NYC Council Hearing Testimony on Federal Funding for NYC Infrastructure
NYC Council Hearing Testimony on Federal Funding for NYC Infrastructure
Laura Shepard, Queens Organizer at Transportation Alternatives
Testimony before the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Committee on Resiliency and Waterfronts
April 19, 2022
Good afternoon, I’m Laura Shepard, Queens Organizer with Transportation Alternatives. For nearly 50 years, TA has led the movement for safe, equitable streets in New York City.
We are at a critical juncture when it comes to how we respond to the climate crisis. The decisions we make now will determine the survival and well-being of New Yorkers for generations.
It is critical that new federal funding is invested equitably to address long-standing infrastructure needs in underserved communities. We can reverse the effects of decades of racist environmental policies in underserved areas by focusing these federal funds on areas that face the worst flooding, slowest buses, highest asthma rates, and fewest Vision Zero investments to prevent traffic violence.
Our public space and transit system must be a focal point in how we shift to more resilient infrastructure. Better use of streets and waterways can reduce car emissions, clean the air, and improve public health. This is why, alongside more than 200 local partners, we have advanced our NYC 25x25 vision to reclaim 25 percent of street space from cars and return it to people. Cars and trucks are responsible for 29 percent of all air pollution produced in NYC. By putting street space to better use, like building out pedestrian plazas, parklets, and busways, we can reduce these harmful carbon-emissions.
New York should be setting an example for the rest of the country, but our State has seen a significant increase in harmful transportation emissions. Buildings and on-road transportation account for 84 percent of emissions in New York City and after a series of first-in-the-nation laws in New York City, building emissions dropped over 25 percent, yet on-road transportation emissions actually increased in the 4 years leading up to COVID. Research shows that to achieve the city’s necessary climate goals, over 80 percent of all trips must be made by sustainable modes.
The New York Climate Action Council Draft Scoping Plan released earlier this year found that, “New York will need to substantially reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) while increasing access to public transportation.” The Council’s report estimates that the cost of inaction in addressing our transportation needs exceeds the cost of action by $90-$120 billion:
$40 billion associated with the health benefits of increased active transportation (e.g., walking, cycling)
$50 - $120 billion from 2020-2050 of health benefits from increased air quality
Simply put, to meet our climate goals, we have to immediately transition from car-centric infrastructure to more sustainable methods of transportation. And it starts with investing in communities that have borne the brunt of environmental racism and been denied access to public transportation and healthy environments.
More space for people to bike, walk, and ride transit will induce those modes, reduce air pollution, result in a smaller carbon footprint, and more space for alternatives that are better for the environment. Public transit consumes half the energy of private transportation and emits only five percent of the carbon dioxide per passenger-mile. converting car driving and storage lanes to bicycle lanes can reduce transportation-related carbon emissions by 11 percent. Converting just one major street from car use into space for biking and walking caused nearby ultrafine particulate matter rates to fall 58 percent when New York City closed Park Avenue to car traffic for Summer Streets, and less space for cars also reduces the heat island effect and particulate matter in the air, which contributes to hospitalizations for problems like asthma.
One tree can remove the equivalent of 11,000 miles of car emissions from the atmosphere every year, and on-street rain gardens clean the air, cool the temperature, and keep stormwater runoff and street pollution out of our waterways.
Transportation Alternatives proposes the following recommendations to address New York City’s sustainable infrastructure needs:
Invest in ‘sponge city infrastructure’ of permeable pavements, stormwater curb extensions, and bioswales in flood-prone areas. Bioswales are cost-effective measures to absorb stormwater runoff and mitigate flooding of our city’s subway stations and busways, which disproportionately harms underserved communities.
Instruct the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department of Transportation, and the Parks Department to designate “Tree Cover Priority Districts” where asthma rates, air pollution, and summer surface-level temperatures are highest, and fund a tree planting campaign that fills all remaining tree pits and replaces 10 percent of all parking spots with trees in these areas.
Expand bus lanes and busways in areas of the city least served by subways to enable more residents to choose public transit over car use in underserved areas. The median income of bus riders is substantially lower than those of subway riders or New Yorkers overall, and they are more likely to be foreign-born or have a child at home, yet face unequal access to public transit options.
Preserve and restore natural wetlands, and daylight waterways acknowledging the ecological services and sensitivities of these habitats.
Prioritize water-dependent land uses adjacent to our waterfronts and wetlands. We must reclaim the space allocated to vehicle infrastructure on this ecologically, economically, and culturally valuable land and going forward, we must abolish parking minimums for new development immediately. We cannot improve our resiliency, while exacerbating the existing harms caused by vehicular emissions and impermeable surfaces.
Invest in the working waterfront and expand capacity for maritime freight to reduce dependence on trucking and truck miles traveled. This will make our streets safer, reduce congestion, improve our air quality and reduce emissions.
Reduce dependence on short-haul air travel by investing in high speed rail.
Improve substandard bike and pedestrian access to bridges across New York City, including the Queensboro and RFK bridges in Queens, and fully realize Bridges for People with protected bike lanes on the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges in Brooklyn, and the Washington Bridge in the Bronx.
Build a public waterfront greenway network that connects all five boroughs to increase public access to our waterfront and connect communities throughout the city by building out fully protected bike path infrastructure that is safe and accessible to people of all ages and abilities. We support the NYC Department of Transportation’s Greenways: Filling the Gaps Planning Grant Proposal for the USDOT RAISE Program to develop a comprehensive plan and equitably develop and implement a pipeline of shovel-ready projects. We are also calling for clear standards for path widths, materials, signage, and maintenance for all future greenway development because the current piecemeal approach is slow, inequitable, and results in substandard sections where greenways cross agency jurisdictions or private developers are given wide latitude or public-private partnerships are in effect.
Implement #Citibike4All with public funding to make it available for the first time for many low-income communities and communities of color that currently live in transit deserts. We are also calling for robust, secure, covered bike parking for the personal bikes, including e-bikes, cargo bikes, and adaptive cycles.
Complete the Grand Concourse, installing life-saving improvements to the entire Concourse with traffic calming measures, protected bike lanes, curb extensions, and dedicated bus lanes.
Cap the Cross Bronx Expressway, which will dramatically reduce vehicle pollution causing some of the highest asthma rates in the United States.
Significantly increase investment in park space and work with city agencies to expand public access to pedestrian plazas as required under the NYC Streets Plan, and city waterfronts where parks are not available.