By Fawn Johnson – The Atlantic
Highways and bridges will need trillions in upgrades if they are to survive for the next few decades. How can Washington budget it if the agenda is all cut, cut, cut?
When officials in Denver started drafting a strategic traffic plan a few years back, they concluded that the city no longer had the money to expand its roads to meet the surging demands. They would have to make do with what they had.
Denver's planners created a board game, Right of Way, that was scaled to the city's streets. It had cards that symbolized lanes for travel, parking, buses, bikes, mixed use, and medians. There were too many cards for the available space, so officials gathered community representatives to debate which sorts of lanes mattered most. To everyone's surprise, the group worked out an agreement, one that the city council pretty much ratified. "In the absence of additional benefits, it's all about trade-offs," said Gideon Berger, who headed the Denver project.
Keep reading: The Infrastructure Cliff: Why the U.S. Desperately Needs a $2.5 Trillion Upgrade – Fawn Johnson – The Atlantic.
