demand reconstruction of the freeway interchanges. Since we will have an operating rail system by the time there is pressure for further freeway widening, the cost contrast between more concrete and more trains will be so great it should make freeway widening politically impossible.

Rail System Will Encourage In-Fill Growth.

In preparing the plan the transportation measure is based on, Peter Calthorpe identified 7000 acres of land in northern Marin and Sonoma County suitable for mixed use, transit oriented developments (TOD). All of these sites are within the urban boundaries of cities and in close proximity to proposed rail stations. They include downtown sites in Petaluma, Cotati, Santa Rosa, Windsor, Healdsburg and Cloverdale. The ballot measure allocates $5,000,000 to help pay for infrastructure improvements for TOD sites within the rail corridor cities. With expansion limited by growth boundaries and financial incentives for TODs, developers could find that pedestrian friendly, in-fill projects are the best game in town.

 Conclusion

If we support the transportation/sales tax measure we can create a rail transit system, improve bus service and take a giant step toward completion of our bikeway plan. Those improvements will create incentives to direct growth into urban areas in need of redevelopment and close to job sites and transit. In the long run that will result in reduced sprawl and a reduction in automobile use.

If we oppose the measure we might succeed in temporarily delaying the widening of Highway 101 but we will miss a unique opportunity to create major non-automobile transportation improvements that can lead to reforms in land use planning.