Think Regional/Act Local

November 19, 2009

Last year, the Regional Transportation Coordinating Council (RTCC) adopted a regional transit plan for Southeast Michigan -- historic. The chief elected officials of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties and the City of Detroit had never adopted a transit plan while acting as the RTCC. In adopting a plan, they also agreed that the next steps included developing a regional transit authority (RTA) and identifying long-term local funding needed to implement the plan. It is important that an RTA be formed for several reasons. First of all, it is important to have a single agency speaking on behalf of transit in Southeast Michigan. If we are to successfully obtain federal transit dollars, it will be important for the region to speak with one voice. An RTA could be that effective voice.

Second, it will be important for a single entity to manage and plan for expanding transit in Southeast Michigan. Light rail on Woodward, commuter rail from Ann Arbor to Detroit must work as a single system. The expansion of rail in Southeast Michigan, along with the other components of the adopted regional transit plan, must also be implemented in an organized fashion, consistent with anticipated dollars.

Finally, the public will need to know who is in charge, who is responsible for building and operating the system if they are to feel comfortable providing additional funding for the needed transit improvements. The RTA can provide the confidence and oversight the public needs in order to be convinced to provide additional funding.

The time is right – the time is now – to pass legislation that will establish an RTA to oversee the operation and construction of public transit in Southeast Michigan. SEMCOG supports establishing an RTA as the next step in moving mass transit forward in Southeast Michigan.

November 12, 2009 

Several weeks ago, I wrote a blog on vehicle-deer crashes. I reported that last year, there were 316,057 crashes in Michigan and that 61,010 involved a deer. That is 19% – almost one of every five crashes in the state involved a motor vehicle and a deer! I wrote that it was time for Michigan to start taking this seriously. Well, I am pleased to report that at least one community, the City of Rochester Hills, is doing just that!

Rochester Hills experienced the most deer crashes of any other individual community in Southeast Michigan in2008. There were 165 reported car-deer crashes out of a total of 2,101 total reported crashes – or just about 8% that involved a deer. This is not the first year that Rochester Hills has been singled out for having a high number of crashes involving deer. However, the community is trying to do something to lower these numbers.

Rochester Hills has developed a Deer Management Implementation Plan. The plan identifies six recommendations for the community that they hope will result in fewer vehicle-deer crashes in the coming year. Recommendations range from educating the public on deer habits through print and the city’s Web site, to designating October as “Deer Awareness Month,” to putting up portable signs at locations of known increased deer activity to notify drivers to be more alert.

I applaud the city for taking this initiative. I wish more communities would do the same. By following the plan, the city hopes to maintain the attractiveness of their community – and that includes having close encounters with deer that do not result in costly crashes.

The plan is available on the city’s Web site (by clicking the link above) and is linked from the SEMCOG Web site, at www.semcog.org/DeerCrashes.aspx 

November 6, 2009

I don’t know about you, but once the first of November gets here, I start thinking about the inevitable –winter. When will it get here? How bad will it be? How much snow will we get and when is the first big snow storm going to hit? This year, getting around during the winter could be a bit more challenging than in past years. Last week, SEMCOG hosted a forum on Winter Maintenance with local road agencies and cities discussing their revised procedures for dealing with winter storms in light of decreasing revenues. All agencies agreed that clearing snow from our roads and streets is going to take longer this year. There are several reasons we are in this situation.

MDOT has said that their budget for winter maintenance has remained constant over the past few years – but the price of salt and gas has increased dramatically. The result is that those dollars won’t clear as many miles of snow as quickly as they once did. In addition, we have experienced higher than normal levels of snowfall over the past couple of years, causing agencies to exceed their budgets to move the snow removal.

This is not just an issue at the state level, but at the local level as well. Decreases in funding has also resulted in some county road commissions and cities having to cut back on the number of employees they have to go out to move the snow and ice and salt the roads. Oakland County, for one, indicates that while they once had 190 employees available to move snow – they only have 150 today. This means that it will take longer to clear and salt streets than we have become used to.

So what do we do? Well, SEMCOG will be developing some winter driving tips for you to consider during this winter season – it’s not rocket science though. Consider the following:

• Stock up on groceries in good weather so you don’t have to travel in storm conditions
• Ask your employer if you have an option to telecommute on snowy, icy days
• Start out earlier and drive slower – you will get there – but get there safely
• Only make trips you have to make and
• Pray that we get less snow

We can all get through winter if we prepare now – not just by getting our snow blowers ready, but by retraining ourselves on the level of services to expect for the dollars we are willing to spend.