Traffic and Infrastructure

By Marnie Sheehan Carter

Redevelopment is a vital economic development tool for the City of Concord. The City will be challenged in the near future to develop policy framework that will keep economic and sustainable development a priority for Concord. Carter for Concord's campaign position statement as to why we believe traffic and infrastructure must be a priority in order to improve traffic conditions and make the City safer for pedestrians and motorists in the City of Concord follows.

The City of Concord created the Business Retention Program as a way of establishing good relationships and communication with Concord companies that are expanding in the community, new to Concord and/or experiencing challenging issues that affect the success of the business. However, the City will need to utilize transportation policy to direct growth patterns for biking paths, bus routes, pedestrian walkways and roads which influence areas of Concord to be more desirable than others. The City Council has a major role in deciding where that transportation infrastructure is developed in Concord. Our City leaders will need to take environmental effects into account as well as transportation policy that will meet federal and state Clean Air Act goals. As Council member, Marnie Sheehan Carter will work to integrate transportation policy with a vision of where uses belong so that the biking paths, bus routes, pedestrian walkways and roads go where they are needed.

A huge issue facing the City in the next four years is that residents drive nearly twice as many miles as they did twenty years ago, but miles of public roads have barely increased (6 percent). Maintaining those roads in their current state + let alone in preparation for the future will be a concern as the number of residents with driver's licenses has increased and drivers spend more than twice as much time in traffic congestion. Marnie Sheehan Carter and the Carter for Concord Campaign propose that the City Council of Concord, upon advice from the Traffic and Infrastructure Committee, emphasize transportation choices including our two local BART stations, to deliver the greatest long-term benefits to our community. The average Bay Area resident spends more than $11,980 a year on transportation, the second highest in the nation, which is more than they spend on food and more than twice what they spend on out-of-pocket health care costs . For 90 percent of Americans, transportation costs absorb one out of every seven dollars of income. This burden is due in large part to the lack of alternatives to expensive and often congested automobile travel. We need to expand shuttle bus services and encourage ride sharing and van pooling in our City. Multi-modal transportation investments are critical to making sure that Concord residents can travel without wasting time and money stuck in traffic.

Concord has traditionally focused on transit oriented development and should continue to do so in terms of future development. The number of people who take public transportation in Concord is 289.6% greater than the California average and 421.4% greater than the National average. By taking advantage of what BART has to offer in the way of transporting residents around the area, this translates to lower dependency on cars' fewer congested highways' fewer frustrated drivers and a cleaner environment. The City has acknowledged these statistics by continuing to support full service by the County Connection and maintenance of bike paths and walking trails. Marnie Sheehan Carter and the Carter for Concord Campaign support these continued efforts.

Well-designed infrastructure investments have long-term economic benefits and create jobs in the short run. This economic activity and job creation is especially needed in the City of Concord as there is currently a high level of underutilized resources that can be used to improve and expand our current City infrastructure. It is the position of Marnie Sheehan Carter and the Carter for Concord Campaign that demand by the public and businesses for additional transportation infrastructure should remain a priority for the City of Concord.

Thank you for your time and consideration to this important issue.