Bringing Good Transportation Projects to the Table

Hindsight (Foresight, Winter 1997), by Tim Jackson

A member of the Board of Directors of 1000 Friends of Florida. Timothy Jackson is a transportation engineer and principal in the firm of Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin Lopez Rinehart, Inc. in Orlando.

The construction of new roadways and the widening of existing roadways has significant impact on our communities--both positive and negative. Over the past twenty years, the merits of many road construction projects have been challenged and, increasingly, the challenges have succeeded in stopping the projects. The challengers are usually neighborhood groups, public interest groups and individuals, and the goal has been to "just say no" to the construction project. These efforts have increased public involvement, community awareness and influence, which is good, and have resulted in better decision making at the state and local levels.

However, we cannot continue to simply "just say no" to projects we don't like. Our challenge, and our responsibility, is to collaborate in the selection of necessary and appropriate transportation projects we can say "yes" to, and to promote the implementation of these projects. We have succeeded in convincing communities and individuals across the state that they can have a say in stopping inappropriate road projects. And, we must continue to take a leadership role to convince them to become active in bringing about good projects. The task of selecting and implementing good projects is more difficult than the task of stopping inappropriate ones. It requires leadership and compromise. It will involve significant disagreements among communities, individuals, and interest groups. Still, for a better future tomorrow, we must step up to this challenge today.