What does it mean that Sustain Saint Paul champions “low-carbon transportation?”

We envision a city where people drive less. Realizing this vision will require our city to redesign its streets to prioritize the safety, comfort, and convenience of other modes of transportation which emit less greenhouse gasses than driving: walking, biking, and public transportation. 

Most of our advocacy for low-carbon transportation is focused on pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure improvements. We feel our advocacy is most effective and worthwhile at the levels of city and county government, where the vast majority of decisions about street design and maintenance in Saint Paul are made. Decisions about funding and planning for public transit in Saint Paul (e.g. the planned Riverview Corridor, new aBRT routes, etc.) are more difficult to influence, because they happen at the level of the state legislature and the Metropolitan Council. When it comes to transit, we usually follow the lead of other organizations who are better-equipped for advocacy to the state legislature and the Met Council, such as the Sierra Club’s North Star Chapter and Move Minnesota.

Our advocacy for “low-carbon transportation” aims to hold our city accountable to its purported values and goals. In its 2040 Comprehensive Plan, Climate Action Resilience Plan, Bicycle Plan, Pedestrian Plan, and Street Design Manual, the City of Saint Paul has committed to reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled in our city, and to prioritize pedestrians and bicyclists in street design decisions. We want them to make good on those commitments.

Here are some (but not all) of the tangible ways we want Saint Paul to work to improve its low-carbon transportation network:

• Dedicate more funding in the city budget to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure improvements

• Install “traffic calming” elements (e.g. corner bumpouts, pedestrian refuge islands, chicanes) in places where motorists currently drive above the posted speed limit, to induce slower driving speeds and improve pedestrian safety

• Rapidly expand the network of protected bike lanes according to the Saint Paul Bicycle Plan (upcoming 2022 update)

• Update Public Works policies to prioritize ped/cyclist safety factors in street design decision-making, and to de-emphasize car-centric factors (e.g. reducing the targets for “Level of Service” and car throughput, considering roads with high Average Annual Daily Trips for road diets)

• Adopt a “no new car lanes” policy for city- and county-owned streets; and pursue road diets on streets with more than three lanes

• Study potential locations for traffic circles and roundabouts, which are safer and less costly to maintain than signaled intersections

• Eliminate slip-lanes

• Adopt and enforce stricter policies for the prompt and thorough clearance of snow and ice from bike lanes and sidewalks during the winter months

Here are a few key talking points we often use to advocate for “low-carbon transportation”:

• The single-best way Saint Paul can reduce its impact on climate change is to induce people to drive less. By designing our streets to prioritize the safety, comfort, and convenience of people who walk, bike, and use transit, our city can induce people to make fewer of their daily trips in cars– one of the key goals of Saint Paul’s Climate Action Resilience Plan.

• The design of our streets should preference the lowest-impact, most efficient modes of travel: walking, biking, and taking transit. Among the ways people get around, driving a car is not only the most energy-intensive: it also causes the most wear-and-tear to city streets. Driving and parking cars also requires vastly more physical space per person than other modes of travel: for example, fifty people driving cars require hundreds of times as much space as fifty pedestrians, bicyclists, or transit-riders require to get from A to B. Given that walking, biking, and transit-riding have negligible or minimal impacts on climate change and the physical condition of our roads, and require so much less space per person than cars, we should design our streets to dedicate more space to people who bike, walk, and take transit (e.g. converting car lanes and on-street parking to protected bike lanes and bus-only lanes). 

• Walkable, bikeable communities are happier and healthier than car-centric ones. Walking and biking are not just great sources of exercise; they offer various other health benefits as well. Unlike driving, walking and biking provide opportunities to interact with other people, and to form new connections with neighbors. Walking and biking also help people connect with their natural surroundings. Evidence shows that the psychological benefits of regular casual social interactions and time outside can dramatically improve a person’s sense of well-being, fortify their mental health, and even extend their life. We should design our neighborhoods to foster these outcomes. 

• Car-free and car-lite neighborhoods are better for residents’ budgets. Owning, fueling, and maintaining a car is expensive, and represents a significant percentage of many families’ annual budgets. By building a network of safe bicycle routes, frequent transit, and walkable neighborhoods, we can reduce Saint Paulites’ transportation costs, freeing up their limited financial resources for other uses. The greatest beneficiaries of car-free and car-lite transportation options will be Saint Paul’s poorest families, for whom the cost of car ownership is the greatest burden.

• More people will use bikes as transportation as our transit and bike networks become more useful. Opponents of new bike lanes often complain that “hardly anyone uses them,” and that new ones are therefore a waste of space. This ignores the fact that each new bike lane makes our city-wide network of bike routes exponentially more useful. People drive because our streets are designed to make it safe, convenient, and practical; likewise, people will bike if we make it a safe, convenient and practical way to navigate the city.

• We reject the notion that Saint Paul can’t be bike-friendly year-round because of snow and ice. Plenty of winter cities around the world manage to keep their bike infrastructure and sidewalks navigable year-round, and we can too. Doing so is mostly a matter of funding, resources, and policy choices.

• Car-free and car-lite neighborhoods can be Saint Paul’s competitive advantage. Driving and parking in Saint Paul will never be as convenient as it is in the suburbs, and we shouldn’t try to make it so. Instead, we should improve upon the qualities of Saint Paul that suburbs can’t provide! Our city’s street grid and narrow lots are the perfect canvas for creating “walkable” neighborhoods, where all of a person’s frequent destinations are within walking distance. Suburbs, with their enormous lots, windy streets and cul de sacs, and massive parking lots, are poorly positioned to provide walkable neighborhoods.