Streetcars and Traffic: Atlanta GA v. Portland OR

An interesting article by Ariel Hart of the AJC draws out some of the debate over whether Atlanta should carry out a plan to develop a streetcar as part of it public transit initiatives. Because I am an ardent proponent of public (and alternative) modes of transportation, and because I used to live in Portland, OR, I felt compelled to write a little note to Ariel:

Portland is a wonderfully vibrant and quirky little city with an amazing culture and a very progressive and intelligent voting population. One of the reasons Portland’s public transit is often seen as the model for othr cities is that Portland’s metro area boundaries are both politically and geographically constrained from sprawling development, at least relative to other major metro areas in the U.S.; and Portland has very disciplined zoning and planning approaches to development. For cities like Portland, it is more feasible to plan a long-term light rail project when the plans for such a project are closely aligned with a long-term growth plan for urban and metro development, and well defined within a tightly regulated boundary, like Portland's Urban Growth Boundary (UGB); this coordination between urban development regulation and urban transit planning is exactly what spurs the sorts of transit-oriented development patterns that ultimately lead to smart growth and help to justify the expenditures of such significant transit projects.

According to Ariel's article, it appears Portland has successfully and appropriately aligned the funds to finance and operate the streetcar project with parking revenue and taxes from property owners along the system's routes. When transit funding is properly aligned with transit behavior and future transit-oriented development, it naturally encourages smarter transit. By contrast, Atlanta is proposing a sales tax to fund much of its public transit development.

In the article, opponents of the Portland streetcar project cite the stalled out development projects in the Pearl District--the city's largest beneficiary of the progressive transit plan--but forget that as condo and mixed-use development stalled in 2008 through 2010 (as it did everywhere else the country), Portland would not have been able to achieve what is now one of the most vibrant models of urban development int he country had it not been for the wide support of the street car project, not to mention the abundant public green space and well-planned waterfront development that was mandated within the district.

One economic justification for (or advantage of) Portland’s streetcar—and one that Atlanta will certainly be challenged with--is the fact that in Portland, a city whose square city blocks are densely populated with vibrant mixed-use development and are right-sized (about 200 X 200 FT), there is a far greater consumer benefit per linear-mile of streetcar usage. This section of Ariel's article provides some insight:

'"I honestly think the streetcar has built a destination," Watson said. "People go by in the streetcar and we'll see them looking out the window at us, pointing. Then they'll get off next stop and walk back."What makes a streetcar different from a heavy rail line or even a bus, is how easy and pleasant it is to ride. In most cases, people get directly on and off at street level, and it moves smoothly down the street at a moderate pace, almost like an amusement ride.'

This again goes back to the smart development patterns and growth plans instituted long ago. The mobility study is interesting but I think partly flawed. Even though Portland ranks lower in having the worst traffic congestion, it is important to know that Portland rarely widens its roadways to the extent that Atlanta does. So when you control for urban growth restrictions and roadway capacity limitations, I would bet that Portland ranks far superior to Atlanta in terms of a more relative comparison.

In my opinion, suburban traffic congestion can be a good thing and will force alternate modes of transportation in the long run. When Portland decides to restrict urban growth and limit the capacity on its highways, congestion naturally occurs at a much higher (faster) rate per same-size road mile. The comparison of 81% commuters in Portland vs. 88% commuters in Atlanta is not an apples-to-apples comparison. The commuters in Portland travel much shorter distances overall, even though traffic can often get just as snarled as it can in Atlanta. One major difference is that in Portland traffic congestion and average commute distance is somewhat directly determined by the UGB and the resistance to increasing roadway capacity; whereas in Atlanta, congestion has been largely produced by massive population growth and sprawling development patterns. Aside from that, Portland is a much smaller metro area.

To me, it’s not remarkable that Portland’s commuter rate is in the 80th percentile and considered high for a city whose bicycle commuter rate ranks among the top in the nation. The city's light rail is still very limited in its reach and scope. What’s remarkable is that despite the political and geographical and economic obstacles to developing public transit, Portland seems to have struck a good balance. Atlanta can learn a lot from it, and I hope it continues to do so.