Solutions To Traffic Tangle Gridlocked

Lois M. Scheel

1990

Published in:

Section 3 Newsletter, July 1990, No. 83

Political mismanagement is not endemic to the states of Oregon and Washington; it thrives wherever political forces attempt to master technological problems. However, since the author knows Oregon and Washington best, why not zero in on the home front. After all, if you've seen one Price System state, you've seen them all.

Most people are not familiar with the term, Price System. If you mention the word money, profit, or bottom line, they understand. Technocracy defines a Price System as any system that operates on debt and uses a medium of exchange to distribute goods and services. Except for a possible remote and primitive community, none other than Price Systems exist at the present time. So, call it what you will: profit, money, or bottom-line systems--or Price System; they are one and the same.

Oregon and Washington seem to be awakening to the fact that there may be a traffic problem. This is the third awakening in recent times. The first one came when a couple of decades or so ago it was decided to build another I-5 Bridge adjacent to the existing one that connects Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. (The state boundary line runs parallel down the center of the Columbia River, so if you want to swim there, you'd best use the Oregon side. Oregonians are more ecology-minded.)

One bridge would carry traffic south, and the other would carry traffic north instead of one bridge carrying the full load. Toll booths were installed, and commuters footed the bill. Miraculously the toll booths were removed when the bridge was paid for, as promised, and earlier than expected. In other words, more traffic crossed the bridge than the experts predicted. By the time the new bridge was paid for, traffic had increased enough to create almost as many traffic jams as there were before the new bridge was built.

Several years later came awakening number two. The baby boomers were coming of age and outsiders were drifting into Oregon and Washington in search of another Walden Pond. Privacy became a premium. Clearly another new bridge was in order. Why not connect the two cities farther east! This would give interstate commuters on that side of the tracks a decided advantage. In fact, it would be an advantage for everyone. More lanes would be installed. The bridge would be built high enough to eliminate the need for lifting it for small boats with tall flagpoles, a constant irritation to commuters on the I-5 bridge. There would never be a traffic jam on the new I-205 bridge. After several years of bickering and planning, the new project, which would solve all traffic problems, got under way. The experts were right about one thing: There is never a traffic jam on the I-205 bridge. However, when you take an exit off the main drag in an attempt to reach the city center or outlying districts of Portland, you can get caught up in gridlock on access routes any time of the night or day, especially if the I- 5 bridge is jammed; when this happens, like ants after having their nest disturbed, commuters who haven't yet got caught up in the gridlock run around in a frenzy, looking for an escape route.

And wouldn't you know it. Once again interstate commuters are experiencing traffic jams on the I-5 Bridge. Due to attempted improvements in an effort to alleviate this congestion, road crews become part of the problem; they work from eight to five also. Commuters had better get an early start if they don't want to be late for work.

It is estimated that rapid growth will dump a half-million more cars and trucks onto the roads of Oregon and Washington--one for every new resident--in the next 20 years. Some commuters, who used to make it to work in 20 to 30 minutes, now find it is taking them 40 minutes to an hour. Although the bridge improvement has helped them get from one state to the other, the merging traffic on main avenues to and through the city center and outlying districts is a daily, aggravating, time-consuming stop-and-go-affair.

So awakening number three is now on the agenda. "STEP ON THE GAS--GRIDLOCK'S COMING" warn the headlines of the April 29, 1990 Sunday Oregonian. "To pave the way ahead, the Metropolitan Service District has a plan to build new highways, widen old ones, build new light-rail lines, double bus service and explore alternatives such as carpooling and flextime." Ah, that last one, "flextime"; that might do the trick. The other plans have been tried before and failed. (It will be interesting to see how the city fathers manage their version of a balanced load--flextime.)

One week later the May 6, 1990 issue of the Sunday Oregonian explored the housing boom. Aha! Now we find out that it's those awful Californians who are sneaking into Oregon and Washington and causing these terrible traffic problems, all because they can purchase housing here much much cheaper than in California. "Not since the buying bonanza of Oregon's prosperous 1970s has real estate been in such demand. Fueling this frenzy are out-of-state dollars owned by equity- rich newcomers, a third of who hail from California. The influx has sparked a surge in housing construction, most of it tailored for buyers who think nothing of paying $150,000 and more for their abodes," boasts the Sunday Oregonian.

The question arises: Will Oregon and Washington become another California? The Golden State's population explosion lasted more than 30 years, leaving a plethora of housing, traffic and public service problems in its polluted wake.

Only in a system where profit is all that counts can you find people cheering the building boom while cursing the influx of newcomers--and the resultant traffic jams--, where if it wasn't for the newcomers, there would be no building boom. "Ain't it great to be crazy!"

In his bid for the presidency, Herbert Hoover promised the people of this nation a "chicken in every pot and a car in every garage!" Now building contractors are coming up with "a garage for every car whether there is anything left for the pot or not." In the Homes section of the Sunday Oregonian, it is not unusual to see houses pictured with three-car garages built on as an extension of the house.

Today the increase in traffic congestion has reached the point where bridges, by-passes, overpasses, underpasses, freeways and their merges on and off are obsolete by the time they are completed. Well heck! Maybe we just haven't voted in the right legislators yet. And what about the opinion of the people? After all, they're the ones carrying on a love affair with their cars, frenzied on by advertising and the need for social prestige. Let's take a poll, get up a petition, put it to a vote. Just get this problem ironed out by the real freeway experts and hand it over to the engineers to implement. And engineers make perfect scapegoats when things go wrong.

In the late 1940s, proposals were put forth in many major cities for wider streets, arcaded sidewalks, more traffic lights, synchronized traffic lights, more restricted parking, moveable curbs in principal streets to allow reversible traffic lanes for rush-hours, one-way traffic on specified streets and at specified hours, sunken speedways with no level crossings, more traffic police, etc. Specific suggestions directed at parking problems included underground parking, overhead parking, more garages, decentralized business, fringe parking with bus transportation from the outlying parking lots to the business section, city owned parking space for one car for each unit area of floor space, more parking meters, more traffic police... This sad song ends periodically, but its haunting melody lingers on until the experts try playing it again.

Suppose that automobile buffs looked at their prized possessions from the scientist or engineer's viewpoint. The automobile is primarily a means of transportation, not a piece of property. Considering automobiles from this standpoint, it should be evident that there are far too many of them. In this country alone, more than 11 million new cars ventured onto the already overcrowded roads during 1986. And car ownership is still steadily rising despite economic recession and increased oil prices. Because it is more profitable to sell automobiles as property than to sell transportation, property and ownership are played up by auto manufacturers and dealers. Attractive gadgets and accessories are added as "selling points", and other prestige factors are stressed. The public doesn't give a care who owns the trains, ships or planes, but by gosh their cars are considered valuable personal property. To heck with efficient, non-polluting transportation.

Today's traffic congestion is only one of the many symptoms that show the inadequacy of a Price System method of social operation in a technological age. Any attempt to operate automobile transportation on an engineering basis would be doomed to failure unless all other sequences of operation affecting it were placed on the same basis. Since in North America today our entire technological operation is interdependent, it follows that only with a plan of overall technological administration will we be able to do anything concrete toward solving our serious traffic tangles.

In the meantime, Oregonians and Washingtonians can continue to blame those invading Californians for their traffic woes. In fact, the smog is getting so thick around here, it tends to settle between the ears. This will become more evident when awakening number four arrives.