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PLANNING COMMISSIONERS JOURNAL / NUMBER 78 / SPRING 2010 Our Health Between 2010 and 2050, the number of Americans aged 65 and older is expected to grow from about 40 to 88 million.4 According to Census Bureau projections, 20 percent of Americans will fall in this age range by 2050, up from 13 percent today. The problems that these increasing numbers of older people will face when they lose the ability to drive will be much more than an inconvenience. Without other travel options available, their access to everyday activities and essential services will be sharply curtailed – just when their needs for social connections and medical attention increase. By creating communities where peo- ple can get around without cars, we can make a significant difference in the health and happiness of older adults. A 2006 study by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission found that “seniors from walkable, mixed-use urban and town areas are more mobile, taking 20 percent more trips each week than those from suburban and exurban areas. They are also less likely to be socially isolated.”5 Meanwhile, the health of tomorrow’s working-age adults is already being com- promised by obesity linked to sedentary living. According to the Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention (CDC), 17 percent of children aged 6-19 (more than nine million young people) are obese. That percentage has tripled since 1980.6 A third of our children in this age range are overweight, a far cry from the CDC’s goal to reduce this figure to five percent. The Alliance of Biking & Walking, with funding from the CDC, has released a remarkably useful, data-filled report, Bicycling and Walking in the United States 2010 Benchmarking.7 The report, authored by Kristen Steele and Monica Altmaier, points out that “states where bicycling and walking levels are lowest have the highest levels of obesity.” Simi- lar correlations were also found with two other major public health concerns, diabetes and high blood pressure. Steele and Altmaier note that: “Walk- ing and bicycling have great potential to improve public health. In 2001, 41 per- cent of trips in the U.S. were shorter than two miles and 28 percent were shorter than one mile. Since bicycling can accommodate trips of up to two miles and most people can walk at least one mile, there is a lot of hope to use this form of travel in our communities.” Forward-thinking communities such as King County, Washington, are incor- porating walkability goals and perfor- mance measures into their comprehen- sive plans, while other places, like Albert Lea, Minnesota, are adopting programs to promote active living. Meanwhile, more and more communities are adopt- ing Complete Streets policies, aimed at designing streets that accommodate not just cars, but bicyclists and pedestrians. Our Economy Our traditional source of revenue for transportation – the gas tax – cannot keep pace with the escalating costs of maintaining the system we have, let alone paying for new infrastructure. The responsibility for transportation funding has been shifting toward states, localities, and the private sector. That said, every local official is keenly aware that raising a city or county sales or property tax is even more politically challenging than raising a state or federal gas tax. It’s no wonder jurisdictions all over the country are searching for better ways to negotiate infrastructure invest- ments from developers, and that toll roads are making a comeback. Nineteenth century transportation investments, from turnpikes to railways, were largely private, for-profit ventures, while the 20th century was the age of tax-supported “freeways” and transit sys- tems. The 21st century is likely to bring about an interesting marriage of the two. Just as we pay transit fares now, we will probably pay more roadway tolls and user fees in the years to come. SUMMING UP We’ve entered a dynamic time in the world of transportation and land use planning. For many years, engineers and policy makers have focused on the goal of increasing the speed with which peo- ple can move between places. Upon real- izing that we’re literally driving ourselves too far apart, we can right the balance by boosting the importance of two other goals: • Bringing people and places closer together, • Providing people with more choices of travel routes and modes between places. By working together on designing communities that offer more flexible travel choices, we can sustain our com- munities through the 21st century – and beyond! ◆ Hannah Twaddell is a Princi- pal Planner in the Char- lottesville, Virginia, office of Renaissance Planning Group. Her articles on transporta- tion planning topics appear regularly in the Planning Commissioners Journal. 9 4 Projections of the Population by Selected Age Groups and Sex for the United States: 2010 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). 5 Jana Lynott, et al., Meeting the Transportation Needs of Northern Virginia’s Seniors: Recommendations for Public Transit Systems and Other Mobility Providers (Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, 2006). 6 Preventing Obesity and Chronic Diseases Through Good Nutrition and Physical Activity (Centers for Dis- ease Control and Prevention, 2008). 7 The report is available to download at: www.peoplepoweredmovement.org.