Source of this article - Los Angeles Times, January 25, 2006
By Catherine Saillant, Times Staff Writer
Can a Southern California county manage its growth without continually building
new highways or widening existing ones?
The Ventura County Board of
Supervisors would like to think the answer is yes.
On Tuesday,
supervisors unanimously agreed that the county's transportation policy should
embrace increased use of bicycles, buses, trains and carpools and move away from
a dependency on cars.
Although the vote provides neither money nor
specifics, it sends a message that Ventura County will address traffic
congestion in ways different from the past, said board Chairwoman Linda Parks,
coauthor with Supervisor Steve Bennett of the measure.
"We can't build
our way out of the problem," Parks said. "We need to look at
alternatives."
Supervisors did not address how the transportation goals,
to be written into the county's growth guidelines, would fit into a broader
regional transportation network that relies heavily on freeways and road
building to accommodate growth.
No mention was made of Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's $222-billion plan to beef up California's aging infrastructure
by widening freeways and building new roads, among other things.
Ventura
County was left out of transportation funding in the proposal unveiled by the
governor earlier this month. But county transit officials have said portions of
one of the plan's projects, widening the 101 Freeway in Santa Barbara, may
extend into Ventura County.
After the vote, Bennett said an emphasis on
mass transit and alternative transportation projects ought to play a big role in
any long-range planning for California.
But he cautioned that he does
not know enough about Schwarzenegger's proposals to judge how much they include
such projects.
The adopted goals call for a countywide system of
convenient mass transit; increased train service, possibly including new
commuter lines, between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties; and a system of
bike lanes linking all 10 of Ventura County's cities.
"The board is not
saying, by any means, that they are opposed to any one project," Bennett said.
"But it is saying that at least here in Ventura County we need to accelerate our
thinking about becoming less reliant on cars."
Some progress has already
been made, Supervisor John Flynn said. A 15-mile, tree-lined bicycle trail
connects Ventura and Ojai. And transit officials have for years tried to
increase bus and rail ridership, he said.
Any long-term solutions for
Ventura County will require the cooperation of cities and the Ventura County
Transportation Commission, which prioritizes and distributes transit funding,
Flynn said.
A handful of speakers applauded the supervisors for taking a
stand.
"I'm very appreciative of this," said Clyde Pratt, spokesman for a
group that has been critical of past road-widening plans near rural Somis. "It's
the type of thinking and approach that will lead to a county that we all want to
see."
Patricia Arkin of Somis called it a "rare opportunity" to attempt
new solutions to traffic congestion.
"If the discussion doesn't start and
leadership is not provided, nothing happens," Arkin said. "Let's not be the last
county to do it the wrong way, but the first county to do it the right way."
