Comment on New York's Transportation Master Plan 2050

Transportation shapes the ways we live, work, and access jobs, healthcare and opportunities across New York State. The New York State Department of Transportation has released their draft Transportation Master Plan 2050, outlining goals and methods to increase transportation outcomes and accessibility through 2050. The plan has a good foundation, but we need your help to make sure it is actionable and accountable to the needs of communities across New York State.

Submit your comments today to tell NYSDOT that we want fast, accessible, reliable and safe transportation options!

Transportation shapes the ways we live, work, and access jobs, healthcare and opportunities across New York State. The New York State Department of Transportation has released their draft Transportation Master Plan 2050, outlining goals and methods to increase transportation outcomes and accessibility through 2050. The plan has a good foundation, but we need your help to make sure it is actionable and accountable to the needs of communities across New York State.

Submit your comments today to tell NYSDOT that we want fast, accessible, reliable and safe transportation options!

Comment on New York's Transportation Master Plan

Use our email action tool to submit your comments to the New York State Department of Transportation to ensure their Master Plan for 2050 aligns with our communities' needs for accessible, reliable, and safe transportation choices!

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As a New Yorker who wants cheaper, better and faster ways to get around New York, I am submitting this public comment to NYSDOT’s 2050 Master Plan. While the Plan outlines generalized goals for 2050, it does not go far enough with sufficient specificity to outline how and by when these goals will be met. In order to ensure that New Yorkers like me will be able to save money, get around reliably and sustainably, I urge NYSDOT to include the following considerations in their Master Plan:

Decrease VMT by 20% by 2050

We support NYSDOT’s commitment to reducing vehicle miles traveled by promoting the smart growth of existing cities and villages by fostering more compact, mixed-use development as part of the plan’s goal of Environmental Stewardship and Protection, as well as its obligation to adhere to the landmark Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Reducing VMT is essential to reduce congestion, reduce noise and air pollution and promote the health and well-being of New Yorkers. To that end, we urge the DOT to commit to decreasing VMT by 20% by 2050 and invest in reliable public transportation, multimodal transportation systems and fixing existing roads first in order to achieve VMT reduction.

Halt all new highway construction and expansions; Fix It First!

Given that many of New York State highways and bridges require significant investment in order to bring them to a state of good repair, we recommend that NYSDOT halt the construction of new highways and highway expansions across the state if they are not critical to driver safety. According to TRIP, 61% of New York’s roads are in poor to fair condition, with 25% of roads in poor condition, while 10% of bridges are in poor condition. Driving on rough roads costs the average New York driver $733 annually in additional vehicle operating costs. NYSDOT’s own 2022 Pavement Condition Report stated it would cost $6.89 billion to bring all existing roads to good repair, but it has since invested in expanding highways, which cost an average of $1 billion per expansion. Expanding highways increase VMT, noise and air pollution, and eventually congestion due to induced demand. NYSDOT should adopt a Fix-It-First approach to highway construction by prioritizing bringing these assets to a state of good repair before expanding them, saving money for New York State, as well as New Yorkers in the long-run.

Fast and Expanded Buses Statewide

Expanding New York State’s intra- and intercity bus networks’ service coverage, frequency, and accessibility is an exciting opportunity to grant more New Yorkers access to affordable transit options while keeping the cost of implementation low. The cost of developing bus rapid transit (BRT) has been estimated at about one tenth the cost of metro rail transit (MRT), and, as emphasized by the Draft Master Plan’s “Accessible and Affordable Transportation Choices” goal, NYSDOT is committing to “Provide high-quality accessible options for intercity travel, including via rapid intercity rail, bus, and aviation services that meet the needs of travelers.” With considerations of cost (both cost-per-mile construction and the outsized consumer burden of car ownership on low-income communities), accessibility, and equity in mind, we recommend that NYSDOT develop expand New York State’s bus network to prioritize mass transit options over private vehicle ownership within and between our state’s urban, suburban, and rural regions. Specifically, we recommend that NYSDOT invest in: increased frequency and expanded bus routes in Nassau County and Suffolk County to connect in between towns; increased frequency along the Bee-Line in Westchester; more frequent bus service and restoration of discontinued lines in Central New York State, the Buffalo region, and the Rochester region.

Expand Multimodal Transportation Infrastructure: “If NYSDOT builds it, they will ride it.”

In line with NYSDOT’s goals to promote active transportation options, we urge NYSDOT to expand infrastructure for multimodal transportation such as bikes, e-bikes, and e-scooters. As these technologies become more common, riders are subsequently in greater danger of collisions due to lack of protected bike lanes, signage, and infrastructure such as charging stations. We urge NYSDOT to prioritize active and multimodal transportation and provide funding and guidance to local MPOs to do so. Multimodal transportation is cheaper and healthier for most New Yorkers to get around without a car.

Accountability on action items tied to goals, priorities, and budget

We request that NYSDOT provide a clearer connection between projects, stated Master Plan Goals, Overarching Priorities, and NYSDOT budget. In order to ensure transparency into NYSDOT decision-making as well as accountability to achieve stated goals with target metrics, we believe that NYSDOT should provide more granular action items in order to better serve the people of the State of New York in accordance with the department’s commitment to fulfill its priorities. In addition, it would serve NYSDOT to chart a roadmap on how they would meet their 2050 goals, with measurable outcomes in 2030, 2040, and 2045. We ask that this roadmap be publicly available and projects be prioritized by way of transparent metrics.

Create a SmartScale for transparency into NYSDOT’s project priorities
By creating an actions tool for NYSDOT projects, like Virginia’s SmartScale, the public would be granted visibility into the metrics by which NYSDOT funds capital projects. One such tool for project prioritization and transparency is Virginia’s Smart Scale, which helps Virginia’s Transportation Board inform Virginia’s project selection decisions. Smart Scale considers six different factors (i.e. Safety, Congestion Mitigation, Accessibility, etc.) using a weighted scale in order to make more informed, publicly engaged, and transparent decisions. While NYSDOT would require a different calculus for making more informed decisions, we believe that implementing such a tool would only stand to benefit NYSDOT by becoming a more transparent department with greater project outcome accountability.

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