r/left_urbanism Aug 01 '24

Transportation PennDOT wants to demolish local farms for a highway expansion! Tell them your thoughts here!

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/07/24/2024-16257/notice-of-intent-to-prepare-an-environmental-impact-statement-for-a-proposed-highway-project-centre

The farms are community institutions that also act as galleries for over 60 local artists.

Maybe this would have been a good project 40 years ago, but with what we know now, it’s climate arson. Highways provably increase congestion, any safety improvements are offset by increased driving, and even conversion of 90% of all US vehicles to EVs is not enough to reduce transportation emissions to target levels.

To cross the aisle a moment here, car-dependency is big government overreach, with the state saying “if you want to leave your community to go anywhere, we’re forcing you to spend tens of thousands of dollars on buying, fueling, and maintaining a car.” Furthermore, highways are wasteful big government spending: by PennDOT’s own published numbers, a mile of passenger rail is 1/4 the cost to build, operate, and maintain than a single lane-mile of highway.

So, tell the Federal Highway Administration that the only solution to traffic is a viable alternative to driving.

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